Meeting the New High School Football Head Coaches in Maryland

There are several familiar faces in new places as more than 30 schools changed head coaches during the offseason

Rich Holzer is returning to the MIAA A Conference as the new head coach at Loyola Blakefield. He won the MIAA championship at Mount St. Joseph before spending six seasons at Northern-Calvert, where he won the 2021 Class 3A state crown. / Varsity Sports Network

There's an inside joke that when the music stops in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) game of head coaching musical chairs, there's still a seat for everyone.

The MIAA Features New Leaders with Familiar Faces

In other words, the league recycles head coaches. And that seems to be the trend again this year. Three of the four new leaders of MIAA programs had previous head coaching positions in the league. Changes in the MIAA highlight another year of high turnover in high school football coaches in Maryland.

Rich Holzer inherits the Loyola Blakefield program. This is Holzer's fifth head coaching gig in Maryland, and he previously coached at MIAA rival Mount St. Joseph, even leading the Gaels to a league title. Richard Stichel Jr. is back in the MIAA B Conference, coaching Archbishop Curley, the defending league champion. Stichel previously coached John Carroll, where he led that program to an MIAA B title. Josh Ward moves from Calvert Hall to Mount Carmel. Tyler Ward (no relation to Josh Ward) takes over Calvert Hall following a successful stint at Bethlehem Catholic in Pennsylvania.

On the move, again

Vince Ahearn establishes a few firsts this year as the retired teacher takes over a struggling Thomas Johnson program. Not only is this a record sixth head coaching stint in Maryland, but he also becomes the first person to be the head coach of all three Frederick City schools. Ahearn previously led programs at Suitland in Prince George’s County, and later at Williamsport and Smithsburg in Washington County. But he’s best known in Frederick, where he is the all-time winningest coach at Frederick High (71 wins) and Tuscarora (27 wins in five seasons).

The idea of holding that distinction at all three schools is out of reach, as Ben Wright logged 172 wins during a coaching career at Thomas Johnson that stretched from the 1980s through 2012. Still, Ahearn has built a reputation for reviving struggling programs, and TJ might be his biggest challenge yet. The Patriots are just 8-75 since 2017.

Here is a list of new football head coaches in Maryland this fall:

School	2025 Head Coach
Annapolis Area Christian	Andre Dixon
Archbishop Curley	Richard Stichel Jr.
Bladensburg	Josh Wade
Brunswick	Nicholas Rhodes
C. Milton Wright	Bryan Hansrote
Calvert Hall	Tyler Ward
Catoctin	Brady Ridenour
Chopticon	Anthony Lisanti
Douglass-Balt.	Johnny Witherspoon
Dunbar	Courtney Bridget
Dundalk	Chrys Lane
Elkton	C.J. Ponzo
Fallston	Derrick Krumholtz
Franklin	Randy Johnson
Hancock	Greg Cartrette
Joppatowne	Garry Smith
Kent Island	Tim Goodrich
La Plata	Danny Hayes
Loyola Blakefield	Rich Holzer
Mount Carmel	Josh Ward
North East-Cecil	Wes Laguerre
Northern Garrett	Logan Stewart
Northern-Calvert	Tom Abel
Northwest	David Riggio
Owings Mills	Josh Leese
Polytechnic	Jamaal Johnson
Riverdale Baptist	Bruce Hocker
St. James School	Colin Ponder
Snow Hill	Chris Miles
Thomas Johnson	Vince Ahearn
Thomas Wootton	Patrick Bernardo
Towson	Will Thompson
Urbana	Zach Shoemaker

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Sheldon Shealer | sheldon.shealer@gmail.com