FOOTBALL: It's Miller time at Elco

There are good problems, and there are bad problems.

Elco athletic director Doug Bohannon had one of each to deal with these last few weeks as he and his fellow administrators went about the task of hiring a new head football coach for the first time in 14 years.

The good problem, from Bohannon's perspective, is the fact that there were two highly qualified in-house applicants for the position in loyal, longtime assistant/defensive coordinator John Carley and well-regarded former assistant and current head track and field coach Robert Miller.

The bad problem cropped up when it came time to pick one over the other.

After interviewing the two earlier this week and wrestling with the agonizing decision for a few days, Bohannon came to a difficult but satisfying conclusion that Miller was the man for the job.

Pending approval from the Elco school board at its monthly meeting Monday night, Miller is the successor to Mark Evans as Elco's head football. Evans stepped down last month after 14 seasons at the helm to take the head coaching job at Manheim Township.

"They're both teachers, and they're both very capable," Bohannon said of Miller and Carley. "It was a very difficult, tough decision. I definitely know both guys could do the job. But we could only hire one, unfortunately."

In the end, Miller, a State College grad who's in his mid 30s and has enjoyed a highly-successful run as the Raiders' track and field boss, earned the nod on the strength of the

strong connection he enjoys with both athletes and students in general at Elco. He's also got the football coaching chops, having followed up his tenure as an assistant at Elco with a recent stint as an assistant coach under Jim Cantafio at Cedar Cliff.

"He's a very good teacher and a good coach, and he has such a great rapport with kids," Bohannon said of Miller. "Not that John doesn't. It (the decision) was hard, it really was. But I think we did the right thing."

That didn't make breaking the news to Carley any easier, though, Bohannon said.

"I'm disappointed for John, I felt bad for him," said Bohannon, who noted he told Carley of his decision face-to-face. "But he was a true professional (when informed he would not be the head coach). He said, 'I guess the sun will come up tomorrow.'"

Bohannon also noted that he is hopeful that Carley will stay on as the Raiders' defensive coordinator after filling that role throughout Evans' tenure as head coach. Miller and Carley are close friends, Bohannon said, which increases the chances that the hiring of one as head coach will not lead to the departure of the other from the program.

"Nothing against anyone on the outside," Bohannon said, referring to the roughly

half-dozen total applicants for the job, "but both guys were (a) willing, and (b) capable. Either one would be able to take the job, without a doubt."

By the time he's officially hired Monday, Miller will have barely a month to prepare for the start of preseason practice. But despite that narrow timetable, Bohannon believes Miller will have things ready to go by the time the Raiders step on the field as a team for the first time.

"It's not a whole lot of time, but I think he'll have enough time to get it done," Bohannon said. "I'm confident he'll be able to do it."

Bohannon noted Miller would not be available for comment until he receives school board approval, but the Raiders' new boss figures to be pleased to be inheriting a team that is poised to improve on last season's 3-7 campaign.

That optimism centers around the return of a solid core group that includes junior quarterback Anthony Pletz, junior running back Cameron Strause, senior receiver Adam Shoemaker and senior lineman Schuyler Harting.

Elco's Lancaster-Lebanon Section Three neighborhood will also be a bit more inviting with the departure of perennial power Lancaster Catholic to Section One. Garden Spot is slated to move down from Section Two to replace the Crusaders, while Ephrata goes from Section One to Two.