MERIDIAN — For different reasons, Rick Gladd and Mike McConville pulled the plug on their football careers at Slippery Rock University early.

Gladd, a Butler High graduate, was an offensive lineman at The Rock, but left after his sophomore year when he got a job at A-K Steel.

McConville, still enrolled at SRU, was a defensive end for the team, but had to give up playing after sustaining his seventh concussion.

Neither wanted to be through with the game.

“I played my whole life. I still wanted to be around it,” Gladd admitted.

He didn’t find a way. The way found him.

Meridian varsity football coach Bob Greaves of the Butler Area Midget Football League called Gladd — a former Meridian player himself — to see if he would be interested in coaching at a youth level.

“I had heard he might be interested, but Rick couldn’t do it last year because of his job,” Greaves said. “His work schedule became more conducive to coaching this year, so he joined us.”

Gladd took over Meridian’s mighty mite program, the 9- and 10-year-old squad.

“But I knew nothing about defense. I played offense all the time,” Gladd said. “Mike and I became good friends at Slippery Rock and I thought he might be interested in helping me out.”

McConville accepted before Gladd could finish asking the question.

“I was all over it,” he said. “I knew it would be fun.”

It’s been successful, too.

As their head coach, Gladd guided the young Raiders to a perfect season, culminating with a win over Butler City recently in their final game of the season at Memorial Park.

Meridian only has 13 players on its mighty mite roster. Butler City had 20 and Center Township had 28.

“We shut out most of the teams we played,” Gladd said. “We rallied in our last game (Oct. 13) to beat Center Township, 20-18, on a 94-yard drive in the final two minutes.

“That was as nervous and intense as I’ve ever felt on a football field. You still get that rush, even from the sidelines.”

McConville played his high school ball at Seton LaSalle and was a member of WPIAL playoff teams there.

“Doing this, you feel like you’re building something,” McConville said. “The kids are so attentive. They want to learn and teaching them the game has been a blast.”

Coaches are permitted on the field with the players at the mighty mite level.

Gladd said he decided to coach at Meridian “to give something back to the community that taught me how to play football.”

Gladd and McConville both want to return next year. McConville will be continuing his education at SRU.

“We’d like to move up with these guys and stay with them,” Gladd said. “We definitely want to stay with the program and I want to stay in coaching down the road.”

Greaves described what the coaches have done with his mighty mite team as “phenomenal.”

“These are two special guys,” he said. “Most 21- and 22-year-olds are consumed with their own lives. These two found the time to work with young kids and they’re great at it.”