Coaching football at Bishop Amat: Stepping inside a pressure cooker

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Former Bishop Amat football coach Mark Verti said he was told going into the gig to expect a lot of pressure.

‘But I don’t think you ever know until you are in that position,’ he said.

Now he knows.

Verti, 29, resigned on Thursday after two years as head coach, ending weeks of speculation. The Lancers were 8-12 during his tenure.

Verti said he would take a year off from coaching and then get back into the game. For now, he will remain at the school teaching history while also trying to pursue a Masters degree.

Verti said he was not forced to resign.

‘ Not at all,’ he said. ‘I think it’s best for the school for me to step down.’

He didn’t give any specifics as to why he chose to resign, but did talk about the pressure that went with being at the school -- and also being the subject of many jokes and personal comments on the Internet.

‘Some of that stuff, the blogs, they’re out there,’ said Verti, ‘but a lot of that stuff isn’t true.’

Verti , an Amat grad, came to his alma mater in 2004 as an offensive coordinator. In his first season, the Lancers offense finished ranked in the top 5 in total yardage in school history. He became head coach before the start of the 2006 season.

Amat finished 5-5 and showed a lot of potential. Many felt the Lancers would do even better in Verti’s second year, but the program took a big hit during the off-season, when many of its top players left.

‘I thought we had a good team going in,’ Verti said. ‘I thought could have won that Los Osos game [the season opener] and played Orange Lutheran tough. We had a lack of depth and some key injuries.’

The Lancers finished 3-7, but on an up note, as they got victories over Loyola and eventual CIF division champion St. Paul at the end of the season.

One coach I talked to today compared coaching at Bishop Amat to coaching at Notre Dame. The coach said that even though he is happy where he is at, he would listen to Amat because it’s Amat.

‘It’s the history, the tradition, the resources. It’s everything,’ the coach said.

A name that is sure to pop up as a possible replacement is former Amat standout Daylon McCutcheon, who after retiring from the NFL last year became the school’s defensive backs coach.

Whoever takes over, though, Verti says they’ll be inheriting a good team.

‘I think it’s going to be a good team,’ he said. ‘A lot of talent.’

And a lot of pressure too.

-- Jaime Cardenas

-- Image from www.cartoonstock.com