Local football coaches Marchegiani, Mahoney, Doherty selfless during Hall of Fame ceremony
Selflessness was the theme of the night.
The three coaches with local ties inducted into the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Sunday deflected any praise onto their families, assistant coaches, players and parents.
“Any head coach who thinks that he is going to be able to do this without assistant coaches, in my opinion, is sadly mistaken,” Phil Marchegiani said, adding later, “Without the parents, you don’t have the players; without the players, you don’t have the coaches.
Marchegiani, the former three-time Super Bowl-winning coach at defunct Marian High, was among seven coaches honored at the DoubleTree Hotel in Milford. Marlborough’s 20-year head coach Sean Mahoney and former Framingham coach Gary Doherty were also enshrined along with Shepherd Hill's Chris Lindstrom, Doherty's Sean Mulcahy, Dom Savio/Dennis-Yarmouth’s Reggie Lanciani and North Attleborough’s Paul Sullivan.
Marchegiani’s speech at the event highlighted the support of his wife Janet and son Tyler, whose lives were interrupted because of schedule changes and the many hours that took him away from home.
“First and foremost, the commitment that my immediate family made as personal sacrifices was tremendous,” Marchegiani told the Daily News in a phone conversation. “Without that, Sunday’s event doesn’t happen.”
The Fitchburg State graduate coached at Marian for 22 years, winning Eastern Mass. Super Bowl titles in 1992, 2001 and 2002. He won 145 games and 10 Catholic Central championships at the school, which closed in 2018. Marchegiani coached at Ayer-Shirley as well.
Marian closes: Cherish the memories of Marian High School
Marchegiani also highlighted his mentors - including his older brother Jerry and longtime high school Connecticut coach Jude Kelly – and the man who hired him at Marian in 1988, athletic director Bill Howland.
The men he coached alongside received recognition, too.
“You’re only going to be as good as the assistant coaches you have,” Marchegiani said. “And there were so many.”
One was Joe Beveridge, currently Westborough’s head coach.
Marchegiani was Beveridge’s seventh-grade science teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Hudson, and when Beveridge served as a substitute teacher at JFK in 2001, he approached Marchegiani about a coaching position at Marian.
“He brought me on board and spent a tremendous amount of time with me teaching me about everything on and off the field,” Beveridge said in a text.
Beveridge recalled how detail-oriented Marchegiani was. Marian began a season with fumbling problems and Marchegiani researched the nation’s colleges to learn who fumbled the least. His discovery was Auburn, which included Carnell “Cadillac” Williams and Ronnie Brown, who both eventually had 1,000-yard NFL seasons.
“(Marchegiani) somehow found the RB coach for Auburn’s phone number and had called him about what they did to prevent fumbling,” said Beveridge, who coached under Marchegiani for seven seasons. “We didn’t have a fumble the rest of the season.”
Marlborough’s Sean Mahoney succeeds due to ‘tireless work ethic’
Getting Mahoney to talk about himself is also a chore. Others did it for him.
Mahoney, who was hired at Marlborough in 2004 and has 150 victories to his credit, still coaches the Panthers.
“Coaching high school athletics has changed over the last decade and to Sean’s credit he has continued to succeed because of his tireless work ethic,” said Marlborough athletic director Jeff Rudzinsky. “There isn’t a day he’s not watching some sort of football film, learning new possible offenses or defenses that will fit with what he has to work with.
“Many coaches get stuck doing ‘what we do’ where Sean will adapt to the talent and players he has.”
Two of his captains from last season also weighed in.
Miguel Borges and Tyler Moore both said Mahoney will not hesitate to start a second-string player if the starter is not giving full effort.
"He makes sure you know what you did wrong and if that includes putting another player in for you until you learn your mistake, he does that," Borges said. "He plays you if you care and have heart, which I thought was really unique."
"He's really smart on the field and if you just do what he says and trust him, you'll have success," Moore added. "And he really cares about how his players do off the field too. He's always making sure kids stay out of trouble and if people do get in trouble, he holds everybody accountable."
Mahoney did offer his thoughts on his induction in his usual self-effacing manner.
“It’s an honor that is shared with every coach and every player who wore the orange and black at Marlborough over the last 20 years,” he said in a text.
Gary Doherty: ‘It wasn’t about us’
Doherty coached at Framingham for 19 years and had just six winning seasons. But his teams won seven times against Thanksgiving rival Natick and in 2000, the Flyers won their only Super Bowl.
He was also athletic director at Framingham before leaving in 2017 to coach football and serve as AD at Bishop Feehan. He is currently as assistant at Taunton High. His father, John “Duffy” Doherty, was inducted into the Mass. Hall of Fame in 1992 after leading Norwood to two Super Bowl titles.
Gary Doherty said he didn’t tell many outside of his family about his enshrinement, but was surprised when his brother John traveled from California to attend the ceremony. Another brother, Kevin, made the trip from Virginia and his sister Christine flew in from Florida.
“I’m not comfortable talking about it,” Gary said of his induction. “It’s a team game and you’re coaching it that way. It wasn’t about us. It’s always about the kids and the team.
“No one ever came before the team. That’s what it’s about.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Area high school football coaches recall Hall of Fame ceremony
