WARREN - Former University of Michigan coach Gary Moeller was the guest speaker at the Warren Sports Hall of Fame's annual "Pigskin Preview" - and he began his speech with a basketball story.
But make no mistake, it was all about football Sunday night at DiLucia's Banquet Center.
"When you're a football coach, you don't have a job," Moeller said. "You have fun your whole life. It's something that I truly enjoyed and miss it a lot in a ways."
Moeller, who coached at Michigan from 1990-1994, got the night started by talking about football life at Michigan, sharing some stories of his time with the great Bo Schembechler and giving the current coaches some pieces of advice.
"Today, I think a lot of things have changed," Moeller said. "And I think they are going to continue to change and we have to be up on it. But I think we have to sell our programs. Realize that football is the greatest damn sport going. It takes something to be a football player."
Following Moeller's speech, Chuck Wolbert of the Warren Sports Hall of Fame interviewed coaches from the county about the upcoming season. While 12 coaches from the county were interviewed, the most anticipated coach of the night was Warren G. Harding coach Steve Arnold, who begins his football career Friday night against Austintown Fitch. While he talked Xs and Os, he spoke a lot about some behind the scenes work he has done since taking the job in November.
"The importance of time and commitment and playing for one another," Arnold said. "And not being an individual. Overall, we've been talking about work ethic and attitude and being what this proud program has been in the past. And letting the kids know there was Warren Harding football before they came."
The football season begins Thursday night with six games on the slate. The feature game for Trumbull County is the highly anticipated meeting between Girard and Niles.
