Scholastic Notebook – 11/25/2011

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, November 25, 2011 | 1:18 PM

Chuck Wagner still plans to attend high school football games next fall. But for the first time in almost 50 years, he won’t be on the sideline as the coach.

Wagner, one of the most respected coaches in the WPIAL, decided earlier this week to retire as Springdale’s coach. He has been a head coach on the high school level for 47 years, including 19 seasons at Springdale. Count three years as an assistant at Bucknell University, and Wagner coached five decades.

"I think I’ll still be very interested in football," said the 76-year-old Wagner. "I’ll certainly still go to games and I’ll be in the stadium pulling for the Dynamos. But I’ll kind of just be out of the way and I’m looking forward to that.

"In the meantime, I plan to play more golf and do some other things, too. Right now, I’m still a representative for a printing company, so I’ll still keep busy selling."

And get this: Wagner and a former manager of his are working on a book on Wagner.

"That will take up some time," Wagner said.

Wagner met with Springdale’s players Monday to tell them of his retirement. Wagner said it was a tearful meeting. When he took over the Dynamos in 1993, they were the worst program in the WPIAL and were on one of the longest losing streaks in WPIAL history. But 10 years later, Springdale won a WPIAL championship under Wagner and made it to the title game again a few years later.

Wagner led Springdale to the WPIAL playoffs 10 consecutive seasons. Besides Springdale, he coached Oakmont for 10 seasons, Riverview for 15 and Fox Chapel for three. He finished with a record of 270-202-11 and is fourth on the WPIAL all-time list for wins. The only coaches who have won more games are Upper St. Clair’s Jim Render, Blackhawk’s Joe Hamilton and North Hills’ Jack McCurry.

"I gave this a lot of thought after the playoffs were over this year," Wagner said. "I’m going to be 77 years old Nov. 28. I just think I need to move on because I just don’t think I can continue to hang in there as tough as I have, and I don’t want to shortchange the program."

Wagner said in the past year or so he just didn’t have the same energy to coach that he had in the past. But he said his health is fine.

Wagner talked about how much his players meant to him, but also his coaching staff. He said parental interference was never a big problem for him.

"I had an open-door policy with parents," Wagner said. "When I sent a letter out to the parents at the beginning of the season, I gave them my home phone number, my cell phone number and I told them that any time they had a problem about something, they could give me a call and we could set up a meeting in my office. We would meet and honestly, there were very few things that weren’t pretty much resolved.

"I didn’t run away from any of that. We may not have settled everything after a meeting, but I think both sides always felt a lot better."

A Six Pack?

While Wagner retired this week, the winningest coach in WPIAL history is going for a milestone.

Upper St. Clair’s Render has won five WPIAL titles and has a chance to become only the fifth coach in WPIAL history to win six. Upper St. Clair plays North Allegheny in the Class AAAA final Saturday night at Heinz Field.

The others with six titles are Phil Bridenbaugh (New Castle), Art Walker (Mount Lebanon and Shady Side Academy), George Novak (Woodland Hills and Steel Valley) and Chuck Klausing (Braddock).

Bridenbaugh has seven titles, including one tie. Novak, Walker and Klausing have six. Klausing’s total includes one tie.

Football Coach’s Openings

Springdale wasn’t the only place where the head coach’s job came open recently.

Jefferson-Morgan’s school board voted Monday to open Jan Haiden’s position. Haiden had been coach for 20 seasons. The move was surprising, considering that Haiden had some successful seasons with the Rockets. They were 4-5 and 3-6 the past two seasons, but were 7-3 only two seasons ago.

Haiden had a 96-99-1 record in 20 seasons.

In other coaching news, Greg Meisner resigned as Hempfield’s coach. Meisner, a former Pitt and NFL player, had a 16-51 record in seven seasons as the Spartans’ coach. He hopes to stay on as Hempfield’s athletic director.

Remember This?

Aliquippa and Jeannette play Saturday at Heinz Field for the WPIAL Class AA championship. The last time these two teams met, it was one of the most remarkable games in the history of the WPIAL playoffs.

In the 2007 semifinals, Jeannette defeated Aliquippa, 70-48, in the highest scoring playoff game in the history of the WPIAL.

Two NFL players had big performances in the contest. Jeannette quarterback Terrelle Pryor had 421 yards offense and was involved in seven touchdowns. He rushed for 331 yards on 22 carries, scored five TDs and threw for 90 yards and two touchdowns.

Aliquippa star receiver Jonathan Baldwin had six catches for 180 yards.

This year’s game matches two programs that have 20 championships between them. Aliquippa has 13 and Jeannette seven.

Aliquippa also has lost in the title game eight times.

USC’s Park Selected to U.S. team

Upper St. Clair offensive lineman Ian Park has been selected to play for the U.S. under-19 national team that will play in the third annual International Bowl Feb. 1.

The U.S. team, comprised of high school players, will face a team of all stars ages 19 and under from outside the U.S. The game will be played at The Palace at Round Rock in Austin, Texas. The U.S. team will feature some of the top players from around the country.

Tags: Aliquippa, Hempfield, Jeannette, Jefferson-Morgan, Upper St. Clair, Woodland Hills