Time is a funny thing. It moves swiftly. It flows like a river and carries away people in its eddies like a leaf or small branch.

It seems that way to Clyde Conti, the Slippery Rock High School football coach, who is beginning his fourth season with the school.

When pondering his football-coaching past - a lengthy one at that - it occurs to Conti just how many years have come and gone.

"That's the sign of age," Conti said. "Twenty-sixth year as a head coach and 33rd year overall. Holy cow."

Conti took over a Clarion-Limestone program that hadn't won a game 26 years ago and as a 23-year-old led it to a league championship.

He was hooked. Coaching was in his blood after a stellar career as a running back at Freeport High School and a distinguished start as an assistant at Clarion University.

But after 22 years at Clarion-Limestone, where he posted a 136-71-3 record, his position was surprisingly opened. Conti was without a coaching job.

He applied for the vacant spot on the sidelines at Slippery Rock shortly after and got the job. He called it a rebirth.

"I think there's good lessons in that," Conti said. "Maybe something that is teachable to the young kids. This whole change down here opens your eyes and maybe gives an example for someone else to keep plugging away."

Conti led the Rockets to the playoffs his first season with the Rockets, driving 100 miles round trip from Clarion to Slippery Rock each day for practice.

After his frenetic first season, Conti got a teaching job in the Slippery Rock school district and the Rockets came to the doorstep of the state championship game, leading eventual state-champion Aliquippa in the fourth quarter before losing 28-15.

Last year was a down year, but Conti is as energized as always for the new season.

"The thing I think that's great about football is every once in awhile you can zing someone even if they are better than you," Conti said. "It's a great team sport."

Conti got perhaps the highest honor a coach in Pennsylvania can achieve this summer when he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Hall of Fame before the Big 33 Classic.

Conti was humbled by the honor.

So were his players.

"He deserved it," said Slippery Rock senior quarterback Ben Collins. "It's kind of overwhelming to have a Hall-of-Fame coach."

Collins has been with Conti at Slippery Rock from the start. When senior quarterback Mike DeCola went down with a broken clavicle late in Conti's first season, the coach entrusted the offense to Collins, then a freshman.

All Collins did was lead the Rockets to two playoff wins.

Now Collins is a seasoned vet in Conti's offense.

"We have a pretty good relationship," Collins said. "We're pretty much starting to become the same offensive mind now after all these years."

Collins does a pretty good imitation of Conti's hand gestures - a fringe benefit of being around a coach for four years.

"I don't think I can, actually," Collins says before launching into a series of spot-on hand gestures used by the coach.

Collins said with Conti there's never a dull moment.

"I'd have to say when we win, he's the coolest," Collins said. "He puts us through a lot, but it's all for the best."

Conti isn't showing signs of walking away any time soon. He enjoys it too much.

He said his stomach would still churn if he were coaching an elementary team. When that stomach stops churning, then it will be time to go.

"I'm not one of those people who thinks about stopping doing something," Conti said. "I'm one of those who worries about what life is like when you do stop doing things.

"Often tomes, people start thinking about stopping something and they have already decided to stop. So, you have to watch yourself."

Conti has a challenge before him this season. Slippery Rock has a difficult schedule and a roster void of some of the key cogs that led it to 20 wins in two seasons before a disappointing 3-6 campaign in 2004.

But Conti has been never one to shy away from a challenge.

"I have to do a better job this year, too, to maximize our talent," Conti said. "Like throwing the ball more, getting the right scheme."

Wins and losses have never preoccupied Conti's mind. Teaching the game and the life lessons that go along with it has, however.

He just wishes time would stop, just for a fleeting moment.

"The sad part," Conti says, "is everything goes by so fast; far, far too fast. You just want to savor every day you have."