SEVERN, Md. — Archbishop Spalding High School's football program has a new leader for the first time in over a decade, and the Cavaliers are not slowing down.
New coach, same standard for Archbishop Spalding football
First-year head coach RB Green is taking over a program that has won four consecutive Conference A championships in the MIAA and gone 53-6 over the last five seasons, posting double-digit win totals in each.
A longtime assistant coach at Navy, Green is relatively new to the high school game but says he is ready for the challenge.
"It's an immense amount of pressure to come into a powerhouse organization that's already successful and then to continue that," Green said. "I'm doing everything in my power to make sure that we continue that and take a step further. They've been really successful, but there's still meat on the bone and still more to accomplish."
Green said the program was an easy choice.
"Very attractive to come here," Green said.
His approach has centered on empowering senior leadership to carry the program's standard forward. Players say the transition has been seamless.
"Senior leadership, he's really been harping on that," senior tight end Roger Bredenkamp said. "Trying to bring the guys together and have the guys lead. The seniors step up and pass that tradition down to the young guys."
Senior linebacker and safety Brandon Hicks said the bar has not dropped under new leadership.
"The transition has been awesome. The coaching staff filled in the gaps, and the seniors have helped lead the way, and the standard that they set has not changed; it's only elevated," Hicks said. "Spalding is still Spalding. The standard is the same and just getting better every day."
The seniors have taken ownership of that standard heading into the new season. Maryland commit and senior wide receiver Myles McAfee said the team's identity is built on collective effort.
"Toughest team in Maryland. That's our saying; that's what we need to be," McAfee said. "We just need to be a team, not a group of individuals where one person gets all the glory or one person goes off. As a team, we need to play collectively."
For Virginia Tech commit and senior defensive lineman Brock Frisby, winning a championship this year would carry extra meaning given the circumstances surrounding the coaching change.
"I feel like if there's any year that they didn't think we could get a championship, I think it's this year because of the coaches leaving; we had a great group of seniors that left, getting this championship with this team under these circumstances would just be something special and so amazing to look back to," Frisby said.
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