RallyNorth.net

Coach's Corner: Marblehead's Doug Chernovetz

Thursday, September, 27 By Matt Jenkins
Staff writer

Football is in Doug Chernovetz's blood.

Growing up in Connecticut, Chernovetz learned the sport from a man who quarterbacked the Syracuse Orangemen in the mid-1960s. Doug's father, John Chernovetz, showed him all the intricacies of the sport, and his second cousin, Bob Kuziel, was also a center in the National Football League in the late-1970s.

All the knowledge Chernovetz soaked up in his youth, he is now passing on to the football players of Marblehead High School. Chernovetz is in the midst of his third season at the Magicians' helm.

1. What brought you to the North Shore?
"My wife. I was a head football coach at a private school | the Cantebury School | and I was there for seven years. My wife was living in Andover at the time. We got married and lived four years apart. She and our children were up there in Andover and it got to the point where she said, 'Get your skinny legs up here.' I've been here ever since."

2. How many children do you have?
"My wife has two children. We don't like to call them step-children, but in reality they are my step-children. My son is a sophomore on full scholarship at Quinnipiac University, and my daughter just left for her freshman year. She's on (basketball) scholarship at Sacred Heart. That's two Division 1 basketball players. My wife (Susan) and their dad were very good basketball players as well."

3. Are you still living in Andover?
"We were in Andover, but we just moved to Lowell in August. We were in Andover because of the better school system. Once our daughter graduated we decided to move to a city with a little less property tax and we bought our first home together."

4. How much football did you play growing up?
"I played at Amity High School in Connecticut, then took a post-graduate year at Worcester and played football and baseball. Then I went to Washington and Jefferson College, a Division 3 school in Washington, Pennsylvania. I played football for a year there and then tore my ACL."

5. What positions did you play?
"I played quarterback and defensive back. I was a defensive back and then moved to quarterback in college, and had a short year of playing quarterback there. I was not a starter. It's a very strong football program. I was the scout QB and tore my ACL at the end of the year."

6. How did your injury happen, and how did it affect the rest of your career?
"It was in practice while I was running the scout offense. We were playing against the first defense and it was a rainy day. We weren't supposed to go out and at the last minute it stopped raining and we went outside for practice. I went back to pass and one of the ends planted me, and that was it. I think I was in tears at that point. I knew my career was over. I would have loved to play. It was a very solid program, but I couldn't play anymore. My coaches and my kids (at Marblehead) kill me about my skinny, chicken legs. I needed to work out a little more on squats."

7. When did you know you wanted to become a head football coach?
"I think it was as soon as I got done with my masters. I was a graduate assistant at Sacred Heart and I moved up to Massachusetts to be a volunteer assistant coach at St. Mary's of Lynn for the year. I knew then that I wanted to continue. One of my buddies was the head coach at the Cantebury School and he called me and said he was leaving after two years. I put my name in and got hired with no (head) coaching experience. I was nervous about my ability and experience. As soon as I got the head coaching job I knew I didn't want to be an assistant anymore."

8. It seems quarterback is the most intellectual position on the football field. How has that translated into your coaching?
"I don't know if my wife would say that. My father was a quarterback and he coached me. I always had the ability to be a quarterback. It's definitely a position where you've got to think, but my father played at Syracuse and he taught me how to play. I didn't have the arm, and wasn't as good as him, but certainly what he did in terms of preparing to be a football player was instrumental for me. I grew up with sports and everyone in my family was an athlete. My younger brother was the quarterback at Wagner. He got all the size and the arm. It was important to get that training (from my father). I'm not that intellectual. I've surrounded myself with very good coaches. That's what is important. Each guy brings something different to the table."

9. What college or professional football teams do you like to follow?
"Because my father was an Orangeman I follow Syracuse. Unfortunately, they've been struggling. I love watching football. I'm a Redskins ran at heart. My father's cousin played center for Washington. Bob Kuziel played at the University of Pittsburgh and was a center with the 'Skins. He had (Joe) Theismann's hands up his rear for eight years."

10. Do you agree with the Bowl Championship Series, or would you prefer a season-ending tournament in college football?
"I think the system is one that is improving and the BCS committee is doing a great job, working on a way to get that to work. It really doesn't bother me. The thing that bothers me is that my kids don't watch enough. It's tough when you don't watch the game. You have to reteach these kids as a coach. I grew up playing football, baseball, and basketball. You would be outside playing sports and your mother would have to call you in for dinner. Now, you've got Playstation and all that. They don't know how to play the game. I have more of an issue with high school kids not watching than I do with the BCS doing a playoff or a national championship."