By Claire Gebhardt

One change to the McDowell Football program that no one saw coming was the resignation of head coach, Brad Orlando. Orlando has held the head coach position for the past 10 years, he is also a teacher at McDowell Intermediate high school. 

An official social media post announcing Orlando’s resignation was published on Jan. 9. He said his decision was “nothing quick and abrupt,” but after a long thought process, he decided that “right now is the best time to take a break.” He explained that coaching McDowell Football is a major time commitment, “it’s a second full-time job,” and when he wasn’t on the field for practice, Orlando was on the phone answering calls, texts or emails. 

Coach Orlando expressed that he rarely got to see his family. With the spare time he has now, he plans to spend it with his wife and 3 kids: Gianna, 10; Kali, 9; Bo, 4. 

To him; his success with his time as head coach is defined by the players he made a connection with. “The fact that you have players that you had a connection with not just coaching them on the field, but the connection off the field. The fact that they enjoyed their time at McDowell, that’s what defines success for me.” 

Orlando’s advice to the incoming head coach is to be prepared for the large time commitment, “no matter how much time you think it is, it’s going to be more,” be organized, hire who you want, do things your way and “make it your own.”