On Friday, May 17th, a search committee compiled of Shawnee Mission East counselors, principals, head basketball coach Shawn Hair, Gridiron Club president Jeff Spivak and others announced that they had chosen a new head football coach for Shawnee Mission East.
That new face to lead East’s football program is Dustin Delaney, former head coach of Emporia High School. Before being head coach at Emporia, Delaney was offensive coordinator at Hutchinson High, who won four state championships during his stay, and was the number one ranked offense in the country according to Massey ratings. While head coach at Emporia High school, Delaney’s overall record was 23-10, and turned around a program that had been struggling. With nine wins in 2012, Emporia recorded its most wins in a season since 1980. And during those three years at Emporia, his team recorded three playoff wins. Before this, Emporia had won three playoff games in the last 23 years.
Once Delaney interviewed for the job, the search committee knew that he would be able to step in and be successful in a program following a legendary coach like Chip Sherman. The committee felt that Delaney’s resume showed he had been successful wherever he had gone, and his energetic, commanding presence on the field displayed that Delaney will follow a new era of stardom in high school coaching. The committee also felt that Delaney was a great fit to Shawnee Mission East, and would be able to step in and take the reigns of the program.
Along with a new head football coach brings great change. Although the Lancers have been used to the spread offense for the last five years, Delaney will be implementing what he calls the “flexbone,” and is a variation of the triple option. Now, instead of the pass setting up the occasional run, Delaney’s new offense will feature a more upbeat attack using the run to set up the pass.
On the same day Delaney was hired, he held a meeting for the East players and for the upcoming season, giving the players information on his background, and his plans going into the summer.
The search committee feels that Dustin Delaney is the correct man for the job. One of the members of the search committee, head of Lancer the Gridiron Club, Jeff Spivak, displayed his hope for Delaney by expressing, “this guy has been successful everywhere that he has been and we have no doubt that he is going to be successful here too.”
The summer weights and camps dates are still to be determined and will be released soon.
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