Back in November the administration at St. Ed’s announced that the “school has decided to move in another direction with the varsity football program.” That direction has started to take shape with the announcement this month that Mark Gowin will replace Bill Motta as head coach.
The decision to part ways with Motta after 11 years stunned many followers of St. Ed’s football, but Gowin openly chose to come out of semi-retirement and present a very impressive set of credentials for his candidacy to fill the position.
“After the football season ended and they were going to make a change, I called Mr. Mersky and asked him about it,” Gowin told us, referring to Head of School Mike Mersky. “We had a number of meetings after Thanksgiving. Coaching was the part of my job I missed the most since I retired. The relationships and the opportunities to be with young people, and to coach them with your peers on the coaching staff, there is just nothing like that.”
Gowin has been a part-time consultant “in the student life area” at St. Ed’s for two years. Prior to that he was the head football coach at two high schools in the Washington, D.C. area for a total of 34 years. He also held positions as the director of athletics and dean of students.
“It’s always been in the back of my mind that I would love to coach again,” Gowin continued. “But the opportunity just never presented itself until now. I’m familiar with the school now and I like the people here. It’s a very good academic school, very much like the schools I worked for in the past. That was a big part of it, so the idea of getting back into coaching intrigued me.
“Even though I’ve never met coach Motta, I’ve heard nothing but good things about him. They’ve obviously had some success here, including just this last year (7-4). The one game I did see I could tell the kids were playing with enthusiasm and passion. I felt that very much in the game I watched.
“The numbers are smaller than I’m used to working with, but I’m looking forward to that. In a new setting you want to get to know the kids coming back, and you want to find out if they know other student-athletes who might help us. The best seller of any program is the student-athlete himself.
“I’ve met with some of the players, and my plan now is to get to know them beyond the football field. I want to start building relationships, finding out about their families, what they enjoy, what their college aspirations are.
“Kids want to be part of something successful, and I want them to like our style of coaching. This will be a full-fledged varsity program. No way does anyone in the administration want to downsize. We’re going to do all we can to make it fun and achieve some success. I want the kids to buy in, and this year will be our starting point.
“I was able to secure my staff for the coming season. Assistant coaches Rich Schofield, Brad Greenaway and Alonzo Phillips were here last year, and I’m excited about that. We have three weeks of spring practice to try to solidify some of the things we will be doing this summer in the preseason.
“I like a wide-open offense, so if we have a great thrower we are going to zing the ball around. If he is a better option guy, and we’ve got some running backs, we’ll do that. On defense I prefer multiple looks, but you have to understand your depth and make it simple enough to understand.
“I’ve done all of those different things and developed a very thick playbook over the years adapting to the personnel I’ve had. We want to see exactly what these guys can and can’t do, and we won’t know that until we can watch some film and get out on the practice field. That will give me a better idea how to scheme about what we want to pursue.”
So at age 67 the newly appointed head coach reenters familiar territory and sees no need to formulate a drastically new approach. He doesn’t seem to be the type to walk on eggshells, either.
“With the success that I have had, and for someone with my experience and background, I don’t think you worry about what you are following,” Gowin said. “Hopefully we can build on any success coach Motta had, but there are a lot of ways to do things. I don’t know what his way was, but I know what my way is.
“I’m very confident that I can move the program forward in a way the school wants me to. And I’m excited about doing all of this again.”
