SLIPPERY ROCK — Brendan Hathaway is bringing the flex to the Slippery Rock High football program and getting rid of the flux.

With a flexbone offense installed, Hathaway is looking to establish some much-needed stability to the Rockets.

"I came from a program that had the same head coach for 27 years," said Hathaway, who spent three seasons at Coudersport High as an assistant under Paul Simcoe and the last two as the head coach. "Then, even when I took over, (Simcoe) came back and helped out as an assistant. So, I saw what stability and commitment can bring to a program."

Stability has been sorely lacking at Slippery Rock.

Since they walked off the Slippery Rock University field on a late-November evening in 2008, the Rockets have been in a state of flux.

Clyde Conti resigned as head coach shortly after that loss to Wilmington in the District 10 championship game. Joe Lamenza was hired, but abruptly left the program in July 2009.

Glenn Hazlet filled in admirably as the head coach last season, but he had little time to establish continuity and the team floundered to a 2-7 record.

Unlike last year, change has been good.

Hathaway has made no bones about it: He's here to win and win right now.

"We're playing ball," Hathaway said. "We have goals this year. I don't coach without goals, and I try to tell the players that they shouldn't play without goals.

"Hey, we want to be playing football when some other people are done."

To do that, Hathaway must shuffle the deck.

Some elements of the offense are a hybrid of what Navy runs and what Slippery Rock ran under former quarterback Jono Powell.

Hathaway has plenty of shifty backs to carry the load in the new offense. Seniors Brandon Henry, Cole Knight and John McAvoy, juniors Chris Thomas and Ben Gaul, and sophomore Taylor Houston will play either fullback or slotback.

"If we have depth somewhere, it's people who can run the football," Hathaway said.

They guy who runs the whole show is the biggest question mark.

Sophomore Ryan Currie saw some time at quarterback last season and is the front-runner, but Hathaway has his eye on others as well.

"We don't have a quarterback on the team who is above a 10th grader," Hathaway said. "We have three quarterbacks who have never played quarterback before."

But the flexbone has a way of leveling the playing field. The QB is more an extension of the running game than a sophisticated passer.

"We picked up the offense real fast," said senior lineman Shawn McGonigle. "We've been running the option here forever. His option is basically the same as Coach Conti's."

While Hathaway is hopeful his offense can churn out yards and burn time from the clock, his defense, largely unchanged from Slippery Rock schemes of the past, can hit people and hit people hard.

"I've always run the 4-3 — Slippery Rock has run the 4-3 in the past. I don't care what defense you run in high school, you have to have those disciplined, hard-nosed kids, and I believe we have some of those," Hathaway said.