BUTLER TWP— Garry Cathell needs two wins to reach 100 for his high school football coaching career.

He plans to get them, but they won't come in Butler.

Fired as Golden Tornado coach Monday after five seasons, Cathell, 50, said he will pursue a head coaching position elsewhere.

"It's what I want to do," he said. "It's who I am. I'm a football coach."

Still employed full time as dean of students at Butler, Cathell said he loves that job and the people he works with.

"It's very enjoyable," he said. "If a coaching position opened nearby, close enough that I could get to practice every day without too much trouble while still maintaining my job here, I'd certainly consider it."

He also would consider coaching at a smaller school and giving up his Butler position for similar full-time duties elsewhere.

"I'm not just going to up and leave for anything, and maybe there's not much out there," Cathell said. "I don't have the ego that says I have to coach Quad-A football, but I'm not going to apply for every single opening, either."

Cathell has been coaching football for 28 years overall and sports a 98-112-4 won-loss record in 21 years as a head coach.

His Butler teams never reached the WPIALplayoffs and never posted a winning record. The closest he came to either was in 2003, when the Tornado finished 5-5 overall, 3-3 in Quad North play, a 39-22 loss at Shaler costing the team a playoff berth.

Butler dropped a 7-0 decision at Connellsville that year when Cathell suspended a pair of prominent players for disciplinary reasons that night.

"Everybody patted me on the back for doing that then,"Cathell said. "Nobody brings it up now. That move may have cost us that game, cost us a winning record, but it was the right thing to do.

"Even right now, if I was given that same situation, I'd do the same thing. I'll never place winning a football game in front of showing a kid what's right and what's wrong.

"Would I have loved to have won more games?Absolutely. Winning's important. ... It's just not what's most important at this level,"Cathell added.

Athletic director Curt Phillips said the school district's decision to open Cathell's position was based on the program's won-loss record.

"The district's decision was based on the team's on-field performance,"Phillips said. "It's never easy making this type of personnel decision.

"Garry's done many good things here. He had the off-field success, but you want your program to have success at all levels."

Cathell's off-field successes include consolidation of the football booster clubs, working with the Butler Area Midget Football League, increasing the program's overall participation numbers and forming the Hometown Heroes and Tornado Tykes programs.

With nine starters returning on offense and defense this season, Butler was projected by many to have a team capable of contending for the Northern Five title. Instead, the Tornado struggled through a 3-7 season, perhaps sealing Cathell's fate.

First-year wide receivers coach Steve Monteleone saw the move coming.

"I'm not surprised by this,"Monteleone said. "All these years, not winning, it takes its toll. Winning is the bottom line.

"Trying to teach the kids how to win — it's just an attitude thing. Something goes wrong and it's like, here we go again. ... You can see it in their faces.

"They're trying to get that winning attitude instilled up there. Maybe this is just a part of that,"Monteleone added.

Rick Schontz is one of four coaches — Bill McElroy, Matt Savannah and Chris Morrow the others — who were on Cathell's staff during his entire five-year tenure at Butler.

"It seems we were always close, always right there,"Schontz said. "Injuries hurt us these last couple of years, and so did a few bad bounces. At this level, a bad bounce or two can be the difference between winning or losing a game, having a good season or bad season. That happened to us a couple of times."

The Tornado have had three defensive coordinators in as many seasons:Rick Roth in 2004, Ralph McElhaney in 2005 and Erich Campbell this year.

Cathell said he was given the authority to hire his own staff when he took the Butler position in 2001. Coming from Peters Township, he brought Roth with him.

"I was given recommendations for hires because I didn't know anybody up here at the time,"Cathell said. "I was never mandated from anyone to make any staff changes, though some moves were suggested.

"We had a good, hard-working staff here and nobody did it for the money. I took some of those supplemental (assistant) contracts and split them up. I had guys working the long hours I demanded for $1,500 or $1,000, putting up with the criticism and comments."

Butler is the only Northern Five football program without an artificial turf playing surface. Cathell's supplemental coaching contract was $6,901 — lowest among Northern Five schools and one of the lowest in all of WPIALClass AAAA.

By comparison, North Hills coach Jack McCurry has a supplemental coaching contract worth more than $10,000, and his top assistant makes $7,000. Art Walker Jr. earns $8,800 at North Allegheny, Ron Butschle $8,092 at Seneca Valley and Jacque DeMatteo $7,832 at Shaler.

Butler's assistant football coaching pay scale ranges from $2,917 to $3,889. The Tornado did receive new uniforms this season and $20,000 worth of weight room equipment six months ago, Cathell said.

"You always try to win and we never gave up,"Cathell said, "but you can't take a back seat when you're being asked to drive the bus up front."

"We want what's best for our kids in all of our programs, but things take time,"Phillips said.

Schontz has been an assistant coach at Butler under the program's past five head coaches:nine years with Tim Nunes, two with Sam Albert, one with Bill Bohren, six with Mark Farabee and five with Cathell.

Butler has not had a winning football season since 1997 and has not been to the WPIALplayoffs since 1998.

"All of those guys worked hard to get it done here,"Schontz said. "Eight years ago, we lost eight starters to season-ending injuries. This year, our running backs and secondary went down. Stuff happens.

"Garry Cathell gave everything he had to the kids and to this community. That's a definite."

Cathell's firing is the first of his coaching career. He rebuilt programs at West Point (Va.) and Peters Township before coming to Butler.

"I gained the trust of the kids, and I'm proud of that,"Cathell said. "When I took this job, I committed to retiring here as a coach and educator. I might still retire here. Either way, I'll walk away from football with my head held high. I have nothing to be ashamed of."

Monteleone carries a more resigned approach.

"Nobody can question Garry's commitment, drive and dedication," he said. "He changed a lot of attitudes. We just didn't win enough games. There's nothing you can do.

"On the field, we didn't get the job done as a staff. Maybe the next guys will."