Huguenot football coach Richard McFee retires
News of Huguenot football coach Richard McFee's
was announced this week. At age 59, McFee now faces his toughest opponent:
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colon cancer.
McFee took
over the Huguenot head coaching position in 1988 and immediately transformed a
program that had not been competitive into a winner. In his fist
season as the Falcons head coach, McFee led the the team to the state
championship where they lost to E.C. Glass 22-7.
During his tenure at Huguenot McFee guided the Falcons to
143 wins
and only 73 losses. During that span his team's won three Central Region
Division 5 titles, as well as many District titles. Winning football games,
however, was not the only trademark of the Huguenot football program under
Richard McFee.
"Coach McFee was one of the first football coaches to grasp the big
picture of college recruiting", remarked Gary Criswell on Tuesday.
Criswell has been involved with high school football in the Central Region as a
player, coach, or media member for many years and pointed out that McFee was
responsible for helping place 77 of his former players at the Division I or I-AA
level.
Gary Hess who has covered sports in the Richmond area for a number of
years and is the radio play-by-play voice for the high school "Game of
the Week" on Sports Radio AM910, offered the following comments on
Richard McFee's retirement:
"The departure of coach Macis a great loss for Central Region
football. For 20 years he roamed the sidelines at Huguenot and knew how
to win football games. While he often had a lot of athletes, his teamswon
because of the force of his will. Hemade those kids believe they
would win. His teams were usually entertaining to watch and interviews
were equally entertaining.
Mac also was a great advocate for his kids with college recruiters and was
instrumental inmany of his players getting college scholarships.
You could always tell he was there for his kids, believed in them, and would
go the extra mile for them."
Roger Brookes, the longtime head football coach at nearby King William
High School and coached with McFee during several high school all star games
said "The kids and the community will miss Rich McFee, his contributions to
the kids and the community are significant and will be hard to replace."
Richard McFee will be missed on and off the
football field in the Central Region and we all wish him well and look forward
to his next victory!