Cardinal Mooney turns to FACA Hall of Famer Maechtle to lead Cougars

No one saw this one coming.

No one saw the legendary Paul Maechtle getting his feet wet and jump back into being a head coach of a high school team in the Sunshine State.

But it did happen on Friday, when Cardinal Mooney (Sarasota) promoted Maechtle from associated head coach to head coach to lead the Cougars in 2018, which the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported on Friday.

Maechtle, a Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame Coach, who retired in 2103 after coaching at Southeast (Bradenton) collecting up two state championships and 281 wins in 33 years, takes over for Drew Lascari who stepped down just over a week ago to take a college coaching position with Rutgers University in New Jersey.

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Maechtle, who is 65, told the Herald-Tribune he is ready to coach again.

“We met as a staff on Monday, and decided we wanted to continue the direction things are going in, and we wanted to keep building on what Drew had established, and create an atmosphere of stability for the kids. It worked out, and I’m ready to do it again,” Maechtle told Herald-Tribune.

However, unlike when he was coaching at Southeast, where he was also the athletic director, Maechtle won’t be worrying about who is running the concession or doing other things. He will just be coaching football.

“I’m just taking care of the 40 kids I have in the football program and getting ready for football practice and not worrying about who’s filling up the popcorn in the concession stand,” Maechtle told Herald-Tribune.

Cardinal Mooney will be looking to improve on a 4-5 record this past season, which the team forfeited several games and failing to make the Class 3A-Region 3 playoffs after reaching the Class 3A regional semifinals in Lascari’s second season in 2016.

On The Forums: Paul Maechtle is back as a head coach… this time at Cardinal Mooney