Eastern fills football coaching vacancy
The coaching search for the Eastern York football team is over.
Eastern York's school board approved the hiring of Jeff Mesich to fill the vacant position on Thursday night. Mesich applied for the job in December and accepted the position a week and a half ago after meeting with school officials.
“It’s pretty exciting. It’s many years in the making,” Mesich said about his new head coaching job.
Mesich has been an assistant coach for the previous seven years, he said, and was part of a Northeastern coaching staff that finished the 2015 season with a 9-3 record. It was the success of the program and the athletes that Mesich credited for helping him get the job at Eastern.
It’s also the reason why after his wife, the players at Northeastern were the first to find out about his move to Eastern.
“If the program's not doing well,” Mesich said. “And the kids aren’t doing well, then you don’t get this opportunity.”
The news was kept under wraps for a week and a half until the school board approved the hiring Thursday night. That’s when social media exploded with well wishes from Northeastern athletes to the outgoing assistant coach.
"At the end of the day Jeff came highly recommended as a football coach," Eastern athletic director Don Knaub said about the hire. "And also as a great person. That means a great deal to me and the athletic program. He comes from a good program, that's important, and I think he's really going to connect well with our community, and our kids. The kids are going to enjoy playing for him."
Mesich will hit the ground running at Eastern. He will meet with the coaching staff and players Friday afternoon to start getting to know his new team.
“It starts with meeting and building the relationships (with the team),” Mesich said.
With Eastern locking up a new coach, that leaves Central York and William Penn as the only schools left with head coaching vacancies to fill.
Mesich takes over for Dave Kemmick, who spent two seasons leading the Eastern York football program. He was not retained at the end of the 2015 campaign after the Golden Knights went 4-6. In 2014, Kemmick led Eastern to the District 3 playoffs.