Jeff Humble to coach Penn Charter football

Jeff Humble has been named football coach at Penn Charter, succeeding Brian McCloskey who announced in January that he was stepping down after a 21-year career on the football staff, 14 of those as head coach.

Humble, 31, a graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland, where he was the starting quarterback his junior and senior seasons, has served the last three seasons as an assistant to McCloskey.

For the seventh-grade science teacher, it will be his first head coaching position. He was an assistant coach at Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) before going to Penn Charter.

"I've only been here three years, but Brian was a great mentor to me," said Humble, who is in the process of putting a staff together. "He always said coaching was simply an extension of teaching - an opportunity to make a difference in the students' lives."

Humble expects the interviewing process for his staff to take a couple of months.

"The kids really haven't had a coach for a while, so I'm anxious to get the off-season workout program up and running again," Humble added. "Other schools are ahead of us. It's a complete honor to be named coach at a school with such a storied history and great academic tradition."

As an assistant under McCloskey, Humble coached the defensive backs and served as co-defensive coordinator. The Quakers lost some skill players to graduation but return their backfield intact from a team that was .500 last season. The Quakers won the Inter-Academic crown the year before.

Quakers athletic director Paul Butler said he expected a smooth transition. "Jeff already knows the program," he said.