Veteran coach Messich still has same energy, enthusiasm
Twenty-nine years can be a long time for anybody at one job, but for Mapletown’s football coach George Messich, the 29 years have been blessed and memorable.
The veteran coach will be roaming around the Maples’ sideline for the 29th time in 2011, and still shows the same energy and enthusiasm he showed in his first year on the job in 1982.
“When I first took the job in 1982, I was still a young kid,” Messich said. “A lot has changed here and in high school football in general, but I still love the opportunity of teaching young kids. When I graduated from college, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to come back to the area that I grew up in. This area has always been a part of me.”
Messich, a Mapletown High School graduated, got hired at his alma mater to be on the coaching staff and teach at the elementary school. He also assisted at Waynesburg Central, but came back to Mapletown to take over the head coaching reins.
Before becoming head coach for the Maples, Messich started out his collegiate career at Potomac Junior College, and then received a scholarship from the University of Pittsburgh in 1975.
A year later, he was a starting offensive tackle for Pitt, which won the national championship that same season.
Messich has seen a lot on the high school football landscape in southwestern Pennsylvania, including a lot of changes in the sport, in the athletes and in the atmosphere around a game every Friday night in the fall.
“For me it’s always amazing how many kids that I coach now, that I coached their parents or uncles,” Messich said. “I grow up here my whole life, and that is one advantage of being here is seeing the family connection through the years.”
“In the late 1970’s and early 80’s, there was nothing else to do but to play sports. Now, you got TV and computers, and all these kids have their own cars now. When I grew up, we were lucky to have the car for one night a week. It was either you play sports, or you are going to working back at the house.”
“The WPIAL is still a hotbed for recruiting, but not as much as it use to be because of all the coal mines in the ’70s and ’80s. The economy has changed, and people are moving away from the area, and that has hurt enrollment in schools and rosters on football teams.”
There are a lot of memories that Messich has from his senior night game, through the losing and winning seasons he has had throughout his coaching tenure.
“There are so many memories,” Messich said. “One that I always remember was in the ’80s and we were at Cornell in the mud. We were down by four points, and we came back to win it with an 80-yard pitch-and-catch with my next door neighbor’s son scoring the touchdown. I have coached a lot of great athletes as well and have been blessed to do that. I coached Derek Bochna who led the WPIAL in rushing and went on to Penn State.
“The 2005 season will always be special because we went undefeated in conference play and got to host a playoff game. I remember all the wins that year, but I also remember the two losses. We lost to Bentworth in an exhibition by one point to start the year, and then we saw them again in the postseason and they beat us by one point in overtime.”
Messich also said that one of his other greatest coaching moments was being able to coach his two sons, Mark and Matt.
The veteran coach also gives huge amount of thanks to his wife Linda, who is also Mapletown’s Athletic Director, and the close group of coaches in the conference that has made it fun to play against these last couple of decades.
And, as the saying goes, all things must come to an end, but for Messich, he does not see the end of the road anytime soon.
“When I lose that excitement and thrill over Friday nights, then I will know it’s time to step down.” Messich said. “But I still have that passion and love for this game. On the night before camp this season, I was like a little kid on Christmas Eve; I couldn’t wait for the next day. I still get excited for the games and to see these kids mature both on and off the field. I have been truly blessed here at Mapletown.”