Looks like many Catholic schools looking for coaches? Egan, Carrol, Wood, FJ! Who's going where? Which school has most to offer?
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FJ is the least attractive. Being in catholic league red isn’t helpful.
I agree. Nase is alumni maybe he lands FJ and makes it interesting. Egan would be intriguing.
Goettner gets the interim title removed and is officially the head coach at Wood.
Rob Melosky retired at Allentown Central Catholic. Never really could get traction there after he replaced McGorry - I think Rob’s health has effectively ended his time as an elite coach. Hard to believe 2002 was as long ago as it was, also hard to believe he was just 33 with a whole career in front of him when he won it all at Parkland. Burn hot, burn fast.
They replaced him with Jacob Reichard, who has been on Harold Fairclough’s staff at Emmaus as the linebackers coach. Played at Central (2005 graduate I think?). He was the offensive line coach as a very young assistant at ACC on Fairclough’s staff when they won the state title in 2010. Has either been at ACC or with Fairclough at Emmaus his whole career.
We’ve seen ACC as a real power (with Jim Morgan’s in the 1990s and under Fairclough in the early 2010s), but they’ve struggled to find consistent excellence and lost both of those elite coaches to outside circumstances around their teaching careers. I have no read on Reichard as a candidate.
They replaced him with Jacob Reichard, who has been on Harold Fairclough’s staff at Emmaus as the linebackers coach. Played at Central (2005 graduate I think?). He was the offensive line coach as a very young assistant at ACC on Fairclough’s staff when they won the state title in 2010. Has either been at ACC or with Fairclough at Emmaus his whole career.
We’ve seen ACC as a real power (with Jim Morgan’s in the 1990s and under Fairclough in the early 2010s), but they’ve struggled to find consistent excellence and lost both of those elite coaches to outside circumstances around their teaching careers. I have no read on Reichard as a candidate.
I understand Coach Wilmot is retiring (I haven't dug too deep of late but that's what I have heard).
I've also heard a few names mentioned as possibilities but have been sworn to secrecy (yikes),
I've also heard a few names mentioned as possibilities but have been sworn to secrecy (yikes),
There was one staff member who was very openly telling people this year that he was already the designated successor. (Going back to the summer) We shall see.
I did post before that Coach Wilmot was with the team longer than any other coach as he started with the school in 1995 and continued through to 2024 -- 30 years!!! That saw him participate as an assistant or head coach in more games than any other man -- 348 total games out of the 990 the 'Skins have played since the 1928 season kicked it all off.
The overall while he was with the club is 234-114 or just shy of a 67% winning percentage over three decades (not bad). His overall is 64-42 while he was the head honcho. And although the last four years were a bit lackluster from 2015 through 2019 Neshaminy posted a 38-11 record under his lead with three SOL Division championships and some nice runs in the playoffs.
Change can be good even though he'll be missed.
The overall while he was with the club is 234-114 or just shy of a 67% winning percentage over three decades (not bad). His overall is 64-42 while he was the head honcho. And although the last four years were a bit lackluster from 2015 through 2019 Neshaminy posted a 38-11 record under his lead with three SOL Division championships and some nice runs in the playoffs.
Change can be good even though he'll be missed.
The Archbishop Carroll football team has
found its man.
Carroll hired Stephen Honick ‘17 as the ninth head coach in school history and fourth since the firing of legendary head man Dan Bielli back in 2010.
Honick, statistically one of the best quarterbacks in Carroll history, played for the Patriots from 2013 to 2016. In that time, under coaches Joe Powel and Dan Connor, the team went an underwhelming 9-32 while Honick established himself as one of the best quarterbacks around by his senior season.
Honick, now four years removed from his time at West Chester University, where he served as a student assistant, will be one of the youngest head coaches in the area. The former Golden Ram also spent his first two years of college at Ursinus, where he played quarterback for the Bears.
Honick was eventually promoted to quarterbacks coach at West Chester while also spending time with Next Level Greats 7v7 as head coach and offensive coordinator for their 13u team. Honick’s last stop was as a graduate assistant at Division I Temple University, a position he assumed back in 2022.
He will now be tasked with turning around a Carroll program that hasn’t seen sustained success since the early 2000s under Bielli, who won three consecutive Philadelphia Catholic League titles in 2000, 2001, and 2002. The team is coming off of five consecutive losing seasons.
Honick inherits a team plagued by inconsistencies, on-field struggles, and mounting rumors of transfers. Some have already taken place. Star wideout Ty Ty Mattison, a sophomore, announced he’d be transferring to Northeast high school for the 2025 season.
With the news of Honick’s hiring now official, offseason workouts, which have trudged on in the absence of a head man, should resume as planned for the winter while Honick prepares his team for the 2025 campaign, which kicks off Aug. 22 at William Tennent High School in Warminster, Bucks County.
found its man.
Carroll hired Stephen Honick ‘17 as the ninth head coach in school history and fourth since the firing of legendary head man Dan Bielli back in 2010.
Honick, statistically one of the best quarterbacks in Carroll history, played for the Patriots from 2013 to 2016. In that time, under coaches Joe Powel and Dan Connor, the team went an underwhelming 9-32 while Honick established himself as one of the best quarterbacks around by his senior season.
Honick, now four years removed from his time at West Chester University, where he served as a student assistant, will be one of the youngest head coaches in the area. The former Golden Ram also spent his first two years of college at Ursinus, where he played quarterback for the Bears.
Honick was eventually promoted to quarterbacks coach at West Chester while also spending time with Next Level Greats 7v7 as head coach and offensive coordinator for their 13u team. Honick’s last stop was as a graduate assistant at Division I Temple University, a position he assumed back in 2022.
He will now be tasked with turning around a Carroll program that hasn’t seen sustained success since the early 2000s under Bielli, who won three consecutive Philadelphia Catholic League titles in 2000, 2001, and 2002. The team is coming off of five consecutive losing seasons.
Honick inherits a team plagued by inconsistencies, on-field struggles, and mounting rumors of transfers. Some have already taken place. Star wideout Ty Ty Mattison, a sophomore, announced he’d be transferring to Northeast high school for the 2025 season.
With the news of Honick’s hiring now official, offseason workouts, which have trudged on in the absence of a head man, should resume as planned for the winter while Honick prepares his team for the 2025 campaign, which kicks off Aug. 22 at William Tennent High School in Warminster, Bucks County.
I am interested to see who takes over. There’s a lot of potential there in my opinion. Personally, I’d love to see someone like Rowan take that program over. I think he could have them at the top of the district consistently (not saying CBW isn’t there; I just think there is more to work with at Nesh). Just my opinion.
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Sleeping giant for sure. Need to keep the kids at home versus the local non-boundary schools (i.e. Egan) in the area.
It's going to get tougher and tougher (imo) to get Rowan to move from West - he's got a teaching job in the school that a new school would need to match, he lives in town, his top assistant has a job at West, another top assistant has a son in the program... so it would be more challenging to re-assemble a staff. I think that Pennridge had the best shot at poaching him but obviously failed to put together a compelling offer.
On the plus side, Neshaminy is set to complete the makeover to the sports complex, and it's a fantastic facility. The high school is 75% larger than CB West and consistently has larger roster sizes. Currently the third largest school in District 1. It's definitely (at least from an outsider's perspective) a very attractive job. It'll be interesting to see if they really do a search or if they have a replacement ready to go who's on the staff, as has been rumored.
Tyler Ward just resigned from Bethlehem Catholic after taking a head coaching job at a school out of state. Ward came to Becahi from a high school in Alabama, but he’s a Lehigh alum, so there was an element of coming home. Still, Bethlehem Catholic is now looking for their fifth head coach in the last eight years.
this seems to be an eastern PA coaches thread, but Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert resigned
they won 3A state titles in 2022 and 2023
i'm guessing the Monessen pipeline dried up, but of course he gave the usual "family" excuse while also saying he sees himself getting back into it soon lol
they won 3A state titles in 2022 and 2023
i'm guessing the Monessen pipeline dried up, but of course he gave the usual "family" excuse while also saying he sees himself getting back into it soon lol
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Some believe he's set to take over for cherpak when he retires.
He applied for west mifflin but wanymted to much in return.
he lives in the TJ district, is Cherpak retiring soon?
I wonder what he asked to have at West Mifflin and why he wanted that job, it's been many years since they were good and even when they made the title game a few times they were always heavy underdogs
SpringFord hires former Skin and Ship player, Mike Palmer, as their next HC.
Neshaminy school board meets tonight but no HC appointment on the agenda. Looks like it’ll be at least March.
It's been very quiet, no new rumors that I've heard. Job listing just closed on the 17th so maybe they're really interviewing multiple candidates, and the assistant has some competition?
Quiet out there.
Will be interesting.
Palmer will do well at Springford.
Will be interesting.
Palmer will do well at Springford.
The word I got was Cherp is going to at least see the 2028 class through.
West Mifflin is a gold mine if you have the right coach there. If Humbert was at the helm with his staff, they would be state title contenders. When the Duquesne kids entered into West Mifflin, many of them were at East Allegheny too. East Allegheny hasn't really had Duquesne kids for several years, so they pretty much have them all now. Braszo was a solid coach at WM and Steele was not. Humbert is a completely different animal. He's a program builder who knows how to create the necessary infrastructure for what you need to play at the highest levels.
They were willing to hire Humbert to be the AD and Football Coach but he pulled his name out. I was told it boiled down to $$$.
West Mifflin's top candidates were - Humbert, Collodi, and Liotta. Pat Monroe was in the mix, as was Braszo and Bukowski at some point. They couldn't meet the demands for Humbert and Collodi. Pugh and Liotta were the finalists.
Wow- Pat Monroe? Man, he's gotta be near 70? Sorry, I don't think that would be good.
Steel- you really seem to think highly of Humbert- he obviously wins, but i have heard some negative things about him. I just wonder if he will ever leave BV. This is exactly the scenario discussed on previous threads- not many schools are willing to pay real $$ in this area, to "go get a coach" esp if the person has any flaws. He prob makes near 100K, and 95% of the schools in WPIAL, won't/can't match that.
Pat's best friend is on WM's board and was basically trying to lure him out with the hopes of getting all the Duquesne support back. Steele never really connected with the Duquesne kids the way he did with the SV kids.
I think Humbert is an excellent coach but I think he's extremely cocky and that turns off many. Many think he was only good because he had a few Monessen kids on his team. Those guys absolutely helped the past few years but it's my opinion that he stretches his talent to it's full capability regardless of what he has. He makes over 100k at BVA with the AD and Coaching role. I was told he asked somewhere in the ball park of 120k to coach and be the AD at WM.
Humbert was also Lebo's #1 choice to replace Palko. The timing was just off. He had everyone back from his 2022 state championship team and knew they would be the overwhelming favorites to repeat. That's hard to walk away from.
funny- as i was reading this- i thought maybe him at Lebo would be interesting! I wonder if maybe he will just take a few years off and go back to BV. Again, the problem is very few schools in Western Pa care enough about football AND have the resources to draw him. Maybe if the Hempfield Area coach does not do anything this year, i could see that as a possibility, maybe in '26
by "program builder" you mean recruiting right?
he's a good coach but he has had timing on his side for sure, when he was at Ringgold he inherited a team that went undefeated and unscored on when they were freshman, so the player potential was there
I wonder what he would've accomplished if he stayed, but he smartly moved on as they apparently didn't want to give him a full time teaching position, let alone what he is allegedly demanding money wise from these schools today
I bet he's the Mt. Lebanon coach after next season
no way he would go to Hempfield, with his resume and reputation he could pick the biggest school with a history of success not a perennial loser, he could get the North Allegheny or Pine Richland jobs if they opened
the last highly successful Belle Vernon coach was Gary Dongilli, he left BVA for hempfield in 2001 and did nothing
