Legends coach. Coach of the year again.

[gorja]

From the Clarence Bee
Lancaster’s Rupp repeats as Coach of the Year
by JASON NADOLINSKI

Second-year Lancaster football coach Eric Rupp has already constructed an epic start to his head coaching career, posting a 21-1 record while winning sectional titles in each of his first two seasons and guiding the Legends to this weekend’s state Class AA semifinals for the first time in program history.

That he is now the first-ever coach to be named All-Bee Football Coach of the Year for a second time in the six years the all-star team has existed is just a little extra icing on the cake.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Rupp said of being named 2017’s Coach of the Year. “There are so many great coaches out there — I mean, look at what Section VI did this past weekend — so I’m just extremely grateful to be voted Coach of the Year by my peers.”

Lancaster football holds a special place in the heart of Rupp and assistant coaches Brian Wild, David Mansell, Sean Bruso and Scott Guenther, which is probably why they all put as much into the program as they do. Rupp was a varsity player under longtime coach Len Jankiewicz from 1999 to 2001, and Rupp’s father also played at Lancaster during the 1970s under legendary coach Joe Foyle.

Rupp’s playing days saw him dominate the same linebacking position in which current All-Bee Defensive Player of the Year Joe Andreessen is terrorizing the opposition, and that’s where his heart lies, even though he currently serves as the Legends’ offensive coordinator.

“Lancaster football has been a huge part of my life, and just like the other four guys on staff who played at Lancaster, I absolutely love this program and would do anything for it,” Rupp said. “We all worked extremely hard to get the program to where it is today. Having played linebacker in college and started my coaching career focused only on defense, it’s a little weird to be geared more towards the offensive side of the ball right now, but I do still also coach the linebacking unit, too.

“That’s kind of what I love most about football, coaching linebackers, and I’ve been blessed with some good ones these last couple of years,” Rupp continued. “It never feels like work. I’ve never dreaded a day of practice these last two years.”

Having been around Lancaster’s program for as long as he has — Rupp served as the head JV coach for three years before serving solely as the varsity team’s offensive coordinator in 2015 — led to Rupp taking coaching inspiration from Jankiewicz, whom Rupp called the person who’s “probably had the biggest impact on my life” outside of his father or grandfather. Rupp and his staff also are about as dedicated to improving their craft as any coach could possibly be, serving as the personification of his belief that a lot of success just boils down to hard work.

“I’ve been blessed to work with a very talented group of kids these last two years, as well as a loyal and dedicated coaching staff,” Rupp said. “Coach Jankiewicz gave us all a book for Christmas, and one of its themes was building champions for life through football, and that really struck a chord with me. I might be these guys’ coach for a year or two, but I want them to feel like down the road a few years, they can come back to us and we can help them out in life, too.

“But for now, the other coaches and I work at this thing 365 days a year, whether that’s studying the top college programs, hitting the weight room with the kids or going to clinics,” Rupp continued. “We usually try to do one big clinic a year — we’ve been going to the Nike Clinic in Pittsburgh every February, where you get to hear some big-time coaches talk — but with technology today, you can find just about anything on YouTube. You can find some good stuff if you follow the right people on Twitter, too.”

Rupp and his fellow Legends’ coaches might have some stories to tell of their own in Pittsburgh this winter if Lancaster is able to ride its wave of success all the way to the Syracuse University Carrier Dome in two weeks. Lancaster plays Cicero-North Syracuse in Saturday’s late game at Union-Endicott High School in Binghamton for the right to play for the state title the following weekend, all because the Legends were able to upend one of what Rupp called the “elite” programs in the state this past weekend in Aquinas.

“Anytime you can beat a school that has won multiple state titles in the recent past, that’s a tremendous accomplishment,” Rupp said. “We’re just looking to keep things going for as long as we can and enjoy the ride along the way.”

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Legends is such a stupid name.