Sheffield head coach Mike Barr, left, is pictured with Wolverines’ seniors Gage Mott-Macalush (22) and Matt Lobdell at the District 9 Football League media day at St. Marys Area High School on Tuesday. Times Observer Photo by Scott Kindberg

ST. MARYS — Mike Barr, the head football coach at Sheffield High School, had a team meeting a couple weeks ago.

The question to his players was simple.

“Where,” he said, “do we want to be at the end of this season?”

He’s hopeful that the Wolverines — 0-9 in 2021 — will begin to see some better results when the season begins later this month.

“I had an old boss one time that said, ‘Where we work is like a battleship, and you can’t turn the battleship around in a creek in a day,'” Barr said Tuesday morning at the District 9 Football League media day at St. Marys Area High School. “That’s a great analogy for this football program. We’re a battleship and we can’t turn the battleship around in a creek in a day, so it’s time for us to take our next step.”

And what does the second-year head coach envision that will be?

“I’ve set the bar,” Barr said. “We need to get some wins now. I’m not going to say we’re going to run the table. I’m saying we need to start getting competitive.”

Last season was a challenging one. Barr described it as a “unique situation” as he inherited a team that played only one game in 2020 before the Wolverines were forced to cancel the remainder of its season after it suffered an opening loss to Keystone.

“We had some kids (last season) who hadn’t seen a field in two years, so going into last year, we had very basic expectations. (They were) just to complete a football season and build a foundation where we can build from. We did both of those.

“We have the foundation set. Now it’s time to start erecting the building.”

For Barr, who will have 32-35 players on the roster, including 10-12 from Abraxas, coaching at his alma mater is a “pride thing for me.”

A four-year player for the Wolverines, the 1994 Sheffield graduate served as both a junior high and head assistant coach. Barr’s father, Ray, also coached on Wolverine Mountain for years.

“My dad passed away unexpectedly right after our last football game last year,” Barr said. “Somebody said a couple years ago that if you were to cut Ray Barr, he’d bleed orange and black.”

That allegiance to the Wolverines was passed down to his son.

“I’m proud to be with Sheffield. Sheffield is something special,” Barr said. “Not a lot of people understand that until they’ve moved out and gone.”

The coaches at the school apparently do.

“The neat dynamic at Sheffield right now is that every sport at Sheffield is being coached by a Sheffield alumni,” Barr said. “I’m talking girls sports, boys sports, and we all have the same goal in mind, and that’s to succeed, that’s to make Sheffield sports happen.”

As he spoke, Barr looked at seniors Matt Lobdell and Gage Mott-Macalush, who accompanied him to media day.

“I have a wrestler and a basketball player, and I’m a big advocate to do as many sports as you can,” Barr said. “I’m a big proponent. Do as much as you can.”

For Lobdell, Mott-Macalush and the rest of the Wolverines, it begins this fall on the gridiron with a road game at Bucktail.

“There’s no easy way to get there,” Barr said. “It’s going to be a long bus ride.”

Barr seems to be ready to take the road less traveled.