When Mahar coach Jim Woodward decided to step away following last season, he took with him the second-most wins in Franklin County high school football coaching history. Woodward retired from the gridiron with 194 career victories, putting him No. 2 on the all-time list behind only Deerfield Academy/Franklin Tech/Mohawk Trail coach Jim Smith who had 224 wins locally and 235 for his career after an initial stint in Minnesota.
Smith retired from coaching in 2012, and he headlines an impressive list of football coaches in the area — eight of which have over 100 coaching wins to their credit.
With Woodward now back in the athletic director’s chair at Mahar, area football coaches will look to gain traction on the all-time greats when action begins for the 2021 season in a couple weeks. Here’s a closer look at the folks in charge of the respective high school programs and where they stand:
Head coach Bill LaRose begins his eighth season in charge of the program, taking over the head job for the first time in the fall of 2014.
LaRose has amassed a 29-41 record in seven seasons at Athol, and those 29 wins are good enough for fifth-most in program history. Don Ferrari leads the way with 105 wins in 20-plus seasons (1965-1987), followed in order by Rocky Stone (78 wins from 2000-2009), Mike Kuchieski (54 wins from 1991-1999) and Tom O’Brien (54 wins from 1930-1942, 1946). Ferrari is No. 8 in Recorder area coaching wins all time.
As he prepares for year No. 20 in charge of the program, head coach Joe Gamache has certainly stamped his imprint on the Eagles’ program.
Gamache is only the third head coach in Franklin Tech program history, and only the second who has actually coached games since the team came into existence in 1996. Jim Smith went 17-44 in six seasons before Gamache took over in 2002. In 19 seasons, he’s posted a 71-127 record, and is closing in on an all-time top 10 spot for coaching victories in the area. Former Turners Falls coach John O’Reilly sits in the No. 10 spot at the moment with 83 victories.
After several years as an assistant on the staff following a successful first stint as head coach, Scott Dredge returned to the big chair last season during the abbreviated 2020 campaign. He’ll now have a full season back in charge, marking his 10th campaign as head coach after serving in that role the first time around from 2005-12.
Dredge enters this fall with a 56-31 record as Frontier’s head coach, good enough for a .644 winning percentage. Those 56 wins are second-most in school history, behind only Dick Howe’s 96 victories during his tremendous tenure leading the program from 1989-2004. Dredge is just ahead of Myron “Rock” Rokoszak, who finished his tenure (1976-1987) with 50 wins.
Now in his 18th season as Greenfield head coach, Mike Kuchieski finds himself sitting in the No. 5 spot in all-time Recorder area football victories entering this fall season. Kuchieski has amassed a 71-97 record in 17 seasons at GHS, and combined with a 54-40 mark during a nine-season stint as the head coach at Athol High School (1991-99), he has 125 wins in these parts (125-137).
Kuchieski passed the legendary Earl Lorden (Turners Falls, 119 wins) for fifth place on the all-time list two years ago, and now stares up at former Greenfield and Pioneer coach Mike Duprey in the No. 4 spot (164 total wins).
As far as Greenfield coaches go, Carl “Ump” Nichols remains the far and away leader with 176 wins in 40 years in charge of the program from 1919-58. The man whose name adorns the school’s gymnasium was a ridiculous 176-79-31 as the program’s football coach.
Back for a second stint as head coach, Chris Bailey takes over following Woodward’s retirement this fall. It will be Bailey’s third season in charge of the program, as he amassed a 5-15 mark during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
Mahar, which went 2-2 during the abbreviated 2020 season, has had just 13 coaches in its nearly 130 years as a football program dating back to Orange days. Woodward is far and away the winningest coach in school history, though his predecessor, Joe Spadafora, won 106 games during a 20-year tenure between 1962-81. Spadafora has the seventh-most wins in local high school football coaching history.