Densmore

BUTLER TWP — Rob Densmore's football coaching career at Butler ended sooner than he expected.

Densmore, 43, resigned as Golden Tornado head coach Wednesday, saying he “had to make a decision between keeping my principles and integrity or staying on as football coach.

“I chose my integrity. That's pretty much the way it happened.”

Densmore declined to offer any detail or comment as to what situation forced him to make that decision.

“This was not an administrative thing,” Butler athletic director Bill Mylan said. “He (Densmore) had our support all the way. This was more of a personality conflict.

“I spent more than an hour with Rob in the coaches' room trying to get him to change his mind. But his mind was made up. I respect that and thank him for all of the positive things he did for this program.”

Offensive coordinator Eric Christy took over the head coaching position on an interim basis after Densmore's resignation. He coached the team in Friday's 64-0 loss at Pine-Richland and will be the head coach this Friday in the season finale against Canon-McMillan at Art Bernardi Stadium.

“I've talked with Eric about going to the all-conference awards dinner and taking care of the team banquet with the boosters after the season,” Mylan said. “I know he'll take care of things. I'm very confident in him.”

Christy offered little comment on the coaching situation following the Pine-Richland game, only saying that “we will miss Coach Densmore's knowledge and leadership.”

“It's important that we keep things business as usual,” Christy added.

Densmore cited that as one of the reasons he decided to resign.

“This decision was very difficult for me,” he said. “I care a lot about this program and these kids. I thought it best to remove myself from the situation so the program can move forward.”

Densmore was in his fourth year as Golden Tornado head coach. He was 7-27 overall, including 2-5 this season. He is still a teacher in the Pine-Richland School District.

He said he is unsure about his future as a football coach.

“I haven't even thought about it,” Densmore said. “I just have some time off right now.”

When he told the players he was resigning, “some of the kids were upset about it, some were not. It was pretty split. Some of the kids probably didn't care either way.

“This decision has nothing to do with the athletic director or administration. Bill Mylan and this district have been very supportive of me and I'm grateful for that,” he added.

Mylan said he hopes to have a new head coach in place by January.

“This isn't something I wanted to or expected to be doing,” he said of a new head coaching search. “It's going to take somebody five or six years to come in here and build a program. We need to find that guy. I thought we had him.

“Rob was an assistant coach for a state championship caliber program (at Pine-Richland). He came here, interviewed, said and did all of the right things. He even did the right things off the field, team bonding things. But sometimes you don't get the commitment level from kids that you want. We'll miss him.”