From oldest coaches to new mullets: What we learned at YAIAA football media day
The York Daily Record hosted YAIAA football media day Tuesday, and it was an opportunity for reporters to get reacquainted with coaches and athletes.
But it was also an opportunity to pick up on fun, quirky tidbits that often get lost behind the scenes.
Here's what we learned Tuesday.
He’s ‘the old guy in the room now’
Red Lion’s Jesse Shay is getting ready to coach his 11th season. That makes him the longest tenured coach in the YAIAA.
“It’s wild,” Shay said.
“I can remember a time when every head coach was there 20, 30 years. To be the longest tenured at 11, kind of is crazy for me personally, but concerning for high school football,” he said. “We are starting to see those guys not be around because of how challenging coaching is.
“When I got (to Red Lion), (there were) guys like Brad Livingston and Mike Lippy and so many others. Jon Defoe. … Then you look around, and I’m the old guy in the room now.”
Littlestown’s Lippy previously held the title, coaching the Thunderbolts for 20 years before he retired before the 2023 season.
Dover’s Wayne Snelbaker and Delone Catholic's Corey Zortman are both entering their ninth seasons. Kennard-Dale's Chris Grube and York High's Russ Stoner are going into their eighth years.
The 33-year-old Grube recalled becoming Kennard-Dale's co-head coach midway through the 2015 season at age 24. Last year, he called Dallastown's incoming coach, Levi Murphy, to help give the 25-year-old confidence he could grow into the job
"For me to be one of the veteran coaches is kind of wild," Grube said. "When you think of football coaches, you think old guys with white hair who are stubborn. We're relatively young guys but the game is changing."
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Double duty for Irish coach
Coaching football can be a seven-day-a-week job from June to November, sometimes December.
Now imagine coaching another sport, while already running a varsity program.
York Catholic’s Matt Sentz pulls double duty in the fall, coaching the Irish on the gridiron and his daughter’s youth club soccer team. There are many nights when he runs from one practice to the other.
“I love coaching,” Sentz said. “For me, just being able to coach kids and help develop them and teach life lessons is always something I’ve enjoyed.”
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Wives: The behind-the-scene heroes
If you marry a football coach, you just might find yourself as a single mom during the season.
“It’s tough because during football season, they aren’t going to see dad very often,” said Kennard-Dale coach Christopher Grube, who has two kids with his wife, Tracy. “Weekends are so important. We have Saturday morning practice, but then I shut it down. The rest of Saturday is my family time.”
“I make sure I spoil the hell out of her when football season is over.”
Sentz and his wife, Sarah, are constantly swapping schedules to keep up with their three daughters’ activities.
“Having supportive wives that come to the games, understand that we are going to have late practices, is a big part of our success,” Sentz said.
Shay said that the responsibility his wife, Ashley, takes on “means the world” to him.
“We’ve got three little kids,” he said. “From at least August to November, she becomes a single parent. She does that because she knows I love this. She takes on a tremendous amount of the home and parenting responsibility to allow me to do this.”
The intangibles: Best hair? Shoes? Tallest? Best dressed?
There’s more to media day than just football talk. There’s the intangibles.
Who has the best hair? This goes to York Suburban’s Dylan Hopwood and York Catholic’s John Watson for their classic mullets. However, Hanover quarterback Gavin Trish was a contender with his shaggy locks dyed blonde.
Trish, who dyed his hair for Hanover's state-playoff baseball run, said he has a deal with his new head coach Jarrel Burnett to buzz his head if the Nighthawks make the District 3 playoffs.
Who wore the best shoes? Central York coach Gerry Yonchiuk impressed with his white-and-orange kicks.
Best dressed? West York head coach Ron Miller and his players William Baker and Kyan Moore all wore dress shirts and ties. Miller, who previously coached the Bulldogs from 2006 to 2014, started the tradition during his first stint as an homage to former Spring Grove coach Gregg Trone — who he said was always the best dressed at league meetings.
Who, literally, loomed over our staff?
We took an unofficial survey, and the tallest football player at media day goes to Hanover’s Mason Kress, who checked in a 6-foot-4.5 inches. Right behind him: Spring Grove’s Michael Hershey and Eastern York’s Justin Strausbaugh at 6-4, followed by Littlestown’s Alex Popoff at 6-3.
However, York High's Michael McMonigle is 6-foot-6 and checked in to media day over Zoom with his head coach, Russ Stoner, enjoying a vacation at the Jersey Shore.
‘That’s my coach’
York County Tech coach Scott Mathena didn’t recognize Fairfield coach Larry Devilbiss.
In his defense, it’s been years since they saw each other, and most of the time Mathena saw him, Devilbiss was wearing a football helmet.
“That’s my coach over there,” Devilbiss said. “He was my coach in college, at Frostburg.”
Neither knew the other was coaching a Division III school. And now they will face each other on Oct. 14.
“We are going to have a ton of fun,” Devilbiss said of that game. “He’s part of my football family, and I’m part of his.”
Dad and coach
Brody Bittle must be used to seeing his father on the Littlestown sideline. Corey Bittle was an assistant coach under Mike Lippy for his son’s first two seasons.
This year, Corey Bittle is the boss. And he said that doesn’t change anything where Brody is concerned.
“I’ve coached him before in youth basketball and in track, and he will play when he deserves to play,” Corey Bittle said. “It actually helps having him around, because he can contact kids for me and he helped get the uniforms out.”
Corey said he tries to separate being a coach from being the dad, but every once in a while he needs a nudge from his wife. “She’ll tell me he needs Dad,” he said.
Brody was a Division III honorable mention all-star at safety last year, but also saw time at quarterback.
Quick round before practice
Littlestown senior Zyan Herr started playing golf when he was about 5 years old, but he didn’t play in high school until last year.
The school doesn’t field a team, so Herr tags along whenever Hanover plays and his finishes don’t count toward team points. And after his round he heads to football practice.
It’s not uncommon for soccer players to serve as kicker on football teams, but golf and football in the same season? That’s a new one.
And it’s not like Herr is some slouch on the football field. He was a first-team all-star at wide receiver and corner back last season and led his team with 693 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
“My parents have always told me to do as many sports as possible,” said Herr, who is also a first-team basketball all-star and runs track. “That way I have multiple options in case one sport doesn’t work out. I like keeping my options open.”
Herr primarily plays at Quail Valley in Littlestown but hopes for a chance to play Pinehurst No. 2 in his native North Carolina.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Old coaches to best hair: What we learned at YAIAA football media day
