Jeff Vroman to return as Philipsburg-Osceola football coach after unanimous board approval
It’s been a long time since Philipsburg-Osceola had a winning football team.
But Jeff Vroman still remembers those days, when his Mounties team made it to the district finals five times during his tenure as coach from 2002-13.
Now Vroman is returning to the football program, after being unanimously approved as head coach for the 2020-21 season for $5,560.35 by the school board Tuesday night, and hoping to restore Philipsburg-Osceola football back to it previous heights.
He takes over for Brian McGonigal, who stepped down as head coach in January after two seasons, citing family medical reasons.
“It’s a fresh beginning for myself, too, which is big,” Vroman said. “Sometimes you need to recharge the batteries. I’ve been coaching at Hollidaysburg, but it’s time for me to come back.”
Vroman’s previous 12-year tenure with the Mounties included a 9-3 2011 season in which P-O reached the playoffs and won its only playoff game of the decade. The 2011 season was the last time the Mounties won more than a game in any season.
He coached the program for two more years after the 2011 season, but a combined 1-19 record in those years led to Vroman’s resignation in 2013.
Vroman knows getting the program back on track won’t easy, but he’s ready for the challenge, and hoping the players are, too.
“That change in culture requires that challenge,” he said. “And I think they want that, I think they’re looking for some of that the structure. And that’s something that any good football team or football program is noted for.”
Changing the culture, though, is going to require more work than just from the football team, and Vroman knows that. He wants to try to build school spirit and get the community involved.
He’s tired of seeing aluminum bleachers at the school district’s new football field, opened in 2017.
“That thing should be packed,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to try to do. We’re going to try to bring a program back inside that stadium every Friday night.”
Since Vroman’s departure in 2013, the Mounties have struggled to gain traction in the Mountain League, winning only four games in the six years that followed and losing 56 games in the same stretch.
Their 2019 season came to a close prematurely after injuries stripped the roster of talent and numbers. The school district decided to forfeit the final two games of the season in order to prevent further injury.
Watching the team go through those struggles and wanting to help restore the program is what Vroman said motivated him to want to return, once the opportunity became available.
Now that he’s back, he’s counting on the players to share the same goal.
“I remember how it was, how it can be, and it’s not going to be easy,” Vroman said. “It’s going to take a lot of hard work on my part, the other coaches, and on the kids’ part. They have to buy in and understand you need to take some ownership in this thing.
“And the only way it’s going to get fixed is if they decide they want to do it, and they want to work to achieve the goals that we’re going to set.”
Lauren Muthler contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 11:36 PM.
