Interesting Eastern H.S. Football news...
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Interesting Eastern H.S. Football news...
Deibler soon to make Steel-High history
Rob Deibler hasn't won more football games than any other coach in Steelton-Highspire's unmatchable history.
But he will. Soon.
Deibler, who took over the program in 1999, needs just one more victory to post more than any other head coach at Steelton/Steel-High.
When it comes, it will be win No. #63.
Sixty-three? That's it?
One would think a program that's been around for 113 years would have produced one of those 300-win mega-monsters like George Curry at Berwick (now at Wyoming Valley West) or Mike Pettine at Central Bucks West (now retired) or crusty Jim Render (still crusty but successful at Upper St. Clair).
But not at Steelton.
The reason is simple: Steelton, and its Steel-High successor, has been at the forefront of a number of things related to high school football, including the hiring and firing coaches.
The school with the highest number of all-time football victories -- 641 by the count of P.I.A.A. historian Dr. Roger Saylor, 668 by the good folks at Steelton, which includes victories against non-high school teams (Dr. Saylor does not recognize those) -- hasn't let the coach's chair get very warm for very long.
Steelton has had "27" head coaches, none of whom has coached for more than "11" years. The champion: E.C. Taggert, who coached from 1904-14.
The winning percentage champion is Mickey Minnich, whose Steel-High teams went 38-5-1 from 1977-80 and claimed a pair of league championships during two 11-0 seasons.
But the most successful in terms of victories was Joe Shevock, who was 62-30-2 from 1948-57, the last season being the first year of the Steelton and Highspire merger.
Now that total has been matched by Deibler, whose record stands at 62-25 heading into tomorrow's home game with Scotland.
There are plenty of reasons to celebrate the Deibler era at Steel-High. Well, the second Deibler era: Jim Deibler, Rob's father, coached the Rollers to a 33-11-1 record in 31/3 seasons in the early 1980s.
Among Rob's "62" victories are four District # 3-(A) championships, a trio of Mid-Penn Liberty Division titles and a renewed pride after the Rollers start slipping off the midstate map in the early 1990s.
Certainly, Deibler has benefited from good timing. Steel-High, its pride notwithstanding, had become uncompetitive in the big-school division of the Mid-Penn Conference. Even so, it took some courage for John Beck, who coached the Rollers from 1994-98, to buck a century of tradition and pull the trigger on the Rollers' drop from Class (AAAA) to Class (A) in 1997.
The move was providential. After a weird transitional year in '97, the Rollers won the D#3-(A) title in 1998.
Into this new world stepped Deibler, who had been an assistant head coach at Steel-High under Scott Feldman and was a member of The Greatest Coaching Staff Ever Assembled at Bishop McDevitt during the Crusaders' fantastic run in the mid-1990s.
(Yes, yes, I know the gold standard for coaching staffs was George Chaump's at John Harris in the 1960s that included future head coaches Minnich, Ray Erney Jr., Harry Chapman III, and Jim Deibler, among others, but those guys at McDevitt were so much fun. Remind us to write about the way the McD staff scouted the 1995 PIAA Class (AA) West Championship game between Burrell and Tyrone.)
Regardless, Rob Deibler was the right guy in the right place at the right time. A 1984 Steel-High grad, "Deibs" played quarterback for his dad, helping Steel-High to the 1982 Mid-Penn Division I title and the 1983 District #3-(AAA) crown.
He's a good offensive X and O guy -- he admits leaving defense to coordinator Tom Klugh -- but his strongest asset is probably player management. Deibler knows that a cookie-cutter, jarhead approach at Steel-High just doesn't work. So he doesn't use it.
The players have responded. Turnouts are good. Discipline has not been a serious issue during his reign. Enthusiasm has remained high. All abetted, of course, by Steel-High's victories on the field.
Although it's rare that we make a big deal out of a coach's 63rd victory, we will tip our hat to Rob whenever No. #63 occurs. After all, if it's big in Steelton, it's big in the midstate.
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CHECKING POLICY AT CV:
There's been a sudden buzz that Cumberland Valley is considering switching home games from Friday nights to Saturday afternoons because of a variety of problems.
Surprisingly enough, there's a kernel of truth to that, however unlikely such a drastic switch would be.
Athletic director Dave Bitting said yesterday that the school's athletic council will meet this morning to discuss gnawing issues that have nothing to do with the Eagles' performance on the field but some things that have occurred outside the big green rectangle.
"We're going to talk about a number of things, including the number of students who have attended events while under the influence of alcohol and the concern we have about the number of elementary and middle school students who are attending games unchaperoned," Bitting said.
Will the athletic council discuss moving games from Fridays to Saturdays?
"It's one of the things we'll discuss," Bitting said. "But I couldn't speculate at all about that until we meet."
Bully for CV! The chances that the school will take such a step are minute, in our opinion, but the fact that the school is willing to address these issues -- Bitting said there will be increased security at the three remaining home games -- should be championed.
We have no doubt that the issues plaguing CV are not isolated, although we cannot chronicle any other specific problems at other schools. We hope that other districts and private schools acknowledge what Cumberland Valley has acknowledged if they do have similar difficulties, and we hope they will take the same forthright approach.
And we applaud Bitting's willingness to discuss this in public. There is nothing gained by sweeping the problems under the rug, especially when it seems an increasing number of parents have decided that schools and their events are de facto nannies.
Two bucks to get rid of your kid(s) for four hours? What a bargain!
We hope CV won't move games to Saturdays. But thank goodness the school is going proactive.
Rob Deibler hasn't won more football games than any other coach in Steelton-Highspire's unmatchable history.
But he will. Soon.
Deibler, who took over the program in 1999, needs just one more victory to post more than any other head coach at Steelton/Steel-High.
When it comes, it will be win No. #63.
Sixty-three? That's it?
One would think a program that's been around for 113 years would have produced one of those 300-win mega-monsters like George Curry at Berwick (now at Wyoming Valley West) or Mike Pettine at Central Bucks West (now retired) or crusty Jim Render (still crusty but successful at Upper St. Clair).
But not at Steelton.
The reason is simple: Steelton, and its Steel-High successor, has been at the forefront of a number of things related to high school football, including the hiring and firing coaches.
The school with the highest number of all-time football victories -- 641 by the count of P.I.A.A. historian Dr. Roger Saylor, 668 by the good folks at Steelton, which includes victories against non-high school teams (Dr. Saylor does not recognize those) -- hasn't let the coach's chair get very warm for very long.
Steelton has had "27" head coaches, none of whom has coached for more than "11" years. The champion: E.C. Taggert, who coached from 1904-14.
The winning percentage champion is Mickey Minnich, whose Steel-High teams went 38-5-1 from 1977-80 and claimed a pair of league championships during two 11-0 seasons.
But the most successful in terms of victories was Joe Shevock, who was 62-30-2 from 1948-57, the last season being the first year of the Steelton and Highspire merger.
Now that total has been matched by Deibler, whose record stands at 62-25 heading into tomorrow's home game with Scotland.
There are plenty of reasons to celebrate the Deibler era at Steel-High. Well, the second Deibler era: Jim Deibler, Rob's father, coached the Rollers to a 33-11-1 record in 31/3 seasons in the early 1980s.
Among Rob's "62" victories are four District # 3-(A) championships, a trio of Mid-Penn Liberty Division titles and a renewed pride after the Rollers start slipping off the midstate map in the early 1990s.
Certainly, Deibler has benefited from good timing. Steel-High, its pride notwithstanding, had become uncompetitive in the big-school division of the Mid-Penn Conference. Even so, it took some courage for John Beck, who coached the Rollers from 1994-98, to buck a century of tradition and pull the trigger on the Rollers' drop from Class (AAAA) to Class (A) in 1997.
The move was providential. After a weird transitional year in '97, the Rollers won the D#3-(A) title in 1998.
Into this new world stepped Deibler, who had been an assistant head coach at Steel-High under Scott Feldman and was a member of The Greatest Coaching Staff Ever Assembled at Bishop McDevitt during the Crusaders' fantastic run in the mid-1990s.
(Yes, yes, I know the gold standard for coaching staffs was George Chaump's at John Harris in the 1960s that included future head coaches Minnich, Ray Erney Jr., Harry Chapman III, and Jim Deibler, among others, but those guys at McDevitt were so much fun. Remind us to write about the way the McD staff scouted the 1995 PIAA Class (AA) West Championship game between Burrell and Tyrone.)
Regardless, Rob Deibler was the right guy in the right place at the right time. A 1984 Steel-High grad, "Deibs" played quarterback for his dad, helping Steel-High to the 1982 Mid-Penn Division I title and the 1983 District #3-(AAA) crown.
He's a good offensive X and O guy -- he admits leaving defense to coordinator Tom Klugh -- but his strongest asset is probably player management. Deibler knows that a cookie-cutter, jarhead approach at Steel-High just doesn't work. So he doesn't use it.
The players have responded. Turnouts are good. Discipline has not been a serious issue during his reign. Enthusiasm has remained high. All abetted, of course, by Steel-High's victories on the field.
Although it's rare that we make a big deal out of a coach's 63rd victory, we will tip our hat to Rob whenever No. #63 occurs. After all, if it's big in Steelton, it's big in the midstate.
============================================================
CHECKING POLICY AT CV:
There's been a sudden buzz that Cumberland Valley is considering switching home games from Friday nights to Saturday afternoons because of a variety of problems.
Surprisingly enough, there's a kernel of truth to that, however unlikely such a drastic switch would be.
Athletic director Dave Bitting said yesterday that the school's athletic council will meet this morning to discuss gnawing issues that have nothing to do with the Eagles' performance on the field but some things that have occurred outside the big green rectangle.
"We're going to talk about a number of things, including the number of students who have attended events while under the influence of alcohol and the concern we have about the number of elementary and middle school students who are attending games unchaperoned," Bitting said.
Will the athletic council discuss moving games from Fridays to Saturdays?
"It's one of the things we'll discuss," Bitting said. "But I couldn't speculate at all about that until we meet."
Bully for CV! The chances that the school will take such a step are minute, in our opinion, but the fact that the school is willing to address these issues -- Bitting said there will be increased security at the three remaining home games -- should be championed.
We have no doubt that the issues plaguing CV are not isolated, although we cannot chronicle any other specific problems at other schools. We hope that other districts and private schools acknowledge what Cumberland Valley has acknowledged if they do have similar difficulties, and we hope they will take the same forthright approach.
And we applaud Bitting's willingness to discuss this in public. There is nothing gained by sweeping the problems under the rug, especially when it seems an increasing number of parents have decided that schools and their events are de facto nannies.
Two bucks to get rid of your kid(s) for four hours? What a bargain!
We hope CV won't move games to Saturdays. But thank goodness the school is going proactive.