SHALER TWP — This year, the cliché is true at Shaler.

You can’t tell the players without a program.

Chris Siegle, a 1999 Shaler graduate, has returned to his alma mater to take over a Titan program that returns only one starter on both sides of the ball.

Shaler (0-1) travels to Butler (0-1) for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday at Art Bernardi Stadium.

“The key word for us right now is patience,” Siegle said. “This isn’t college football, where you can go out and recruit 18 players who can help you right away.”

Siegle would know. The bulk of his coaching career has been spent in the college ranks. He’s been an assistant at West Virginia Tech, Florida International and Hampton, along with coaching at Milford Academy.

“I came back because this is an opportunity to give back to a community that gave so much to me,” Siegle said. “I grew up here. I have fond memories here.”

Siegle was quarterback of the Titans from 1996 through 1998, winning a conference title during that time. Shaler’s current offensive line coach was coaching the Titans when Siegle played.

Siegle was a teammate of the sons of two other assistants coming back from the Neil Gordon regime.

“Those three guys have been extremely helpful in my making the transition here, as well as to me professionally,” Siegle said.

Shaler returns only offensive lineman Ross Budziszewski and defensive lineman Jesse Elrick as starters. Brad Good is a senior quarterback, but he’s in his first year as a starter.

The inexperience showed in the Titans’ opener last week, a 35-0 loss to Central Catholic.

“We were down 21-0 at halftime and had an interception returned for a score late in the half,” Siegle said. “Their experience up front took the game over in the second half.

“We only ran maybe 14 plays in the final two quarters.”

The Titans are running a multiple offense with a number of run and pass checks.

“There’s some complexity to it and an inexperienced group can only handle so much of that,” the coach said. “We’re going to have to grow into this offense.”

Siegle did emphasize the fact his team scrimmaged Gateway and New Castle before playing Central Catholic.

“Gateway’s ranked No. 2 in the state and Central’s in the top 10,” he said. “New Castle is a very good Triple-A team. We’re not going to run into opponents much better than those.

“In our conference, every team can play. There’s not one team in this league that can’t beat you.”

Siegle said he can’t point out any top individual players offensively from last week because “we only gained 111 total yards, so we didn’t do much.

“Defensively, we’re a unit. We shouldn’t have people standing out because we have to play together.”

Shaler has not lost to Butler since 2002. That streak means nothing to this coach.

“Butler is in the same boat we’re in, trying to build a program from the youth level on up,” Siegle said. “Both of our teams are big on work ethic. This game may turn into a physical fist fight and that’s the type of game both coaching staffs want it to be.”