Haberland will be reconnecting with Paul Worth, his high school coach, and will be the assistant Head Coach and defensive coordinator. He will also be looking to join the school in a teaching/instructional position.
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| Greg Haberland |
Haberland will be joining the school at an opportune time. North Shore is combining with Essex Aggie and Peabody Vocational School to create what they are calling a megavoke school officially named Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School.
"They are going to be building a brand new facility in Danvers that will house 1400 kids," Haberland said. "The field is going to be all turf with lights, all state of the art. It's a $133 million school they're building.
"I've coached with Paul Worth before. We won a Super Bowl in 1997. He's going to be retiring in three or four years and basically said once I get in the school I could be the head coach in four years," Haberland said. "My opportunities now to get a head coaching job are limited because I'm lacking that college degree. I had a couple of shots last year but it didn't pan out. This could be a career change for me and also could mean a head coaching position which I really want to give a shot. This opens those doors for me. It's a great opportunity to be part of a brand new beautiful school system and build a real good football program."
Haberland was a big part of the resurgence of the Pioneer football program since joining the staff of Bill Adams in 2007. Haberland's defense improved in each of his four years as coordinator. In his first year as defensive coordinator, Haberland's defense allowed 25.7 ppg. It only got better from there as the Pioneers improved to 20.4 ppg in 2008, 11.9 ppg in their championship 2009 season and then to an impressive 9.5 ppg and four shutouts last year.
"Greg did a nice job for us," said Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman. "He worked hard and he's a good coach. We'll miss him."
I asked Haberland what one moment stuck out in his four year tenure and he came up with several but one of them clearly stood above the others.
"The Newburyport game the year before when they came down to our place and we beat them 27-14," he responded recalling the game that effectively clinched the 2009 championship.
"I can remember we were sick that week," Haberland went on. "They were favored to beat us. They were favored to win the league. We were up against a lot. There were a lot of injuries. A lot of people hobbling around. It was a rainy week and we had only two practices. Then we came out and we completely destroyed them. If you look at the stat sheet, it wasn't even close. It was 27-0 and we got soft. I just backed them off on defense and we gave them all the passes. I said if you want to whip the ball around with eight minutes left you're not going to beat us. That's the game right there. Absolutely."
"There's a lot of things," Haberland responded when I asked what he was most proud of in his Lynnfield coaching career. "I think just seeing the development and the kids buying into what it takes to build a real good football program. The hard work that these kids put in and everything that encompassed Lynnfield football over the past four years. Even when we were 3-8 the first year I was there you could see that the kids were buying into what we were selling them. Seeing the change from accepting losing to not accepting losing. We're a program now and people are going to have to pay attention to us. The transformation from "push around Lynnfield" to "pushing around people."
"Watching these kids grow from freshmen into fine young student athletes," he summed up. "Just watching the whole thing as it came together. It was a nice thing to see."
"A lot of people that I had talked to prior to going to Lynnfield said you're going into a program that is completely terrible," Haberland went on. "And I said if you can get the kids to work hard and believe in what you're doing and make them understand that as long as they give 100% effort 100% of the time good things are going to happen. And I don't think there was a time when I was there that I didn't get maximum effort out of the kids."
"I'm most proud of the hard work and determination and how the community came together," he continued. "Going from a losing program to people fearing us. I recall after the Hamilton Wenham game last year (General head coach Andrew) Morency said in the newspaper 'you look over at Lynnfield and we want to strive to be like them.' It wasn't like that when I first started."
"It took a lot to drag me out of Lynnfield," Haberland summed up. "I've had a great experience. Neal is a heck of a coach who I've enjoyed working with. We did some special things at Lynnfield. This is a hard decision for me to make. I just want the kids and parents to know that I appreciate their efforts and their hard work and their commitment to the program. It was an absolute joy to be part of Lynnfield football. I'm going to miss it. But it's a new adventure down the road."
As for Weidman, it's back to the drawing board as he looks to replace his second coordinator in two seasons. Offensive coordinator Pat Sheehan left for the head job in Triton following the 2009 season.
"I hate to lose him," Weidman said of Haberland. "Losing two coordinators in two years makes it difficult. I'm not sure what we're going to do. I'd like to keep the same scheme. If someone comes in and wants to change it they'll have to be pretty passionate to convince me."
Weidman didn't rule out naming a current member of the coaching staff to the coordinator's position.
"I'm keeping all options open," he said.
Once a decision is made, I'll have it here. And check back on April 1st for my next regular post.
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