Colin C. Rhodes: Notebook: North Marion offensive coordinator Yoho takes break from coaching
May 17—FAIRMONT — After nine seasons at North Marion and 33 straight overall, Huskies' offensive coordinator Mark Yoho is taking a break.
"I'm not saying I'm done coaching forever; I needed some time away," Yoho said. "I've always been a teacher first and a coach second. I feel like I try to do a really good job at both of those. I have plenty to do with my teaching job, and my involvement with football would be whatever they need me to do without getting in the way."
Yoho, who orchestrated the Huskies' offense en route to a state title game appearance, teaches business classes at North Marion High. He received his education from Fairmont State as a business education major. While at Fairmont State, Yoho got his first coaching gig thanks to his uncle in Mannington.
"My uncle was the head of the Mannington Pop Warner Association," Yoho said. "He said they wanted a young guy to help coach the little kids and Pop Warner, so in the fall I started coaching Pop Warner football and loved it, and then I decided then that if I was going to do that I needed to become a teacher. So I changed from a finance and banking major to a business education major so I could become a teacher and a coach."
Yoho then coached at Fairmont State for a year in 1991 and a year for North Marion in 1992. He then moved to North Carolina and coached high school football for 15 years before moving back to West Virginia and coached at Grafton High for seven years. Yoho made his return to North Marion in 2015.
He knew in the back of his head he wouldn't be staying in North Carolina for long and moved back to West Virginia when his oldest daughter was four-years-old. He got the coaching job at Grafton because the previous coach, Mike Skinner, and a business teacher both resigned at the end of 2007. Yoho heard about it from a friend he graduated with who was still in Fairmont.
"Jeff Freeman, who's the prosecuting attorney in Fairmont, is friends with the prosecuting attorney in Taylor County," Yoho said. "The prosecuting attorney from Taylor County asked my buddy Jeff if he had any friends that were football coaches... He said 'Yeah, I do,' so he called me, and it just so happened that the job I needed and what I did opened up at Grafton."
Yoho has multiple favorite memories of coaching, including the 2005 season as an assistant at Eastern Alamance in North Carolina. The team went 0-11 in 2004 and had a 22-game losing streak two games into 2005. Facing the state champions of the class below, Eastern Alamance won and finished the season 9-4.
"That game was one of the best memories I have because I knew that we had turned the corner," Yoho said. "That team, when they were seniors, ended up going to the eastern finals, which is the Final Four in North Carolina, which was a pretty big deal considering in our class of AAA there's 96 schools."
His favorite moment as a member of North Marion's staff was in 2015 when the Huskies beat Buckhannon-Upshur. Like at Eastern Alamance, Yoho said it was another moment he thought the team had turned the corner.
Lastly, Yoho said that he's been influenced by so many players he's met over the years. He said it's "an awesome way to spend my career."
Fairmont State finishes spring in regional, conference play
The tennis, and golf teams at Fairmont State finished their seasons in their respective NCAA regional tournaments recently. The baseball team also finished its season in the Mountain East Conference tournament.
Junior golfer Alex Turowski finished 11th in the Atlantic/East Regional as the only participant from Fairmont State. The regional was held at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling. Turowski shot a seven-over par for the tournament and did not advance.
The men's tennis team made it past West Virginia Wesleyan in the first round but fell to Charleston in the Atlantic Region semifinal, mimicking its path through the MEC tournament. Fairmont State beat West Virginia Wesleyan 4-0 and later lost to Charleston 4-0.
The women's tennis team also lost to Charleston in the Atlantic Region semifinal, falling 4-1. The team beat Mercyhurst 4-3 in the first round.
Falcons baseball had a strong run through the MEC tournament but was eliminated a game shy of the final. Fairmont State beat Glenville State and West Virginia State before losing the first time to Charleston in the double-elimination bracket. Fairmont State faced West Virginia State in the loser's bracket final and lost 15-14 to end the season.
Fairmont State athletics enters its summer break before returning on Aug. 29 for football's home opener against Seton Hill in Greensburg, Pa.
Reach Colin C. Rhodes at 304-367-2548
