Perhaps a bit overshadowed this time of year because of the high school basketball playoffs, the great sucess that local college have had this season. Gannon and Edinboro are both ranked in the top 15 of the nation and Behrend had another 20-win season and earned a berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Brian Flanagan's resignation at Prep says a lot about the kind of intensity and time you need to be a winner at the high school level these days, especially for a school like Cathedral Prep that uses it's athletics as a prime recruiting tool to attract student-athletes. Realize that most coaches do it for love of the game and the kids. It's not for the money. Some coaches, who don't work for the school district, have 40-hour a week full time jobs elsewhere. And it's not just showing up for the games and practices. You have to watch film, scout other teams, deal with player problems, parent problems, etc. Imagine working your job, then getting on a bus and travelling that night, coaching a game, back on the bus to go home and having to get up to go to the work the next morning. I think that's why, more and more, you don't see coaches stick around for years and years like they used to. The demands are tougher and it's not an easy job. You really have to love it.