After being hired as Quaker Valley High School's head football coach, Bob McIntyre wanted to give a shout-out.

"Tell [Post-Gazette sports writer] Mike White thanks for writing that Quaker Valley never wins. That takes the pressure off me," McIntyre said with a laugh.

That isn't 100 percent true. The Quakers have had some winning seasons in the past but they were 0-9 last year. In 2008, the Quakers finished 5-4 after going 2-7 in 2007 and 1-6 in 2006.

That 5-4 record is the only winning one in the past 10 years for the Quakers, who have not qualified for the WPIAL playoffs since 1999.

What some folks forget is that in the late 1990s Quaker Valley went to the playoffs three out of four years and its worst record during that span was 5-5. Having a winning program in the district is possible.

McIntyre replaces Jeff Besong who resigned after the season because of the time constraights with a new job.

McIntyre comes to Quaker Valley from WPIAL Class AAAA power Central Catholic, where he was an assistant this past season. In 2008, he was the head coach at Keokuk High in Iowa. From 2003-07 he was an assistant at Central Catholic and was there when the Vikings won WPIAL titles in 2003 and '04, and a PIAA crown in '04.

So why did McIntyre decide to go after the Quaker Valley job?

"I see it as a great opportunity," he said. "You look at all the other sports at Quaker Valley and they do well in everything.

"It's a great district with that small-town atmosphere and a great community. I don't see any reason why the football team can't be successful."

McIntyre, who lives in Churchill and has his own business, was selected from a pool of 53 applicants. He played high school ball at Central Catholic and was a defensive back at John Carroll.

He realizes changing the losing culture that has surrounded the Quakers' program will be his biggest challenge.

"The way to do that is not to worry about the past," he said. "You do that by getting better one practice at a time, one play at a time."

McIntyre doesn't see the commute from Churchill to Leetsdale for practices and games as a problem. He realizes that turning a program that is steeped in losing isn't going to happen overnight.

"At Central, the players are used to winning at just about every level," said McIntyre who has a 32-2 record as the Vikings head freshman and head junior varsity coach. "They expect to win every game and developing that type of attitude is important. Once you have some success and have that attitude, it feeds on itself."

The problem is that Quaker Valley will be in a tough conference in the WPIAL's revamped alignment for 2010. The Quakers will again be in the Class AA Century Conference and will have to go against holdovers Keystone Oaks, Seton-LaSalle, South Fayette and Steel Valley and newcomer Washington.

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