Bill Bohren began his high school coaching career in Illinois in 1965, shortly after he earned his Masters Degree from Illinois State. After spending seven years in the Land of Lincoln, the Ambridge (Pa.) native worked his way back east. He made a four-year stop at Ottawa Glandorf, then spent three years guiding the Steubenville program before establishing himself as a fixture in the Mahoning Valley.

The well-traveled Bohren, who has never been an assistant coach, has found success everywhere he’s gone.

Bohren’s 1976 Steubenville team finished 7-1-2, Big Red’s best showing as a member of the All- American Conference.

At Lakeview, Bohren compiled a 32-18 mark. At Boardman, his Spartans were 59-26, including two straight Steel Valley Conference titles and a trip to the Division I state title game.

Salem won its only conference title in 104 years under Bohren. At Niles, he won a pair of league titles and made two trips to the playoffs.

After sitting out the 2003 season, Bohren took over a LaBrae program which was 3-27 in the three years prior to his arrival. The Vikings have since gone 23-20, including a 2-1 start in 2008.

Now in his 43rd year of roaming the sidelines, the dean of area coaches owns a career record of 265-137-6.

Q. In the past 43 years, you’ve gone one football season without coaching. What did you do with all of your free time during the fall of 2003?

A. “I went nuts. I didn’t know what to do. Actually, I spent most of my time going to football games. I knew right away that I wouldn’t go through another season without coaching.”

Q. Does it ever irritate you that fans often label you as a coach who is too offensively conservative?

A. “No. I’ve always been a defensive-minded type of coach. Defense wins championships. If you have a solid defense, and a good kicking game, the goal is for ball control on offense, and let the defense win the game. However, you also use the horses that you have. We had a Big Ten quarterback at Ottawa. [John] Ryan put up big numbers at Boardman, and then we had [Todd] Rowan and [Danny] Hartman at LaBrae. Now we have another special quarterback in Jordan Miller, and we’re not going to let his talents go to waste.”

Q. Do you believe that the area media and fans sometimes place too much emphasis on high school football?

A. “No. As far as I’m concerned, the bigger spotlight the better. You want the sport to be in the forefront at whatever school you’re coaching. It’s good for the community and it’s good for the kids. If you’re a coach in Ohio, you take the job knowing that you’re going to be under fire. It goes with the territory. All of the interest can only make coaches and players strive to do better.”

Q. Of all the places you’ve coached, what community had the toughest fans?

A. “Steubenville and Niles are two communities where fans live and die with their football team. Under that atmosphere, fans are really vocal and very opinionated. But again, if you’re a coach you want that type of atmosphere because it means that you’re going to be coaching some kids who are really into the game.”

Q. Do you coach a Boardman team differently than you would a LaBrae team?

A. “The only difference is in numbers. At a smaller school, you’re always concerned about depth. You might be forced to handle discipline issues differently at a LaBrae, where kicking a kid off of the team could affect the other 10 players on the field. At a Boardman, you have more options. Same thing with injuries. If a kid goes down at LaBrae, that’s usually like losing two players because he likely plays both ways. Plus, the bench isn’t as deep so his loss is going to have a huge impact.”

Q. Are today’s athletes tougher to coach than they were 40 years ago?

A. “The kids are the same. The kids of today, I don’t care what you tell them to do, they listen. They’re still willing to work hard and put forth the dedication. They’re very coachable. What’s changed are the parents. They want to nose in all of the time, whether it’s in sports or in school. Forty years ago, if a kid got spanked at school for disciplinary reasons, he would go home and get spanked again. Today, the school would have a lawsuit on its hands.”

XInterview by Vindicator correspondent Steve Ruman.