By ED GOTWALS

Sports editor

Imagine yourself in this scenario:

You work for a company that employs hundreds and you make a decent salary with good benefits.

Then a position at that company comes open -- a position you're highly qualified for and one you think you can do well -- so you apply. And the company, because you've already proven yourself to be a valuable employee and because you have excellent credentials, decides to hire you for that position.

The new job comes with a raise, of course -- $8,555 per year.

Pretty cool, huh?

OK, let's keep all of the above in mind and add in a few factors.

You are hired in January and are expected to begin immediately.

The new position is a real challenge. You are being asked to take over a department of the company that has underachieved for years and, in fact, has seen success infrequently over the past 50-plus years.

Despite that, this department is still one of the company's biggest revenue-producing departments. This just adds to the pressure of having to do a good job, as does the fact that your new department is always heavily scrutinized by the community.

You are tasked with weeding out the current employees under you who are not up to the new standards and find ones who are. You will need to recruit new workers and teach them what they need to know to be successful.

You are expected to continue doing your current job, and still find time to take care of everything you

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have to do in your new position before or after your current hours each day.

Instead of enjoying that long vacation your old job allowed you, you'll spend hours on many of those days trying to bring your staff and workers up to speed so they can lift your department up.

All the while, you'll hear some people talking behind your back, criticizing you on the web, making things more difficult than they should be.

So this is the challenge you accepted, one that must have a finished product by, say, around Labor Day.

Oh, and one more little thing ... from the time you start in January until late August, you won't see one penny of that $8,555 raise.

Are you still thinking this is pretty cool?

I know one person who does.

Mark Saunders.

When he was hired recently for the position of head football coach at Chambersburg -- with a contract that does not begin until July 1, and does not pay until the end of August -- Saunders accepted everything that comes with the job.

Actually, he embraced it.

For if first impressions are worth anything, I sense that Saunders has a real passion for football and for coaching football and he truly believes he can turn the Trojan program around.

After just one interview with the man, I wouldn't say I was looking around for somebody to hit, but I did find myself imagining the possibilities of some good things happening for the team.

For one, last year's 5-6 season and a berth in the District 3 playoffs puts the program on an upswing. After three straight 1-9 seasons, it's a huge upswing.

For another, both junior high teams this fall were big winners -- an 8-1 ninth-grade team and a 9-0 eighth-grade team. If nothing else, that proves there is talent available. Saunders knows his charge is to keep that talent in the program and keep improving it (and making it bigger and faster).

Just about everybody in town is ready for a winner -- coaches, students, administration, community and even sports writers. Remember that swell of pride when the Trojans went 11-0 in 1989? It can be that way again.

The schedule appears to be a little more friendly, with games against Gettysburg, Waynesboro and Greencastle-Antrim, and no Bishop McDevitt on the list.

Saunders will be able to put together his own staff. He will emphasize finding assistants who, as he said, "share his vision," and are committed to extra hours of work.

There are certainly nay-sayers out there. You know, the ones who complain about a 10-0 team because the offense isn't flashy enough. The ones who say the school district is spending too much money on a coach.

I ask those people: Would you take on a job like this that essentially asks you to work eight months for free? One that, even when you are getting paid, is probably worth less than $5 an hour?

Didn't think so.

So let's give Mark Saunders a chance.

Because he is willing to put his neck on the line.

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Ed Gotwals may be reached at 262-4755 or egotwals@publicopinionnews.com