The talk is out there. But should it be?

"Same old Butler." "This is an embarrassment." "We can't tolerate this." "Fire the coach."

We've heard it all before.

The time has come for this town to realize that the head coach isn't why the football team keeps losing.

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Same old Butler?

Yeah. This program hasn't had a winning season since 1997 and hasn't been to the WPIAL playoffs since 1998.•

This is an embarrassment? Guess you'd have to say so. Since its last playoff appearance, Butler was 3-28 against North Hills, North Allegheny and Shaler in section play entering Friday night's home date against the Titans.The average final score against those three teams during the past 10 years is 29-9 vs. North Hills, 30-12 vs. NA and 25-14 vs. Shaler.•

We can't tolerate this? We shouldn't. Our young people deserve better. Our community deserves better.•

Fire the coach? No, no, a thousand times no.Jeff McAnallen is in his third year at Butler. He took a 3-22 record with no section wins into Friday's game. On the surface, it seems like a change should be made.But that's the problem. We never look below the surface.McAnallen is from Butler. He played football here, graduated from here, remembers when winning was a habit here.He's passionate about leading the charge to restore winning to Butler football. The key word in that sentence is leading. He's not going to do it alone.No coach is.Butler is on its sixth head coach since 1992. None of the previous five was in charge longer than six years as the program continued to struggle for victories.It seems that Butler's head football coach is hired, placed on an island by himself and is expected to wave a magic wand and start winning. When it doesn't happen, he's booted off the island.No less an authority than North Hills coach Jack McCurry, who's been at the helm for 32 years with well over 200 wins, insists that's the wrong formula."One person can't get it done," McCurry said. "It takes community and school support, enthusiasm from the student body and the best athletes in the school."Butler used to be a powerhouse. The losing culture didn't arrive there overnight. It's not going to go away overnight, either."McAnallen was an assistant coach on McCurry's staff for 10 years. He knows what a winning program is all about.McCurry still believes McAnallen can turn Butler into a winner."But it's going to take time and they need to get behind him and give him time," the North Hills coach said. "Jeff McAnallen is a quality coach. I know that from experience. Believe me, we miss him."When kids hear negativity, they tend to buy into it. If they don't believe they can win, they won't. Losing is a tough trend to break."The first step for Butler is committing to a coach, getting behind that coach and working with that coach.McAnallen knows what winning is all about.Let's help him do it.