This is the fifth installment in our series of coaches’ interviews. Today we sat down with head coach Phil Stambaugh of Pius X and asked him some questions about himself and his career coaching football.
Q. Why did you decide to coach High School Football?
A. I have had sports surrounding me my whole life and that was a natural path for me. My dad was a coach and my uncle was a coach. I always enjoyed being around athletics and playing at a couple of levels. I just thought it was what I wanted to pursue and it takes everything I have learned in my experiences.
Q. How many years have you coached at your school?
A. I have been there since 2000. The first couple of years I was still playing ball so I was a volunteer assistant. Then I took over as offensive coordinator in 2003 and I became the head coach last year.
Q. Do you have any interest in coaching at a higher level?
A. I have entertained it in the past. Where I am at in my life right now and coaching at the high school level allows me freedom to do the things that I need to do with my family and business. But I would still entertain going up to a higher level. I still want to pursue that, but it has to be when the time is right. For right now I am very happy at Pius and for the short future I’m not going anywhere.
Q. Growing up was there an athlete or coach you particularly admired and patterned yourself after?
A. I follow different athletes. I played football, baseball and wrestling my whole life. Professional athletes that I admire were Joe Montana, Nolan Ryan and Dave Winfield. Those were the top three athletes I follow and looked up to.
Q. What do you feel is the most important thing or things that you can teach your athletes?
A. I want to teach them to be accountable for what they are doing. What we are doing with our program this year is bigger then them individually. They are playing for themselves certainly, but they are playing for their family, school, program, alumni and it’s a lot bigger than them. That’s what I’m trying to get out of them, to realize it’s more than about them.
Q. How important is strength training and nutrition in your program?
A. We talk about strength training and nutrition a lot. Unfortunately being such a small school, guys do strength training all different times of the year and some of them are in between sports. Right now I think its more important for them to play more sports and get that experience.
Q. What kind of offense and defense do you like to run?
A. We’re a spread offense. We pass the ball to setup the run. For as much as people think we are just a passing team, in our best years we are very balanced. Last year was our best year since I have been calling the plays. It was our best balanced year and numbers. We had just under 5,000 all-purpose yards from last year. It was a huge year for us.
Defensively we play a 3-4. We are talking about a 4-3 defense too. I like the 3-4 because of our personnel. We don’t have the biggest kids in the world, but we are quick and athletic.
Q. Who is the best football player you ever coached against?
A. Hynoski, when we played him, he was a sophomore. But in that game he was a beast. Dan Latorre that year was a good and Drew Letcavage from Mount Carmel. We played against Knowledge Timmons from York. PJ Hill of Poly Prep was one of the best kids I coached against.
Q. Who is the best team you ever coached against?
A. Southern. It’s just the way they do things. When you show up and play them, they step on the field and it’s all business. They step on the field and expect to win the football game. There is no doubt in their minds that they will come out a winner. I looked at their program as something I want to model my program after. You watch them on the sideline and every kid looks like a football player.
Q. Do you want your athletes to play other sports?
A. Yes I want them to play other sports. There are some coaches that want kids to play one sport. I couldn’t do that since I played three sports. I think the kids to gain a lot playing other sports.
Q. Do you think 16 games is too much for high school teams?
A. I don’t think so. I hope we get the opportunity to play 16 games. I wish Pennsylvania would put in spring football. I hope it comes in a couple of years like Texas, California and Florida have. But then it might weaken a sport like baseball? I don’t mind playing 16 games, matter of fact we are jacked up about playing 16 games.
Q. What type of a game schedule would you most like to see? Do you like a tougher schedule to prepare you for the playoffs?
A. What we are playing for every year is a district championship. I feel we need a competitive schedule so we get tested throughout the year so when we make the playoffs we are ready to go.
Q. What are your goals/challenges for the 2011 season and what do you have coming back as a team?
A. We want to win our league (All-American) and win a district championship. We played the last two years in a district championship and came up short. It’s been a dagger in my side and in the kid’s side. What we talk about, its what we preach about and it’s what we want to get. We want to win a district championship. Because we know what comes next, the big time. We want to play for a state championship.
Q. How special is AJ Long to your program?
A. There are some kids that have a lot of talent and there are kids that let that talent get wasted. AJ doesn’t waste any of his talent. AJ is constantly going to camps. He plays AAU basketball or makes himself better in football. That kid doesn’t take many breaks. He works hard in the weight room during the off-season. He’s built up his body and his arm has gotten stronger. His leadership has gotten tremendously better. Last year as a freshman he was asked to lead kids that were two or three years older than him and he did an excellent job.
The main key for AJ is his leadership. He has all the physical tools. He can run and throw the ball. He doesn’t waste that talent and he studies and he wants to be good. He has the drive.
Q. Do you have a pre-game ritual?
A. We always say our prayers before we go out to the field. My pre-game ritual is, I try and do what ever I did the game before. If it was successful, I try and do the same things. I’m very superstitious. I don’t step on any lines on the field. I do the same things I did the week before. I even eat the same amount of donuts before the game.
Q. Final Question. How do you define a successful season?
A. For us it is winning the district championship. That’s our ultimate goal. Making the state playoffs. That would be a successful season.
