Butler football seeking support
Butler High School's varsity football team recently completed its second winless season in three years and hasn't had a winning season since 1997. This is the second of a three-part series examining the struggles of the program.BUTLER TWP — Butler High School has 1,107 boys enrolled in grades nine through 11 this year, the most of any school in the WPIAL based on that PIAA district's figures.The PIAA listed Moniteau's male enrollment at 247 in 2007.The Butler varsity football team finished this season with 49 players. Moniteau ended with 43 on its varsity roster.The Golden Tornado began the 2009 campaign with 77 players. The program had 105 students in grades 10 to 12 come out for football as recently as five years ago."Butler has athletes. It's just that a lot of them weren't on the field this year," said outgoing Butler school board member and Tornado football radio color commentator Craig Lucas."When I was a freshman (in the mid-1980s), we had 86 kids out for that team. Parents were a big part of that. The Mothers Club supported the coaches and the kids. Now you have mothers trying to get coaches and assistants fired."There's a lot of venom being introduced by a lot of parents out there," Lucas added.
Senior quarterback Cole Harvey agreed that some of the school's best athletes didn't play football."There were a lot of kids who could have helped us in my grade alone who never came out," he said. "Most of those kids were focused on other sports."The football program never turned kids away. If you got beaten out at one position, you could always try another position. But most guys would go back to focusing on another sport."Senior lineman Dylan O'Donnell said there were 60 players on the freshman football team when he was in ninth grade. O'Donnell was one of 22 seniors on this year's varsity roster."Only a third of us stuck it out," O'Donnell said. "That was so disappointing. It killed our depth. It's hard to win in football without depth."You can even have seniors committed to working hard and getting better, but if the sophomores and juniors aren't just as committed, there's no team. You need numbers."In practice, the coaches are talking and you see some kids laughing. It got me angry. It's my senior year. ... I care about this and you see sophomores out there screwing around," he added.O'Donnell and Harvey questioned the effort of some players in practice and during games."Some kids weren't there to play football. They were there for a social event," O'Donnell said."Everybody wasn't into practice," Harvey said. "Some guys made a living hanging out by the water cooler."Senior lineman Dan Santoro said player apathy is a major problem throughout the program.Butler's coaches give out a dedication award to the player most committed to the program year round. Players must attend at least 85 percent of the workouts — practice, weight room, etc. — to be eligible for the award."Only 13 of us were even eligible for it," Santoro said. "We averaged 30 kids in the weight room every day, but they were different kids showing up on different days."Very few were in there all the time."Players quit the team early in the season because they weren't getting enough playing time. Some quit in the middle of the season because "they just didn't want to do it anymore," Santoro said.
Tornado freshman football coach Bob Zavacky was fired at the end of this season. He took over the freshman squad this year with the intent of playing as many youngsters as possible.The freshman team began the season with 69 players and ended it with 56."We committed to a three-platoon system, win, lose or draw," Zavacky said. "I had 11 guys play offense, another 11 play defense, still others on special teams."That turned into a double-edged sword. Some kids were complaining about not getting enough playing time. We had parents coming on to the field yelling and screaming we were ruining their kid."I end up getting fired. The parents are running the program," Zavacky said.Hank Leyland, a 25-year coaching veteran who served as an assistant freshman coach this year, said he was "stunned" by the players and parents' reaction to the platoon system."We took a couple of losses early to more developed teams who were ahead of us, but we wanted to develop football players," Leyland said. "We figured, stick to our plan and it would pay dividends down the road."People aren't looking at the overall picture. It seems people could care less about how the program is doing as long as their son is on the field."Perseverance, discipline and confidenceLeyland added that Butler football lacks discipline and perseverance today."X's and O's are just a collection of techniques. Hard work and dedication gets it done," Leyland said. "Are we disciplined enough to do the things it takes to be a quality football team?"Some of the (varsity) kids playing at the end of the year weren't starting at the beginning of the year. They persevered, but there wasn't enough of them," he added. "Turning this program around is going to require perseverance from everybody, not just the players and coaches."The Butler varsity began the 2008 season with three wins in four games, including an 18-0 shutout of eventual WPIAL playoff participant Canon-McMillan in Week 4. The Tornado haven't won a game since."We thought we were loaded with talent, No. 1 in the WPIAL. ... We should have been preparing and working harder for Friday nights," O'Donnell said.Senior running back Jake Thompson said experience and confidence also played factors in that season's demise."We got into section play and faced teams with a lot of returning starters that were used to winning," Thompson said. "Our guys don't know what it feels like to win."I do think the parents of some kids need to back off and the administration needs to back the coaches more. When parents interfere, it just creates animosity on the team."Let the coaches coach. Let the players play. Let everyone else support," Thompson added.Mark Farabee has been an assistant or head coach at Butler dating back to the Art Bernardi era of the 1970s and 1980s. He currently is the line coach on Jeff McAnallen's staff."There's 100 pieces to this puzzle," Farabee said. "Coaches are a piece, sure, but so are players, administration, community, parents, media, vocal media, etc. ... When things get tough, you have to draw the wagons in tight."If you're not 100 percent positive through it all, you're part of the problem."Butler High School athletic director Curt Phillips could not be reached for comment.Part 3: A look at the Butler Area Midget Football League and Lil' Tornados' developmental programs
