Please don’t ask Jeff Rouser how many football games the Spartans will win this year. As the new head coach of the Bainbridge High School varsity team, he appreciates your enthusiasm and the community’s support, but he also knows that predictions are a lose-lose scenario.

“One day at a time,” Rouser said. “We’re doing the best we can. We’ve got a really good coaching staff, we’ve got committed people. We’ve got good players that are working as hard as they can. Whether that translates into victories or not is to be determined.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” he added. “It’s too early to tell, and why would I make predictions? All it’s going to do is come back to haunt me.”

Rouser led the some 60-player-strong squad into their first seasonal practices last week. He was announced as the school’s choice to take over for longtime Spartan Head Coach Andy Grimm back in March.

“We couldn’t have found a candidate more suited to lead the Spartan football program forward,” said BHS Principal Duane Fish upon announcing Rouser as the pick. “Coach Rouser is a perfect match for the Bainbridge community, with a driven approach to fundamental football as well as a passion for developing athletes who take the student aspect of their high school experience very seriously.”

Rouser has spent the past decade moving up the ranks in regional football, serving as the catalyst for the youth program in Kingston and also spending the past four years as their varsity defensive coordinator.

“We’re excited about the future of Spartan football,” Fish said.

No stranger to the sport from the player’s perspective either, Rouser lettered in three seasons of Division I college football at the Air Force Academy, where he played as a linebacker. Professionally, he has a master’s degree in business administration from Boston University and is the vice president of client services for Planet Ecosystems of San Francisco, California, though he said that Bainbridge Island is the community his family calls home.

In addition to his wife, Meisha, Rouser’s family includes his son Garrett, who played football and was a state champion track star at KHS, and his daughter Cameron, a sophomore at BHS who finished second in state diving finals last year.

While he’s not making predictions, Rouser said he sees big things on the horizon for Bainbridge football culture.

“There’s a lot of good energy here right now,” he said. “There are a lot of people in the community who really care — the staff, the administration here, the principal and athletic director are all very much committed to our program. What else can you ask for? We’ve got all that and we’ve got kids who are focused, their intensity is good.”

It already shows.

The 60-odd turnout of student athletes this year is up significantly from the less than 40 last season. It’s not where he wants to be ultimately, Rouser said, but it’s a giant step in the right direction. He even had at least five senior athletes who had never played football before come out for the team.

“We got some good athletes,” he said, before adding with a laugh, “Some of them haven’t played football before.

“It’s a lot of work for our coaches because we’re trying to get these guys up to speed quickly, especially if they’re seniors.”

Lots of hard work has been the order of the day for Rouser, his staff and his team since training began back in the spring, as they prepare to institute a whole new offense and defense — the details about which he’s keeping mum.

“We’ve got a pretty good group of defensive backs and some linebackers,” he admitted.

Rouser’s coaching philosophy is a simple one, and not dependent on many core tenants or rules to memorize.

“I guess if anything I treat these guys like adults,” he said. “What I’ve told them is you’ll be treated like an adult until you prove otherwise, and I think kids rise to that. I didn’t come out with a list of

25 rules at the beginning. You see some coaches do it; there’s probably a good reason for it sometimes. I don’t think it’s needed with these guys.”

There are three basic covenants on which he insists, a sort of homage to the Honor Code of the Air Force Academy where Rouser himself was put through his paces.

“I kind of took the ‘Don’t lie, cheat or tolerate those that do’ — that’s the Honor Code, and we expect that. But what I call it is ‘Don’t whine, complain, make excuses or tolerate those that do,” he said. “And that’s kind of setting the underlying current I think. These guys aren’t making excuses.”

Many on the team, including the new seniors, are multi sport athletes, a trend on which Rouser takes a decidedly “pro” stance.

“I’m old school,” he said. “I used to play the three standard sports that everybody played: football, basketball, baseball. That’s the way it was. Today, there’s all these specialists. That’s one of the reasons these [senior] basketball players didn’t play football is because they feel like they need to be playing basketball all year round. And in some ways they do, because everybody else is doing it.

“Football I hope never gets that way — although it’s probably getting more that way now we’ve got spring ball and all the conditioning,” he added. “But the more sports you play? It’s good for you. It’s good for football. You learn so many things in sports.”

When not at work or on the field — not a large chunk of time at all, Rouser said — the new coach enjoys being outdoors on his own terms.

“I don’t have tons of time to do it lately, but I love doing treks up in the mountains,” he said. “I love mountain biking big time. I’m a big skier. I do these kayaking trips, things like that.”

Rouser praised the work of his assistant coaches and their assistance in his transitioning into the lead position. At least three of them have been working with the island program for years, which, he said, made a big difference.

“We got awesome coaches,” he said. “I’m lucky.

“I think we’ve got some really, really good guys in all the positions,” he added. “The kids are fortunate to have the collective coaching.”

It’s no easy thing to be a football fan in today’s culture, as the sport has come under incredible scrutiny from medical professionals and former players because of its inherent violence and the potential for serious injury or permanent brain and nerve damage to be inflicted upon longtime players. Some experts — Malcolm Gladwell, Chuck Klosterman and Michael MacCambridge, perhaps most notably — have argued that even if football should survive these challenges and thrive it will eventually be a very different sport than the one we know today.

Rouser doesn’t spend much time on thoughts like that. Life, he said, is full of risk. Consider the rewards.

“Everybody has their own right to whatever they feel about any sport,” he said. “Parents have the right to keep their kids out of sports. I think people that have been involved in the sport, for the most part, recognize all the positive traits of it. The risk-reward is very on the plus side.

“[Football players] learn leadership, they learn teamwork, they learn being tough, they learn that everything’s not fair,” he added. “They have to think and then you’ve got to put all the pieces together and you’ve got to do your job. You can’t go out and try to be the hero. That’s not going to work for us.”

The Spartan football season kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2 on the road against North Kitsap High, with the Bainbridge team slated to play their first home game at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9 against Olympic High School.