New Brighton High School went back to the future in hiring a football coach.

The district's school board voted unanimously two week ago to hire Joe Greco as the Lions head coach. Greco, who is a middle school teacher in the district, had been away from the New Brighton program for three seasons after serving 12 years as the head coach.

He replaces Mitch Carver who was fired at the end of last season after New Brighton finished 0-9, was shut out three times and lost, 33-21, to Ellwood City, which had the longest losing streak in the WPIAL at the time.

In three seasons under Carver the Lions were 6-21. They have not qualified for the WPIAL Class AA playoffs since 2003.

Greco isn't the only new head coach in the PG West area. Quaker Valley hired former Central Catholic assistant Bob McIntyre to guide its program and Freedom hired Frank Hernandez to replace Mark Lyons, who has taken the Central Valley job. Hernandez served as Freedom's interim head coach in 2008 after J.C. Summers resigned for health reasons during the season.

Greco has been an assistant coach at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., the past three seasons. But when the New Brighton job opened, he decided to apply.

"Just to see the shape the program is in ... that's the reason I decided to go after the job," said Greco, who was an assistant coach at New Brighton for 10 years before moving up to head coach. "I've spent most of my adult life as part of the [New Brighton] program and I want to see it headed in the right direction."

The Lions had some good seasons with Greco in charge. They tied Beaver Falls for the Midwestern Athletic Conference title in 2001 and won the MAC in 1995, advancing to the WPIAL semifinals before losing to eventual WPIAL champion Burrell.

In the MAC, Aliquippa and, more recently, Beaver Falls have been the teams to beat. In his first stint as head coach at New Brighton Greco's teams won three times at Aliquippa. That's no easy task.

He said coaching at Westminster was a good experience in a number of ways and should make him a better high school coach this time around.

"When I went there to coach, it was probably the first time I had a chance to reflect on what we had done at New Brighton," he said. "I'm excited to be back coaching at New Brighton. I've had a lot of the current players in class, so I'm familiar with them. It's not like I don't know anything about the talent.

"My goal is to make us competitive in a hurry and I think you do that with an improved defense. In the MAC you've got to be able to stop the run.

"With the athletes we have, we should be competitive every year and then when you get that really good group, you make your run."

While scouting players for Westminster, Greco was able to get some insight into how other high school coaches and programs approach games. He plans to incorporate that knowledge into his program.

"I went to games and looked at players and for the first time I wasn't looking at teams in terms of what [New Brighton] could do against them," he said. "I saw how other teams, other coaches do things, call plays, and I picked up some things."

As with any new head coach, Greco is in the process of putting together a staff. He said many of the guys on his previous coaching staff have expressed an interest in returning. Plus, a number of individuals who played for him and want to get into coaching have called.

"My [home] phone didn't ring for three years," Greco said with a laugh. "It has rung more the past few days than it did in three years."

At Quaker Valley, McIntyre's task will be to turn around a program that has had little to brag about in recent years. The Quakers have had just one winning season in the past 10 and have not qualified for the playoffs since 1999.

"I see it as a great opportunity," said McIntyre, who was an assistant at Central Catholic this past season after serving as the head coach at Keokuk High School in Iowa in 2008. From 2003-07 he was also an assistant at Central Catholic.

"You look at all the other sports at Quaker Valley and it does 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 University.

"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.

Quaker Valley was 0-9 this past season but was 5-4 in 2008 after going 2-7 in 2007 and 1-8 in 2006.

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