​Sep. 8—If Mitch Hendricks had it his way, he’d be out on the water or in a deer stand rather than on the sidelines coaching football.He got a close-up view into the life of a high school head football coach growing up. His father, Troy, was the head coach for Bemidji High School football for 18 years.He saw the amount of work and stress it takes to run a program, so he was completely fine being away from the game of football. Only a special opportunity could’ve disrupted that plan.”I always told myself I wouldn’t coach, because I’m a diehard outdoorsman. Every single second of free time, that’s what I do,” Hendricks said. “I told myself the only thing I would ever do (is) — I would not be the head coach, I would not be a quarterback’s coach — I would be an offensive coordinator.”So when new Bemidji High School football head coach Kyle McMartin called him to offer him the offensive coordinator position, it seemed right up his alley. He would be in charge of running the offense and creating plays, no other responsibilities required.But he hesitated. Hendricks initially told McMartin no, but the more he thought about it, the more the job appealed to him. Two days after McMartin offered him the position, Hendricks took the job.Now he’s working with three-year quarterback Owen Vandermeer and the rest of the Lumberjack offense that’s historically used to running the ball in the triple option. Hendricks has plenty of experience in that system as a three-year starter himself for the Jacks from 2009 to 2011.Once he moved on to college to play for Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, he ran a no-huddle spread offense.Hendricks is given free rein as Bemidji’s new OC, so his philosophy going into the season was simple: why not combine the two offenses he knows from Gustavus and BHS?So far, he’s been having fun doing so, and he’s getting rave reviews from his players.”He’s super smart,” Vandermeer said. “His play calling is way different than what we’ve had in years prior. We’re going to build off that and just see where it takes us.”It may seem impossible to some, but there are people in Bemidji who have never heard of Mitch Hendricks or his football pedigree, including some of his own players.As a three-year starter, he led BHS to three straight state tournament appearances.As a two-year starter for Gustavus in NCAA Division III, he led the Gusties to two straight winning seasons, including a 7-3 record in his last year in 2015.Senior offensive lineman Carter Kramer didn’t know Hendricks had such an extensive football history.”I can see where all of his hypeness comes from now,” he said.His impressive resume, of course, didn’t come easy. In his sophomore season, his father returned for his second stint as BHS football head coach. He was also the activities director.When Mitch was named the starter that year, it wasn’t because of nepotism. Troy had high expectations for Mitch, and work never stopped when practice ended.”We were not allowed to slip up at all