Ernie Howren, Rob Kittrell and Scott Hare have something in common. They all think they’ve got the best job in the world.

There’s plenty more they have in common, but all three of the Rail City’s prep football coaches got wide smiles as they expounded on why they love what they do.

“There’s nothing better than the Friday night lights,” said Kittrell, the football coach at Sparks High. “It’s a social event. Heck in America, it’s a cultural event. There’s no other sport where you get to go out, hit someone and after the game they pat you on the back ... It takes 11 people to win a varsity football game. In baseball or softball you can do it with a good pitcher. In basketball, if you’ve got a good big man and point guard, you’re there. You can’t say that about football. I could go on and on.”

Hare, the Spanish Springs football coach, had similar sentiments.

“Plain and simple, the locker room before a game is like no other place,” Hare said. “I grew up in a locker room. My dad was a coach. I used to get goosebumps, but at eight years old I didn’t know why. There’s a sense of you’re going to do something together. You can’t simulate that anywhere else in life. It’s a special environment.”

Howren, Reed High’s varsity gridiron leader, gushed about his job and the opportunity he’s be given as well.

“There’s so many facets to what goes into the game, into a team,” Howren said. “When you walk out to the field and the crowd cheers, the music blares. You can’t describe that feeling. There’s nothing like it. I tell our Reed kids all the time. ‘We coaches are still able to be part of a team because of them.’ I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”

And for the foreseeable future, Howren and his local counterparts certainly don’t have to. They are all entrenched at their respective Sparks school. Howren is gearing up for his 10th year at Reed. Kittrell, who is also the athletic dirctor at Sparks, is entering his 13th season at the helm of the Railroaders program. Hare is the relative newbie. Spanish Springs is gearing up for its fifth year of the Hare regime.

All three also all seem to be the right man for the job at their Rail City school. Howren has guided Reed into the regional semifinals or beyond, each of the last six years. Hare has seen his win total increase in each of the last three years, culminating in a season last fall that saw the Cougars upset perennial state power McQueen and garner the school’s first playoff appearance in seven years. Kittrell has seen his SHS program go through highs and lows during his tenure and he’s leading the charge at his alma mater every step of the way. The triumvirate of skippers says they’re all better coaches now than when they got started.

“I’m a lot more patient,” Kittrell said. “I’ve learned not to value myself as a coach based on wins and losses and make my mark as a coach that makes kids better citizens and gets them to give 100 percent. These kids will be our neighbors some day and we all want good neighbors. Some of the guys from my first teams come around and they call me soft now. But I’m more patient and I’m a lot better coach for it.”

Hare, who became a head coach in northern California at 23, said he’s learned his limits and how to not take on as much as he did as a younger coach.

“I delegate much better than I did when I was younger,” he said. “I used to try and do everything and when you do that, you’re not as good at everything. I trust my staff a lot more. Because of that, I don’t feel so insecure when a kid gravitates to another coach. I realize that’s because we’ve got other good people on staff.”

It’s no surprise the local coaches are immersed in football right now, considering opening night is just a couple days away. However, all three would tell you they’re immersed in football nearly everyday, regardless of the time of year. They all say the gridiron has had and continues to have a huge impact on their lives.

“Family is number one and football is number two,” Howren said. “I would say football has gotten me everything I have in life. It got me a scholarship. It got me into the school where I met my wife. It got me an education so I could be a teacher and get into this career. What else can I ask for? I get to be around kids and help them become better people and make better choices. Football is everything to me.”

Both Hare and Kittrell offered similar responses about the role football plays in their lives.

“I’m Lisa’s husband and my kids’ dad and then I’m the keeper of all the sons that are given to me through the football program at Spanish Springs. I want to make them better men. There are a lot of things parents don’t realize about how their kids affect us. I want them to succeed in life. I want to create future leaders. I love how sports bring adversity into your life and you have to fight through it. Sports are great that way. You don’t get that in English class.”

Kittrell said, “There’s family and football. I always tell our parents at our preseason parent meeting, ‘I won’t say anything to your kids I wouldn’t say to mine.’ Especially at Sparks, you’re a parent figure to the kids whether you want to be or not. They rely on your honesty and stability. That’s a huge responsibility and one I take very seriously.”

The schools may look different and the color of the shirt the local coaches wear by no means matches. When the season ends in October or November the records likely won’t be the same for the local football programs, but the messages the coaches are teaching sound a lot alike.