Wilde Lake has a new football coach for the first time in 37 years -- well, at least new to the position, if not to the school. Mike Harrison, who was named as the successor to longtime coach Doug DuVall yesterday, has been at Wilde Lake for decades.

Harrison, 45, played from 1978 to 1982 for DuVall, the school's only head football coach prior to Harrison's appointment. Harrison has been at Wilde Lake either as a statistician or assistant coach for all five of the Wildecats' state titles, the first of which came in 1985.

"He's the only choice," said DuVall last week, prior to his official retirement Monday. "He's the man for the job."

Harrison knows the Wildecats' system and players, so it figures to be a smooth transition for the Class 3A state runner-up.

"I played for Doug and worked as his assistant," Harrison said. "I don't have plans for any grand changes. I learned my football from Doug."

For principal Restia Whitaker and athletic director Vince Parnell, the decision was an easy one.

"It's obvious Mike Harrison bleeds green and gold," Parnell said.

Harrison, a UMBC graduate, has been a Wildecats' assistant football coach since 1987. In 2007 he was the Baltimore Touchdown Club's Assistant Coach of the Year. He's been both offensive and defensive coordinator. And he is the site director of the NFL high school player development program.

He was Wilde Lake's athletic director from 1999 through 2003, coached boys lacrosse in 1995 and 1996, and girls lacrosse from 1997 to 2008. He also teaches math.