Blog

Nov 01, 2023

Tuscarora football preview: Hines building Titans program from scratch

For his first act as Tuscarora’s football coach, Ryan Hines has managed to transform the Titans physically. As he was handing out equipment recently, Hines realized that he didn’t have enough jerseys

For his first act as Tuscarora’s football coach, Ryan Hines has managed to transform the Titans physically.

As he was handing out equipment recently, Hines realized that he didn’t have enough jerseys that fit some of the bigger players on the team. Some of the helmets were a little tight, too, and the pants needed work.

So, there was 6-foot-2, 300-pound offensive lineman Matthew Ennis, who returned to Tuscarora after a stint at Good Counsel, before a recent practice, wearing a jersey that barely stretched over his chest. He wasn’t alone in that regard.

Hines views this sort of stuff as a beautiful problem to have.

“One of the big question marks we had coming into the season was linemen,” he said. “I mean, you can see, we have some beef now, which is good.”

Hines, who gave up close to a 10-year career in athletic administration to come coach at Tuscarora, placed an order for bigger jerseys, helmets and some pants.

He hoped they would arrive prior to Friday’s season opener against visiting North Hagerstown. “If not, we are going to have to get creative,” he said.

The uniform issue is emblematic of the one-brick-at-a-time approach Hines and his experienced coaching staff have taken to building the Tuscarora program essentially from scratch.

The Titans did not win a game last season. They have not won more than one game in a season since 2019, and their last winning season was 2018 when they finished 6-5.

The challenge is to maintain the proper perspective and not look too far ahead with anything.

As of last week, most of the positions on the team were still unsettled.

“We have taken the mindset [that] we are looking to win the opening kickoff,” Hines said. “Whether that means we are kicking off or we are returning. If we are kicking off, we want to hold them inside the 30. If we are returning we want to get outside the 30. Then, we want to win first down.

“We are going baby steps as much as we can. If you look at the big picture of the whole season, that can be overwhelming, especially coming from where [the players] are.”

Hines is often asked why he wanted to take on this job. He had worked in school administration at Urbana since 2014, first as the athletic director for seven years and then as the acting assistant principal for most of the last two.

The school had a winning tradition across the board, and his salary exceeded what he is currently making as a physical education teacher and football coach at Tuscarora.

The short answer is he is just far happier being a coach and working more directly with kids.

“You can’t put a price on passion,” he said shortly after being hired at Tuscarora in mid-January.

Hines is the first coach in the history of Frederick County football to be the head man at three different high schools after serving at Walkersville (2005-09) and Urbana (2010-13).

He led the Hawks to an unbeaten season and the Class 4A state championship in his first season there in 2010.

“The opportunity [at Tuscarora], I think, is huge,” he said. “We have a ton of talent. We have a lot of skill players that can be special.”

So, what brings a player like Ennis back to Tuscarora after playing at a private-school juggernaut like Good Counsel, where he said things just didn’t work out?

“This is home,” he said. “I played for the Junior Titans. I got the opportunity to play at Good Counsel. But this is home for me ... I am close to my family more. That’s something at Good Counsel that I missed out a lot was being with my family because it was like an hour commute for me. I just wanted to be with my family.”

And, on the new chapter of Tuscarora football that is about to begin, Ennis said, “I think everyone is excited. Everybody is looking forward to the future here. I am excited to be a part of it.”

Fact Box

Region: Class 4A-3A West. State championships: 1. Coach and record with team: Ryan Hines, first season. 2022 record: 0-10. Returning starters: 2 offense, 4 defense.

2022 Review: The Titans struggled mightily throughout the course of the season. They were shut out six times, including in five of their final six games. The most competitive game they played was a 17-14 home loss to Thomas Johnson in the middle of the season that was sealed by a red-zone interception by the Patriots with a little more than two minutes to play.

Follow Greg Swatek on Twitter: @greg_swatek

Log In

Keep it clean. No vulgar, racist, sexist orsexually-oriented language.Engage ideas. This forum is for the exchange ofideas, not personal attacks or ad hominem criticisms.TURN OFF CAPS LOCK.Be civil. Don't threaten. Don't lie.Don't bait. Don't degrade others.No trolling. Stay on topic.No spamming. This is not the place to sell miraclecures.No deceptive names. Apparently misleadingusernames are not allowed.Say it once. No repetitive posts, please.Help us. Use the 'Report' link for abusiveposts.

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to read or post comments.

Follow local sports from your inbox with News-Post newsletters.

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Get the latest headlines on local sports delivered every Saturday morning. For members.

High school sports wrap-up, delivered Thursday and Saturday. Open to all.

We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Our local business directory includes detailed information for featured businesses as well as customer reviews and direct links to related events.

Our local business directory includes detailed information for featured businesses as well as customer reviews and direct links to related events.