I-95 Kick Off Classic: Elijah Brooks leads DeMatha Catholic football into new era

I-95 KICK OFF CLASSIC

THURSDAY
At Bowie State
Mount St. Joseph (Baltimore, Md.) vs. Friendship Collegiate Academy (Washington, District of Columbia), 5 p.m.
St. John's Catholic Prep (Frederick, Md.) vs. Calvert Hall (Baltimore, Md.), 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY
At Morgan State
Wise (Upper Marlboro, Md.) vs. Franklin (Reisterstown, Md.), 5 p.m.
Gilman (Baltimore, Md.) vs. Oscar Smith (Chesapeake, Va.), 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY
At Morgan State
Archbishop Curley (Baltimore, Md.) vs. Patterson (Baltimore, Md.), 10:45 p.m.
DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) vs. Loyola Blakefield (Towson, Md.), 1:45 p.m.
Westlake (Waldorf, Md.) vs. Urbana (Ijamsville, Md.), 4:45 p.m.
Dunbar (Baltimore, Md.) vs. Dunbar (Washington, District of Columbia), 7:45 p.m.

The year was 1982. Epcot opened its doors for the first time. Prince William was born. The Bengals were making more headlines for their play on the field than their arrests off it. Penn State won the football national championship and talk of Joe Paterno's retirement began.

And it was that same year when DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) last had a new football head coach. His name was Bill McGregor, and at the end of last season he retired as a legend.

This coming weekend at the second-annual I-95 Kick Off Classic,  one of the most storied football programs in the country will trot out a new football head coach for the first time in three decades — Elijah Brooks.

Brooks played running back and linebacker at DeMatha a mere decade ago. And then, following a successful collegiate career at William and Mary, he spent the last four years as an assistant coach under McGregor. So Brooks was fully aware of the DeMatha tradition before his promotion last spring. He knows the expectations without being told, and says he's ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

"Being an alumnus of DeMatha and then returning to teach at the school and coach with coach McGregor, I was not only familiar with the tradition of excellence, but felt I had the vision to begin the new era of DeMatha football," said Brooks, 27, who teaches history at the private school. "Working with the players year-round and doing so much behind the scenes I was confident I was a good candidate to be the next head coach at DeMatha."

Under McGregor, DeMatha won a staggering 278 games and 17 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) titles. More than 350 students earned college football scholarships during the coach's tenure, with 25 going on to play in the NFL. Despite having had no previous head coaching experience, Brooks is confident in his abilities to continue the storied tradition established by his predecessor.

"There will be a lot of lessons learned being a young coach, and I will be facing many great coaches going forward," Brooks said. "But I am not intimidated by my inexperience. I have played and learned from some of the best coaches on any level, including McGregor, [DeMatha basketball coach] Morgan Wooten and [William and Mary coach] Jimmye Laycock."

The rookie head coach will be surrounded by veteran assistants, including defensive coordinator Deno Campbell, a DeMatha graduate who has coached at the school since 1985, and offensive coordinator Tim Breslin, who had been a DeMatha assistant for seven years before taking off last season. The combination of Brooks' youthful exuberance with the coaching staff's overall experience is what gave the interview committee — McGregor reportedly was not part of the selection process — confidence in the new regime.

"Coach Brooks graduated and played at DeMatha so he knows the tradition," DeMatha athletic director Edward King said. "He is young, has a great staff, is very motivated, and has some great ideas. I'm looking forward to the new era."

That new era starts Saturday in the I-95 Classic against Loyola at Morgan State, when the Stags embark on their quest to win the WCAC title after a two-year hiatus from the top of the standings. DeMatha had won six straight conference titles before losing in the league championship game the past two seasons to Good Counsel.

"Every year at DeMatha we aim to win the league championship," Brooks said adamantly. "That will always be the ultimate goal."

One of Brooks' star players, University of Virginia-commit Michael Moore, shares his coach's aspirations.

"I want to try and get to the championship game and get the championship back to DeMatha," said Moore, a Top 50 recruit who plays defensive end and tight end. "I want to get the tradition back to how it was before."

Moore said that having played under Brooks the past two years means that there's really nothing new to get used to even though he's now the head coach. However, he did point out one big difference between the first-year head coach he now plays for and the legend he once played under.

"I can relate to coach Brooks a lot easier because we are closer in age," the DeMatha captain said. "I can joke around with him and then get serious."

In addition to Moore, Brooks inherits a plethora of returning Division I-caliber players on both sides of the ball, including tight end/defensive end Brent Wilkerson (Penn State), linebacker Sam Lebbie (West Virginia) and offensive tackles Connor Bozick and Dan Collura.

"Our program prides itself in sending players to the collegiate level year after year," Brooks said. "We want to make sure that we do all that we can to get our players maximum exposure so they might have an opportunity to benefit from higher education."

The demands of leading a nationally recognized program are immense, and because of this the roles of the assistant coaches become even more vital. Brooks said he will draw upon his own experience as an assistant coach to make sure he maximizes the talents of his new coaching staff.

"I will rely heavily on my assistants," said Brooks, who coached the running backs under McGregor. "Players many times will confide in an assistant coach before even thinking about speaking to the head coach. That's important to me because communication is vital to our success. I need honest feedback from my coaches in order to move the program forward, no matter if it is in regards to game planning, decision making or working with our players. With so much responsibility, they are my backbone in so many ways."

Brooks said the main thing he learned from McGregor is that as a head coach "it's important to keep your priorities in order and be yourself no matter what." When asked what kind of impression as a head coach he hopes to leave on his assistants, he responded: "Coach Brooks always trusted us to take ownership of our position on the staff, which helped us to grow as coaches. He always led with the players' best interest in mind."

As for what he hopes his players will say after their playing days at DeMatha are over, Brooks emphasized the non-football part of the experience as much as the on-field gratification.

"I hope they will say that DeMatha football was everything they dreamed it would be: A chance to receive a great education, develop as a player in one of the top programs in the nation, and become a man of high character."

If in fact in the years to come the former Stags do look back and say what their unproven coach hopes, it's safe to say that Brooks' "vision of the new era of DeMatha football" will have been seen.

Over a period of time in the near future DeMatha will find out if its former legendary coach has been replaced by a future one. That period of time begins now.

Jon Buzby is a sports columnist for the Newark Post, a freelance writer, and on the broadcast team for the 1290AM The Ticket High School Football and Basketball Games of the Week. You can reach him at jonbuzby@hotmail.com.