Travis Cluckey wakes up almost every day with football on his mind and a smile on his face.

A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Cluckey has been plucked to be the next head coach at North Beach High School.

“I’m really excited,” Cluckey said. “It is a really unique opportunity to be able to coach. It is even more a unique opportunity to pick our your coaching staff, have a certain playbook and be able to direct your program. Every single morning I wake up happy, ready to go to practice, camp, whatever it is, I’m super excited for the day to begin.”

The 2009 graduate of Mountain View High School in the Phoenix area grew up playing Pop Warner football before suiting up for four years for the Toros. He attended North Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, and decided to concentrate on his studies rather than walking on for the Lumberjacks. Cluckey earned his master’s degree in Biology and met his wife Lydia while in Flagstaff.

Cluckey took a position as a junior high and high school science teacher with the North Beach School District as a way to be able to be closer to Lydia’s family, which lives in Ocean City. When he took the teaching position he didn’t expect to be worrying about the chemistry of a football team as well. But when the head coach position became open, he decided it was time to get back into the game.

“It is a great opportunity to come back to football and be able to coach young men and see what they can do on the field,” Cluckey said. “When I got the phone call that I was going to be the head football coach, I actually jumped up with excitement. My father-in-law was nearby and he was like, ‘Must be some good news.’”

While Cluckey lacks any experience as a paid coach, he is confident in his ability to lead the Hyaks. Cluckey’s high school experience includes running a Wing-T offensive system much like the one North Beach has run over the past several years. He plans a few tweaks to the system, but hopes for much of the same results that have helped the Hyaks win the league title two of the past three seasons.

“I grew up playing the Wing-T offense and that is my background,” Cluckey said. “I’m bringing those principles to this team, which is nice because they do have a background in it, so we can merge styles a little bit. I have different expectations and the way I’m running the plays are different from the previous staff. It is a neat process because I get to bridge what they’ve already know over the past years with the previous coach and bringing in what I know. I’m not going to only run the Wing-T, you will see a little I-formation and a little Wishbone. This team could work on how they sell the misdirection of the Wing-T and that is what I’m focusing on.”

Defensively, Cluckey said he plans to runs a 4-3 or 5-2 defense with a focus on speed and teamwork. It is that need for speed on both sides of the ball that has been a focus during workouts this summer. Cluckey said he is very pleased with the strength of the core group of players returning for the Hyaks this season, but has focused workouts on agility ladders and other footwork drills to make sure the team’s quickness matches his philosophy.

“I’m confident that the work that we are putting in this summer is going to pay off in the school year,” Cluckey said. “I have a great set of players that are responsible young athletes and I think they are going to do well this year. A success for me and this team would be if we all came out and we worked hard and as a team and we had fun doing it. Having a W in the column and going to state is great and that is my goal. But as far as a line of success, if these young athletes come out and they play as hard as they can and they leave it all on the field and become better people through this process, I call that a success.”