Today’s interviewee is Marist coach Alan Chadwick, whose team will open its season tonight against Holy Innocents' in a game that came together only Wednesday. Marist’s original opponent, Blessed Trinity, had to cancel last week because of players in quarantine. Marist is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A. Chadwick is in his 36th season as Marist’s head coach.
Alan Chadwick, Marist head coach
1. What has it been like trying to get a game this week after you got word that Blessed Trinity couldn’t play? “We literally spent five or six days constantly on the phone. It was basically three of us, Jim Showfety, Tommy Marshall and myself. I had given up. We talked with teams out of state. We thought we had a game with a team that’s like the IMG of Virginia. That didn’t quite work out. We had a team from Tennessee that wanted $10,000. That wasn’t going to happen. I just couldn’t handle any more mentally and physically. I was exhausted. Then it just fell in our laps.”
2. How did you end up playing Holy Innocents', and how did the players react? “They’ve been in our passing league for six or seven years. They’re a wishbone option team like we are, so we’ve been close on that front. Todd Winter [Holy Innocents' coach] and I had been talking this week. I forgot what he called about Monday, but when they lost their game [Wednesday], he called me up. I was on the practice field. I had to make sure we got approval from our administration, and he had to check with his AD as well. We were on hold about 10 or 15 minutes. I was able to tell our kids right when we went into stretching. They were pumped. They’ve been waiting to play for a long time. It was a good lift up for us.”
3. How does Marist look this year? “We’ve got a chance to be pretty good if we can get more consistent quarterback play and kick the ball relatively well, which are two areas of concern going in. We’ve got potentially eight starters back on both sides of the ball, and hopefully they’ll play even better than last year. It’s a good senior class. We’ve got 27 seniors, and it’s a class that has had good success throughout their careers.”
4. How much longer would you like to coach? “My goal is about three or four more years. I hope I can last that long. I don’t know if I can. I can feel myself slowing down. These kinds of scenarios we’ve faced this year really to take a toll. Hopefully the competition of Friday night and the excitement of that can keep me going for a while. I enjoy being around the coaches and the players and the competition of trying to put together a new puzzle every year, and that’s what it is – you’re taking a piece of a puzzle and putting it together and carving the edges a little bit to make it work.”
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