This morning, Joe Henrich resigned as the head coach at Bethlehem Catholic, effective immediately. From the release he put out on his Twitter account, it does not sound like it was his decision. "After a series of meetings with administration it became clear that I no longer had their full support. We just could not agree on how we got to where we currently are and how we were going to move forward. Sometimes in life you must make a decision you really don't want to make, but as you put everythign into perspective you realize, that decision, is what is best for everyone."
Henrich finished 67-41 at Becahi. Hired in 2011, Henrich went 3-7 and 1-9 in his first two years, then won District 11 3A titles in 2013, 2014 and 4A titles after the class split in 2017 and 2018. His 2017 and 2018 squads advanced to the Eastern Finals, losing to Imhotep Charter. In 2015, the Hawks went 9-2 and won the EPC North, but were upset in the D11 3A finals by Saucon Valley. His teams won 10+ games in 2014, 2017, and 2018, though fell to 7-5 in 2019 and 4-4 this season. Henrich took a leave of absence for health reasons in 2016 and interim coach Kyle Haas (now at Northampton) led them to a D11 title and the Eastern Final for the first time since 2000.
I had heard rumors last offseason that Henrich was nearly fired. This wasn't a marriage that was going to last. Becahi hired a new athletic director last January to replace longtime AD Mike Grasso. New AD Chris Domyan was a defensive lineman on the 1990 Becahi state championship team and I think has very clear expectations for what Becahi football should be (Grasso is about the nicest guy in the world, but a total pushover). For all of Henrich's success, his teams struggled playing against similar talent, had discipline problems, and have started to struggle acquiring talent now that Notre Dame is rolling in 3A. I also think there were a lot of lingering feelings around the Valley that Kyle Haas did a much better job with the 2016 team and Becahi's administration saw what the possibilities could be with a better head coach in place.
Frankly, the best move they made with Henrich was making him the Admissions Director for the school when he was hired as the football coach. You can see a really clear line of delination in 2011 at Becahi athletics in general when he was running the department. But his biggest strenth by far was talent acquisition, but you always felt his teams didn't quite get where they could.
This opening could be a seismic shift in the power structure in the Lehigh Valley. The biggest name to watch is Jason Roeder at Freedom. He is a Bethlehem Catholic alum and was the defensive coordinator on those great late 1990s, early 2000s teams. He's taken Freedom to four D11 title games in five years, which is about as good as you can make Freedom. He's super locked in to Bethlehem football - he's really locked in to the youth programs and has helped coaching development at lower levels that has paid dividends for his school. Would he jump to his alma mater, where the ceiling is much higher? He can get all of those Bethlehem Bulldog kids to Becahi plus anybody else who would want to play for him (which I'd imagine is a long list). Something to watch.
The other big name that could be in the mix is Phil Stambaugh, the head coach at Notre Dame, who has said he wants to always coach at a Catholic school. ND has made a huge athletic commitment, starting with hiring Stambaugh when Pius X closed (ND was an afterthought for its entire history until he got there). He's a Lehigh grad and Becahi is a bigger schoool and bigger job with more tradition than ND. Would he make the jump?
Other names that may be considered off the top of my head are Bret Comp (former state championship winning coach at Wilson, offensive coordinator at Parkland, now back at Wilson helping his former player Chris Labatch as his QB coach), Matt Evancho (former Saucon Valley coach and Comp's DC at Wilson, currently not coaching), Matt Cohen (position coach at ACC, was on Becahi's staff from 2010-2016 and was an All American at Lehigh). I'm sure there are other possibilities that I can't think of right now, but that's what my initial gut tells me.
Henrich finished 67-41 at Becahi. Hired in 2011, Henrich went 3-7 and 1-9 in his first two years, then won District 11 3A titles in 2013, 2014 and 4A titles after the class split in 2017 and 2018. His 2017 and 2018 squads advanced to the Eastern Finals, losing to Imhotep Charter. In 2015, the Hawks went 9-2 and won the EPC North, but were upset in the D11 3A finals by Saucon Valley. His teams won 10+ games in 2014, 2017, and 2018, though fell to 7-5 in 2019 and 4-4 this season. Henrich took a leave of absence for health reasons in 2016 and interim coach Kyle Haas (now at Northampton) led them to a D11 title and the Eastern Final for the first time since 2000.
I had heard rumors last offseason that Henrich was nearly fired. This wasn't a marriage that was going to last. Becahi hired a new athletic director last January to replace longtime AD Mike Grasso. New AD Chris Domyan was a defensive lineman on the 1990 Becahi state championship team and I think has very clear expectations for what Becahi football should be (Grasso is about the nicest guy in the world, but a total pushover). For all of Henrich's success, his teams struggled playing against similar talent, had discipline problems, and have started to struggle acquiring talent now that Notre Dame is rolling in 3A. I also think there were a lot of lingering feelings around the Valley that Kyle Haas did a much better job with the 2016 team and Becahi's administration saw what the possibilities could be with a better head coach in place.
Frankly, the best move they made with Henrich was making him the Admissions Director for the school when he was hired as the football coach. You can see a really clear line of delination in 2011 at Becahi athletics in general when he was running the department. But his biggest strenth by far was talent acquisition, but you always felt his teams didn't quite get where they could.
This opening could be a seismic shift in the power structure in the Lehigh Valley. The biggest name to watch is Jason Roeder at Freedom. He is a Bethlehem Catholic alum and was the defensive coordinator on those great late 1990s, early 2000s teams. He's taken Freedom to four D11 title games in five years, which is about as good as you can make Freedom. He's super locked in to Bethlehem football - he's really locked in to the youth programs and has helped coaching development at lower levels that has paid dividends for his school. Would he jump to his alma mater, where the ceiling is much higher? He can get all of those Bethlehem Bulldog kids to Becahi plus anybody else who would want to play for him (which I'd imagine is a long list). Something to watch.
The other big name that could be in the mix is Phil Stambaugh, the head coach at Notre Dame, who has said he wants to always coach at a Catholic school. ND has made a huge athletic commitment, starting with hiring Stambaugh when Pius X closed (ND was an afterthought for its entire history until he got there). He's a Lehigh grad and Becahi is a bigger schoool and bigger job with more tradition than ND. Would he make the jump?
Other names that may be considered off the top of my head are Bret Comp (former state championship winning coach at Wilson, offensive coordinator at Parkland, now back at Wilson helping his former player Chris Labatch as his QB coach), Matt Evancho (former Saucon Valley coach and Comp's DC at Wilson, currently not coaching), Matt Cohen (position coach at ACC, was on Becahi's staff from 2010-2016 and was an All American at Lehigh). I'm sure there are other possibilities that I can't think of right now, but that's what my initial gut tells me.
