TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Just Lending A Hand

ADVERTISEMENT

By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2008

In one corner of his living room, Rick Hohenthaner holds for several student-athletes at Gulf High the tools that could make the difference in whether or not they earn athletic scholarships to college.

Many know Hohenthaner as Gulf's softball coach, but others know him as the videographer for the Buccaneers football team and the creator of those video ads for Gulf football on YouTube.com.

He spends hours combing through footage throughout the season, piecing together the perfect sales pitch for college coaches on his computer, using modern technology that has taken highlight reels from grainy VHS tapes to cutting edge DVDs and does it all out of the goodness of his heart.

Together with Gulf football coach Jay Fulmer, who is relentless in trying to send his players to college even well into the summer months, Hohenthaner has dedicated himself to sending high school athletes to the next phase of their lives of playing sports in college.

"I think our kids know that if there's a way for them to go to college, I'll find it," Fulmer said.

And in the recent years since Fulmer became Gulf's football coach, Hohenthaner has been a part of that process.
Hohenthaner started filming football teams in 1989 when he moved to the area from Michigan and began working for his uncle's video production company, which he still does work for.

He had filmed several teams in the area, including Pasco High's 1992 state title team from the jamboree to the state championship. Fulmer was told by another coach that if he didn't have someone to film his team, the best person to do the job was right at Gulf.

Gets Better With Age

Over the years, Hohenthaner has making highlight DVDs down to a science.

Using a couple of different programs on his computer, some he has purchased himself as an investment and some he has access to through his uncle's video company, Hohenthaner scans blocks of highlights of about half a dozen Gulf players that are hoping to play college football.

On a few of the clips, a little box pops up in the bottom corner of the player sitting in his Gulf jersey because Hohenthaner believes it's important for a coach to see a player's face and not just his moves on the field.

The highlights are all shot digitally and Hohenthaner has two cameras situated on the field so most of the DVDs have multiple angles.

He scrolls the players' stats across the screen during some of the plays.

He uses every feature he can to make each DVD special except for music because he feels that's unnecessary.

"Here's the unique thing about the editing process," said Hohenthaner as he assembled a DVD for J.J. Walton. "I can use slow motion to accentuate a play. This was an interception so I slow it down so the coach can see exactly when the ball was picked off and what the play was."
Hohenthaner isn't limited to football, however, as he has been working on DVDs for a couple of his softball players.

On those, he has different menus to choose from that show a player hitting and fielding. He recently saw a video surveillance set with eight high-quality cameras that he is interested in purchasing and situating on the softball field to get numerous angles on every player during games while he is coaching.

His goal is to eventually lend his services to athletes in just about every sport.

No Charge For Services
Hohenthaner doesn't charge the players whom he spends hours making DVDs for. For now, knowing that he has a hand in a student-athlete getting a college education is satisfaction enough.

In the near future, he hopes to take what he's done for Gulf's players and turn it into a business making highlight DVDs for all athletes in Pasco County.
Hohenthaner is in the early stages of planning a Web site called PascoRecruits.com where for about $300, he would create a page for an athlete with all of his or her academic information, athletic achievements and a 60-90-second video clip.

Other similar services he has heard of through parents run for several thousand dollars.

The fee would also include sending the video clips to three colleges of the student-athlete's choice, 50 business cards and an e-mail address through the Web site.
Hohenthaner said the seeing the kind of attention that major Division I football recruits like Plant quarterback Aaron Murray get was what inspired him to start planning his Web site.

Murray's road to college is more about sifting through dozens of offers, as opposed to the arduous process many of Pasco County's coaches go through of trying to sell their players to prospective smaller college programs.

"For every Aaron Murray, there's a Tate Humphrey or a Greg Jenkins or a Lance Babcock and that's who I'm interested in," Hohenthaner said.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT