Rovers64 - welcome to the board! Nice to have another Easton guy (and Lehigh Valley guy in general) on here. As a general comment, its a good place with knowledgable people who like and care about high school football.
I'll start here - Jeff is a good guy who cares about Easton and Easton football. I want him to be successful and would love nothing more than to see him prove me wrong and make me look like an idiot for doubting the hire. I welcome that. My support of the program won't change either way.
My biggest problem, from jump street, has been process. I think the way Steve was fired is embarrassing and poorly handled. But the message was clear - the football program needs a new direction. A tough point, but maybe a necessary one. I think Easton football reached the ceiling it was going to reach under Steve (which is very high, higher than most programs in the state get, but not quite the apex). If you're going to make a change because you think you can increase that ceiling, so be it. Have a plan, go get new blood, etc. Like I think I said before, difficult but defensible.
But to unceremoniously fire Steve, then hire somebody off of his staff means that firing him wasn't about a change of direction - it was personal, which is a shitty way to send out your all time winningest coach. The ability to hire Jeff Braido was going to be there whenever, and if that is the direction they were going to following Shiffert, he should have been allowed out on his own terms. The swift firing communicated something different. Then to go back and hire somebody from Shiffert's staff indicates either they didn't have a plan, their plan blew up in their face, or the plan all along was to just promote from within, which gets me back to the "why the rush" point of this paragraph. If this was the big option to change, I don't see how this is better than just sticking with what was there.
Addressing your points - I know he ran the JV program, but running varsity and junior varsity programs are quite different. He's calling all the shots now.
Do I think Braido is a robot, no, he may have great ideas. But his entire football resume is - Easton feeder programs, Easton High School, two seasons at Dickinson, Easton since 1995 as an assistant. Outside of coaching clinics he may have attended, his only exposure in coaching in Easton football and a brief experience at a Division III college in the early 1990s. I thought the best part about hiring Jamarr Billman on the wrestling side was that Jamarr was an alum, but has been other places and wrestled for and coached under some of the best minds in the sport. Melding other experiences besides Easton High School is important. Braido does not have that at all.
I care less about changing the offense than most Easton people, I think power football still has a place in this world. I'm a Steve Shiffert supporter (and often apologist), so you don't need to sell me on how successful they've been. What I worry about is the potential to backslide.
On the Matt Evancho point, I think his health is a red flag and taking care of himself should come first. But if he wanted the job, which by all indications he did, I don't think it's the right call for the Easton Athletic Department to disqualify him on "we don't think this job is healthy for you." That's a decision for Matt and his family, and it seems on the surface like they were ready for him to get back in to coaching. And if you're comparing resumes side-to-side, Evancho's is much stronger than the candidate they hired (and has the variety of experiences piece in spades, plus time as a head coach).
I agree that the names leaked over the weekend were not impressive - do you think that could be because of how the rest of the Valley saw how Shiffert was treated on the way out? I also don't think there was targeting by the athletic department to go after candidates, which limits the pool. I did a separate post on possible candidates - not seeing Bret Comp's name, for example, was a surprise. Ditto for Kyle Haas. In a perfect world, frankly, this happens a year ago and it's Tim Moncman getting introduced last night, but that's neither here nor there at this point.
I would never throw the nepotism allegations past the Athletic Department. If you look at the way Jim Hutnik's entire tenure at Easton was treated by the higher ups, from the hiring process (where Pokrivsak recommended Greg Hess, not Jim Hutnik, for the job, but was overruled by the school board, because that was a patently insane decision, but Hess and Pokrivsak were roommates in college) through the grief Hut got his whole time as the basketball coach from the administration despite the fact that all he did was win, and nothing would surprise me.
I'm frustrated because not only do I think Shiffert was severely mistreated on the way out, but the program didn't get any better, and very well may backslide, in the process. I'm rambling, but would love to hear your thoughts.
