CAIRNBROOK — Shade High School went out of state to find its new football coach.
Former Marine Corps Maj. Eugene Boley was hired by the Shade school board in April and recently moved to the area from his last position in northern Georgia.
“These kids here at Shade want to play hard and be competitive,” Boley said. “I don’t believe that there isn’t any football team that is not savable if someone is willing to put the hard work into it and do the right things.”
Boley replaced Pete Kuharchek, who resigned after two seasons with the Panthers. Kuharchek had a two-year record of 3-15, including last year’s 1-8 mark.
An Akron, Ohio, native, Boley is the fourth head coach at Shade since 2000.
The teams have gone 16-65 in the span.
The Panthers’ last winning season was in 1998, a 6-3 mark under Rich Renzi.
“Shade had some pretty good players from last year in watching the games,” Boley said. “I thought they could have played some of the teams they played. I thought they were at least as good. Some teams have better players, but high schools go through cycles. Everybody is going to be like that. It’s withstanding the time that you’re down a little bit.
“It’s the scheme you run, it’s the way you handle the kids and it’s morale and that’s a big thing here. When you break morale, kids aren’t going to play for you; they don’t want to play for you. The kids have to like you to a certain extent and have to respect you. But you have to respect them, too, and treat them fairly.”
Boley had 67 kids at his first meeting with them, including 24 from co-op school Shanksville-Stonycreek. Thirty-five kids showed up for his first lifting session.
“These are tough kids,” Boley said. “We worked for around two hours. My hope is that out of those 67 kids, we can keep about 40 to 45 of them. We are going to play jayvee football, because there’s no way you can have a good football team in the future without having a jayvee program.”
Boley coached four years at the Naval Academy, serving as the head coach of the lightweight football squad, which consists of midshipmen weighing
180 pounds or less.
He has served as the offensive line coach at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. He has served as a high school coach in schools in Virginia, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina. He was an assistant in his last job in the Peach Tree state.
“This was a good opportunity for me,” Boley said. “Yeah, there’s going to be snow and it’s not going to be the biggest school I’ve ever coached at, but every school you play is about the same size (in the WestPAC). I’ve seen how the team has lost here for years and it’s going to take some time, but I really believe we can make a difference right away with the kids we have. I think they have as good kids here as anywhere, it’s just how you approach them and talk to them and how you are with them. The biggest challenge will be convincing the kids that they can play with anybody.”
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