John's Journal: An Educator Like No Other

When a grand new addition was built at Cleveland High School a few years ago, the band director made one big request. He asked that the trophy cases in the new school commons area include space dedicated to an expansive collection of band trophies.

His wish was granted, and no one was happier than the band director at the small school a few miles northeast of Mankato. There also are football trophies on display, and that makes the head football coach very happy, too.

The band director and the football coach? They’re the same person.

Erik Hermanson has dual educational roles that are all but unknown. Football coaches are usually teachers or administrators, but the combination of football and instrumental music is extremely rare. The only comparable situation in Minnesota might be Osseo High School, where the stadium is named for John Hansen, who was a choir director and football coach there for 41 years. He was 91 when he died in 2019.

If there are any other head football coaches/band directors anywhere, Hermanson is unaware of them.  

“The crazy thing is I’ll be on a Facebook group with thousands of band directors from across the country and they’re ripping the football coach,” he said. “And then I’ll be on a page with football coaches and they’ll criticize the band. I get along great with both groups.”

The band program is a great source of pride in Cleveland (population 747) where Hermanson, 52, has been teaching for 31 years. There are 315 students in grades six through 12, and 239 of them are in band. Of the 39 members of the 2024 Clippers football team, 35 also play an instrument.

The pep band, 52 musicians strong, played in the bright, roomy gym for half an hour before the Cleveland volleyball team hosted Sibley East on Monday night. The loud and proud performance opened with Cleveland Rocks (what else?), and continued through YMCA, 7 Nation Army, Smoke on the Water, Crazy Train, Bad Romance, Louie Louie, Danger Zone, Thriller and other classics.

Hermanson led the band with his signature orange trombone (the school colors are orange and black).

One of the percussionists was missing because he was on a combine as the harvest continues. The pep band numbers were also down a bit because, as Hermanson joked, “The volleyball team steals a bunch of my woodwind players.”

In his time at Cleveland, the band program has exploded. From one jazz band in the early days to seven today, from band being just another elective which was no big deal to classes and rehearsals that begin before school and continue after.

A sign in the modern, expansive band room – with a large window that overlooks the football field -- says, “Excellence doesn’t just happen. It is a decision you make every day.” Another sign says, “Play like a champion today.”

Both can be related to football as well as music, and Hermanson sees parallels in his two jobs.

“It’s just being organized,” he said. “A great thing about football is it’s structured, just like band, actually. You start out with the basics, you build, build, build through time. Every person is working on their own skills, and then you put it together as a group. The whole is so much better than any individual. Before the season starts, you can know what you’ll be doing on Tuesday of the fourth week. It is exactly the same with band.

“Teaching band is just coaching. It’s so physical, too. Your air and your endurance, you’re building it up, you’re breaking down the small techniques, finding mistakes and breaking it down the same way.”

Before a recent football game at Central High School in Norwood Young America, Hermanson told the kickoff team, “Wake up Let’s go! Set the tone!”

The approach is more toned-down as he counts off the start of a song for the pep band: “1, 2, 3…” When the band performs the school song, the Minnesota Rouser, they hold their instruments and sing the second verse a cappella.

If Hermanson wants to compare notes with someone who is in a somewhat familiar dual role, he can chat with first-year Cleveland superintendent Dustin Bosshart. Bosshart was previously principal at nearby St. Clair, where he continues to coach the St. Clair/Mankato Loyola football team. (For a 2022 story about Bosshart and his team, click here: https://shorturl.at/JWW1z )

Hermanson grew up in Wells and went to Wells-Easton (now United South Central) before earning degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College and Minnesota State Mankato. He and his wife Kristen live in Mankato, where – no surprise – their two sons are involved in band at Mankato East High School; Jakob, a senior, plays trombone and ninth-grader Zak is a trumpet player. Jakob is also a cross-country runner.

Erik commutes 17 miles from his home to Cleveland, usually arriving early in the morning for band rehearsals before the first class period.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere else where they’d let me be a band director and football coach,” he said with a laugh.

In autumn, the end of the school day means football practice.

“He's dedicated, showing up to band every morning for us and then on the football field right away,” said senior running back/defensive back/trombone player Kale Kelley.

Nick Simonette, senior lineman and trombonist, said, “At our school, it's a super big thing. Most of my friends from other schools aren't in band because it's not a big thing at their school. All of us are in band and it's a fun thing to do.”

Hermanson is a single-sport coach these days, but he coached junior varsity baseball for 15 years and JV basketball for 10 years. He also was a town team baseball player of some renown, playing catcher in Cleveland for 15 years.

“He brought music into the school system where for years it was almost like nobody really went out for band or music,” said activities director Rich Kern, who has known Hermanson since their days playing town team baseball. “It wasn't really a big thing here in Cleveland, and now it's just part of our culture where kids come in and it's really cool to be in band. It's phenomenal when we have concerts here to hear the students play. The way they sound, it's just unbelievable.

“With the years he's put in here, and what he's done, he's kind of put us on the map, where people know Cleveland for music and band. He's a great asset.”

The trophy case includes row after row of band awards. The high school band kids don’t march or perform in halftime shows (that might be problematic for Hermanson), and jazz band is what the program is known for. Over the years, Cleveland has become famous around the state and beyond for excellence in jazz, finishing high in MSHSL large-group contests year after year.

The Clippers’ football history includes trips to state in 2007 and 2015 as well as a state runner-up finish in Nine-Player football in 2016. Carter Kopet, the quarterback on that 2016 team, ranks No. 1 in career passing yards in Minnesota (11,214) and also is the all-time leader in career touchdown passes (186).

Kopet works in insurance in Mankato and is an assistant boys basketball coach in Cleveland who also helps the football team by watching film and occasionally visiting practice. He played the trumpet; the two leading receivers in school history, Austin Plonsky (54 TDs) and Jaiden Zishka (36), played trombone.

Hermanson, who began playing trombone in fifth grade, said, “My mom talks about how when I was in kindergarten I told her I was going to be a trombone player. We went to concerts as kids and we were exposed to the arts.”

He played flag football in elementary school and football in middle school and high school. He was not a college athlete but always loved football, never missing Vikings training camp when it was held in Mankato.

The Clippers (4-3) will end the football regular season Wednesday night when they host Lester Prairie (5-2) in a game with big implications for playoff seeding in Section 2A.

“People might almost make fun of us for it, because they think band is just for nerds, but it's a big part of Cleveland and it really means a lot,” said sophomore tight end/linebacker/trombone player Tanner Simonette. 

Cleveland band students often travel to perform at big venues, and in March they will go to Orlando, Florida.

As always, adult chaperones will go on the trip. Most of them will be the usual crew for such important assignments … the football coaching staff.

--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]