George sees progress despite winless record
by Matt Grantz, Assistant Editor
September 29, 2011
Mark George has served as the systems administrator at Leechburg High School. But this year, after 24 years coaching the Kiski Valley Lancers and six years coaching the junior high football team, George has taken over as the head coach of the
varsity football team. This interview with George occurred after three weeks of this season’s play.
TV: How hard has it been balancing your job as systems administrator with coaching?
George: It has been manageable. I have to put in time here [at the school]. If I have to do work in the evenings, I’ll go to football practice and I’ll come in here at night and do what I have to do because with the way my job works, I can’t just show up at seven o’clock in the morning and be done at three o’clock in the afternoon. So I do what I have to do. It involves weekends and nights to keep up with what I have to do here.
TV: Why did you want to be the high school football coach?
George: Because I played here. I graduated from Leechburg. I played for Leechburg. I believe that Leechburg football can be very good and that’s why, when the opportunity arose, I decided to apply for the position. Number two, because there is a long tradition here at Leechburg of good high school football and I was very fortunate to be a part of that when I played here.
TV: You mentioned playing high school football at Leechburg. Did you play in college?
George: Yes, at Geneva College.
TV: What differences have you noticed between coaching at the high school level and your other coaching experiences?
George: Because the players are older and more mature, they are able to pick up on things a lot quicker. That’s the biggest difference that I’ve seen. Naturally, the speed of the game is faster and the hitting is harder at the high school level.
TV: What changes have you made to the team since you took over?
George: The easy thing to say is that we are running a new offense and a new defense, but the other thing is we have really tried to build team unity with the players because if you want be successful on the field, you have to be successful as a team. To be successful as a team, you have to have a strong team and you have to build that team. That’s one of the changes we’re in the progress of trying to do right now.
TV: Are there any other changes you plan on making in the future?
George: I would like to get as many young men that go this school as possible to play. I think there are young men that don’t play right now, that if they would give football a chance, I think they would enjoy it. Definitely it’s a lot of hard work and it’s a commitment. Everybody knows that. I would like to see more of the young men here at Leechburg be a part of the football program.
TV: What has been the hardest part of coaching?
George: It’s not so much dealing with everything on the field and practice every day because I think we’re structured and I think we’re organized and we’re all working together to try to accomplish a goal. The most difficult thing is probably having to deal with outside distractions and making sure the players are focusing when they’re on the practice field, focusing on practice and not outside distractions.
TV: What is the best part of coaching?
George: The opportunity to work with the players. That is the best part of coaching and has always been the best part of
coaching. Getting to know these kids and getting to see them grow and develop as players and young men is the best part.
TV: What have been the bright spots as you coached this year?
George: I think we’ve progressed. We’ve played three games, and it’s no big secret we’re 0-3, but we’ve gotten better every game. The ultimate goal and the best statistic is to have the win rather than the loss, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and the thing is, we have progressed. I see that because I see the statistics every week. We are controlling the ball more than the opposition. We’ve done that the past two games, but we haven’t scored more points than the opposition. Turnovers, some big plays on defense have hurt us for sure, but I see the progress, I see the players start to understand what we’re trying to do and how we’re trying to compete and win games. I definitely think there have been some positive signs and, hopefully, with six more games we continue to move forward with that.
TV: What moment has stuck out the most from your 25 years of coaching?
George: There have been a lot [of moments] over my 25 years. But thinking of something in the recent past here at Leechburg, one of the most memorable moments was, on the first day of camp at 7:30 a.m., seeing 35 kids walk into that locker room when they didn’t have to be there. I was impressed. They didn’t have to be there. It’s August. What do you want to do? You have two weeks before school starts. You could sleep in, but you show up.
|
