When Kyle Adkins was finishing up his playing days at Ursinus College, he received a phone call from his former high school coach, Steve Devlin, gauging his interest in joining the coaching staff at his alma mater, Archbishop Wood.
It was definitely something he was interested in, and two years later, Adkins, 24, steps into the head coaching position at Wood.
Adkins is one of six new head coaches in the Bucks-Mont area and none, perhaps, enters with the expectations that come with guiding one of Pennsylvania’s dominant football programs.
“I’m excited,” Adkins said. “I think everybody is excited, especially all the coaches. It’s a new season. Maybe there’s a little added excitement being a first-year head coach.”
Adkins is among a handful of young coaches getting their first shot at being a head coach, including Cody Muller at Pennridge and Rob Rowan at Central Bucks West, all having served previously as assistants but not so far removed from their playing days.
“Me personally, I’ve been around the game a long time,” said Muller, a Souderton and University of New Hampshire grad who takes over for Jeff Hollenbach. “My dad (Chuck Muller) was a coach for 33 years. I remember being a little kid, 4 years old, walking on the sidelines with him at Bethlehem Catholic.
"And I played the sport at a high level in high school and in college, so I’ve been anxious to get going and implementing our plan.”
Rowan, an Archbishop Ryan grad, has had coaching stints at Archbishop Wood and mostly recently Wesley College. He said the transition into the role as head coach has gone smoothly at CB West.
“When I got into this profession, I’ve taken a lot of pride to learn continuously,” he said. “I’m a lifelong learner. I didn’t think of this role as anything different. You prepare, and fall back on your core values."
At Upper Moreland, which won 10 games and the Suburban One League American Conference a year ago, C.J. Szydlik isn't a first-time head coach, as he previously had stints at Jenkintown and Neumann-Goretti. After taking time off, he returned as a defensive coordinator at CR North last season.
“After a season off, I knew I wanted to be a head coach again," Szydlik said. "The experience I had at Council Rock North was nothing but awesome. The people there were great, but I think that made me want to be a head coach even more.”
But each coaching opportunity is different. Steve Schweiker, formerly an assistant coach at Wood, Council Rock North and Conwell-Egan, had been away from coaching and took the job at Morrisville in June after Derrick Savage's resignation. He was able to get a workout program set up in July, so they were up and running by the time preseason camp started. At a small school, with a small roster, the late start only added to the challenge.
“They have talent here but it’s about consistency," Schweiker said. "It’s all part of the learning process. Our coaches — I think we’ve been pretty demanding as a staff — were excited to work with the kids, and the kids have liked it.”
At William Tennent, Rich Clemens takes over a program in the middle of a 27-game losing streak. Formerly an assistant coach at Bensalem, Clemens was hired in December. He said then in an article in The Intelligencer and the Bucks County Courier Times that he wanted to get right to work to change the program's fortunes.
“When I first heard that they were hiring me, I was very excited and my first thought was that we need to get started right away,” Clemens said in the article. “Let’s meet with the parents and the team and create an atmosphere of hard work and positive reinforcement.
“We need to build a foundation and get the guys to believe in themselves.”
In high school football, all coaches — experienced or inexperience, head coaches or assistants — know that it's a full-year commitment and a lot of different factors have a say in the success of a program. But they know that teams are judged by what they do on Friday nights.
“We want to win camp first," Pennridge's Muller said. "But I’m sure (opening night) is going to be exciting.
"For me, personally, it’s going to be similar to my first snap as a player in high school and first snap as a player in college. A million things will go through my head, but when it comes down to it, it’s football. You approach the game the way you always have.”
— Todd Thorpe: thorpe@theintell.com; @toddrthorpe