MENOMONIE (August 29, 2019) - UW-Stout head coach
Clayt Birmingham has a background of bringing in European coaches to Stout during preseason camp, but it has been five years since a European football coach has been in the Blue Devils' preseason camp.
The last European coaches at preseason camp were Dennis Svensson
and Steeve Guersent
.
That changed this season when Quentin
Danès arrived at the beginning of preseason camp in mid-August and has been observing the Stout football coaching staff, taking in all of the information. The football coach from France has been given the opportunity to learn from the Blue Devil coaching staff.
Quentin Danès
is from Paris, France and started playing football in 2008 when he was a freshman in high school. Danès
played for a club team in France while in high school named Les Molosses
d'Asnières
in Paris. In France, students do not play for their high school - they play for a club team where they have to pay a fee and have volunteer coaches. France has three different leagues including 16U, 19U, and an Adult league.
Danès played through his high school career and played mostly at center on the offensive line. Danès had the opportunity to play for the 19U French National Team in the summer of 2012 in Austin, Texas, where France placed fifth out of eight teams. Danès and former Blue Devil Enzo Rosani were teammates during their time on the 19U national team. Steeve Guersent was also their coach.
After graduating high school, Danès went to Paris Nanterre University while getting a degree in non-profit administration. Danès started coaching in 2013 and helped out with the offensive line for the 16U and 19U teams. In 2015, he became the offensive coordinator. Danès was the head coach from 2016-2018.
Danès left the club in 2018 and now is working at Pole France Revolution in Amiens. Danès also works alongside Steeve Guersent. The team is an academy where the team recruits all over France. Playing 19U, the team plays all over Europe, not just France. The academy is a better stepping stone for the students. Once the students graduate, they have the opportunity to play in Canada or the United States. The team has approximately 20 players a year go overseas to compete in football.
During the time on Stout's campus, Danès has mainly been working with the offensive line. He has been shadowing offensive line coach Derek Branch, learning the offense through offensive coordinator Nick Pesik, and assisting where he is needed.
"Quentin has been great," head coach Birmingham said. 'He has had the opportunity to help coach our o-line that has a big group of 20 guys, so the more eyes we have on them, the more that group will be coached up."
Danès main focus was to see how an American football program was conducted.
"I wanted to learn the standard for playing college football," Danès said, "what to expect from student-athletes, and what the main differences were between American football and French football."
Danès said the main difference between the two football programs were the expectations coming from student-athletes. The lifting, studying the playbook, and watching film on their own was the difference maker.
"It's been fun to see Quentin grow and become more vocal through the last two weeks," Birmingham said. "He's starting to feel comfortable around the team, is coaching our guys more, and he's having fun learning the game with the grind of our 12 hour days. He will be missed and we thank him for his help."
"I got the opportunity to come over to Stout from the Academy and Guersent," Danès added. "I want to bring the experience back to the academy and I am grateful for the opportunity that Coach Guersent and the Academy has given me."
Danès continues to oversee his football program while at Stout and wants to gain as much information as possible and bring it back to the Academy. Danès wants to bring back the drills he has learned, how to run an offense, and most importantly the culture.
