What are the benefits and what are the drawbacks to coaching at a bigger school, Class 3A, than a small Class 1A school such as Havre de Grace?

I thought there would be more kids on the team, but I guess it’s probably about 10 more, so one of the advantages you have is that you can sub a little more. Kids can get a little rest. At Havre de Grace, we pretty much had just one string. If someone went down then we were in trouble. You can hit at little bit more in practice. You can be more physical in practice. There’s just more things you can do. At Havre de Grace, we had to do half-line scrimmages, but at Aberdeen we can do full scrimmages. We can get a lot of work in whereas at Havre de Grace, we couldn’t do that because of numbers. And Havre de Grace is different. It was different in all of its settings. It’s more of a town-type school. It’s right in the little town, so you know everybody. Everybody pretty much knows you. It’s more family based. The field’s right off the street. I went to school there, so I know a lot of the people. At Aberdeen, it’s a little different. It’s bigger. People come from different areas. You don’t have a whole bunch of tradition with the kids. A lot of their parents went to a different school. You have military kids. You’re dealing with different kids who don’t really understand the dynamics of the school. If you go to Havre de Grace, mostly likely your parents went there or someone in your family, so it’s a lot different in that way, but it’s all good in its own way.

What has been the main factor in the Eagles getting off to a 4-0 start?

It’s not surprising. The coaching staff, we expected it. We don’t expect to lose anyway (laughs). I’m fortunate enough that my coaches came with me, so we didn’t have to go over and reteach new things like that. We pretty much just picked up where we left off. With the team, it’s almost a whole new batch anyway. There’s only 20-21 kids back on the team which is the same kind of turnover you have every year, so it’s pretty much business as usual for us. And we have a really good coach staff. We picked up Tommy Polley [former Dunbar star who played in the NFL] as our defensive coordinator and he does a great job with the kids, so I have to attribute it to my coaching staff. I don’t micromanage. I think you let your coaches coach and I think that’s been a benefit for the kids. And they’ve been buying into what we’re teaching. They’re all really good kids, so that helps a lot.

What kind of attitude has emerged this fall among the players in terms of academics and athletics – there have been academic issues in the past and it must be difficult for kids to stay motivated when you're 1-9?

We didn’t run across any of that where I was from. Just about my whole team went to college. We might have had 10 seniors and 9 out of 10 always went to college and it’s pretty much what we expect up here, preaching to these kids how they get to the next level of student athlete. We have study hall and all the kids want to go to the next level so it seems. We challenge them, “Do your part, because I’m going to do mine. The opportunity’s there, just don’t pass it up." They’ve been doing quite well in that. The attitude is great on the field too. They work hard and I honestly believe kids will give you what you expect of them. I haven’t had anyone say anything or act as though they don’t want to do what we need to do. We have good captains. I tell the captains, “You’ve got to lead and they will follow you.” Winning always helps too. Those first couple wins, the kids bought into what we’re doing, so I think they’re all aboard now.

What’s going to be the key to Friday’s game with North Harford, which has been the county’s dominant program for a few years now?

I think execution, taking care of the ball. We’d been having problems lining up on defense and I think we’ve made those adjustments and that’s pretty much it. We just tell the kids, “Do your job and you’ll be fine. Make sure you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing and everything else just takes care of itself.” North Harford, they’re tough. They play to the last whistle. We played a tight game with them at Havre de Grace last year (29-20) and I think they just dug a little deeper than we did and they made a couple big plays and they came out with the victory. They’ve always been a team that’s been very opportunistic. They take advantage of your mistakes, so we need to execute and be where we need to be. I’m looking forward to a good effort. It’s more mental than anything for me. I know we’re in great shape. They run the option and normally, [defending the option is] just a matter of people doing their job. One person is supposed to be on this guy and another person is supposed to be on that guy and if one messes up, then the option is successful. We have to limit our mistakes and, hopefully, let them make the mistakes. Turnovers usually decide the game. Hopefully, we’ll cause them more turnovers and we’ll take care of the ball, because usually the team with the least amount of turnovers comes out ahead.