New coach Phillips hopes to create 'winning habit'

He led Springfield High to back-to-back ICL titles and state playoff berths.
By NORMAN LEIGH andGEORGE WELKER
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
SALEM -- The school board is trying to get the district's football team back on the winning track by hiring a coach who led his squad to two consecutive league championships.
In a special meeting Thursday at Reilly Stadium, the board ended a months-long search by hiring Doug Phillips for the 2001 season.
Phillips has been coach at Springfield High School since 1997.
He said his interest in the Salem job came from an experience last fall, when Springfield won a playoff game in front of a packed Reilly Stadium.
"I knew right away that we could build something very special," he told players, parents and school officials gathered Thursday.
"It will be our goal to win on this field. It will be our goal to build a program that not only ourselves will be proud of, but our school system and our town. We will pack this stadium."
32-13: During his tenure, Phillips compiled a 32-13 record that included Inter-County League championships in 1999 and 2000.
His teams have won 19 consecutive regular season games.
In the 2000 campaign, the Tigers went 12-1 and advanced to the regional final in Division V.
"We've had championship teams at Springfield. It's not one man. It wasn't just me," Phillips said. "It was the way the administrators, it was the way the community backed the school, it was the way the student body backed the school. I see that potential here at Salem."
For his efforts last fall, Phillips was named the Quad County Coaches Association Coach of the Year and was picked as head coach for the Penn-Ohio all-star game.
"He gives us the best chance to be successful," Salem schools Superintendent Dr. Dave Brobeck said of Phillips' hiring for the Metro Athletic Conference school.
"We think he has every asset necessary. He's a learner. He's committed to getting better as a football coach. He's committed to children and to student-athletes."
Phillips said, "Is winning everything? ... Winning is everything, and winning to me is doing everything right -- going to class, going to the weight room, treating people with respect, working hard on the football field.
"So, we have to create that winning habit. I'm very confident that we can."
Strong competition: Brobeck said Phillips was chosen from among five finalists with a combined record in 2000 of 46-4.
Phillips replaced Robert Mehno, who went 2-18 in two seasons.
Mehno, a high school science teacher, will become assistant high school principal in September.
Phillips also will serve as coordinator of the district's open enrollment, drug free schools and student retention programs, for which he'll be paid about $47,000 annually.
His coaching contract is for three years, during which he'll earn about $5,400 per year.