Gazette File Photo
Randy Trivers is carried off the field by his Northwest High players at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore after winning the Class 3A state title in December of 2004. It was the high point of a very successful tenure for Trivers as the Jaguars head coach, which ended last Thursday when he resigned after accepting a position as running backs coach for Syracuse University. Trivers started up the program at Northwest when the school opened in 1998. In nine years he had a record of 73-27, and his teams went to the playoffs six times, winning it all in 2004 Highly successful Northwest football coach Randy Trivers takes job as assistant at Syracuse
by Brian Heard Staff Writer
In 1998, as Northwest High School in Germantown prepared to open its doors for the first time, the administration took a chance and hired 25-year-old Randy Trivers to head up its football program. Trivers was a standout player at Sherwood High and in college at Holy Cross, and was a graduate assistant coach at Maryland. But he was only 25.
Northwest has been rewarded for the risk, though. Over the last nine-plus years Trivers has constructed a model program, on and off the field, collecting wins and admirers from around the state. And, apparently, the list of admirers extends beyond the state’s borders. Last week Syracuse University came calling, tapping Trivers, now 34, as its new running backs coach — an offer the former running back couldn’t refuse.
‘‘It happened so fast,” Trivers said. ‘‘It was a whirlwind, so to speak. It only took about a week for the entire process. I had to make a decision very quickly and I took the job, but with mixed emotions. Certainly, the program at Northwest means so much to me, and there aren’t a lot of situations for which I would have left. But to coach at a great school like Syracuse with such a great tradition and playing at such a high level ... I just felt like it was a very good situation for me.”
Despite his relative youth and inexperience at the start of his head-coaching tenure, Trivers’ legacy in Montgomery County is secure. In nine years he won 73 games and lost 27, highlighted by his 2004 team which won the Class 3A state title and last year’s squad which won its first 12 games before falling, 27-24, to Sherwood in an epic contest in the 4A state semifinals. His Jaguar teams made the playoffs in six of his nine years in charge — his only losing season came in the program’s inaugural 1998 campaign (2-8 record) when the school did not yet have a senior class. The very next year, Northwest went 9-2, making the playoffs in only its second year of play. The rest is history.
‘‘I think he did a tremendous job at Northwest — taking over a brand-new program and turning it into a powerhouse right away,” said Seneca Valley head coach Fred Kim. ‘‘As a coaching peer, you’re happy for him, he gets to chase the dream of coaching big-time college football — I think deep down we all dream of that. But, honestly, you’re also happy because you don’t have to play that guy anymore.”
Off the field, Northwest’s program was just as successful. Trivers, an English and alternative programs teacher, instituted a mandatory after-school study hall for his players and a college-level off-season strength and conditioning program. In addition, his efforts in other peripheral areas of the program helped make Northwest football an essential, cared-about part of the community. There is a professional-level Web site devoted to Jaguars football. Almost instant rivalries were born with powerful neighbors Seneca Valley (state-best 12 state titles), Damascus and Quince Orchard. Home games are an event — sell-out crowds and plenty of pomp like the team’s pre-kickoff methodical, orderly, menacing march down a hill into the stadium while the school band thunders Darth Vader’s theme. The stadium itself already has a nickname: ‘‘The Black Hole”. In just nine years, the program is one of the state’s elite, all while under Trivers’ watch.
Maybe most important and probably the biggest reason Syracuse came calling was Trivers’ commitment during the off-season to getting players into college football programs — sending out film, making sure paperwork was filed, getting players into college camps during the summer, making sure players and their families understood what it takes academically to qualify for college. In nine years, 42 Northwest players went on to play in college, including 18 on scholarship. Among the more notables are Ike Whitaker (Virginia Tech), Anwar Phillips (Penn State), Raymond Custis (Maryland), Cortenous Herbert (William & Mary), Joe Lefeged (Rutgers), Chuck Burton (Delaware), Salim Koroma (Villanova), Brandon Jackson-Mills (Maryland) and Darren Brownlee (West Virginia).
And though none of his players ever signed with Syracuse, the Syracuse coaches do make a habit of recruiting the area hard and got to know Trivers well.
‘‘I think about 25 percent of their roster is from Maryland, Virginia or D.C.,” Trivers said of Syracuse. ‘‘So, I’ve kind of developed a relationship with them — got to know them and they got to know me. They had an opening and interviewed me — they thought I was a good candidate. And, I guess they liked what I said and what I stand for and offered me the job.”
‘‘Randy is a highly decorated football coach and educator,” Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson said on the school’s athletics Web site. ‘‘He has the qualities I was specifically looking for in a running back coach. I scanned the football landscape far and wide to find what I was looking for and, after speaking with people on all levels of football, it became clear that Randy is a great fit.”
Trivers left for Syracuse Sunday night after accepting the job last Wednesday. He informed the Northwest players, the coaches and the administration Thursday of his decision, and not without some emotion.
‘‘I don’t think it’s hit me in some ways,” Trivers said. ‘‘But in some ways it has. When I was addressing the players and the staff, it hit me pretty hard — it was a landmark moment. To tell people you love very much that you’re leaving, that’s not an easy thing to do.”
Trivers won’t have too much time to think about it though, because he’s going right to work for the Orangemen. He’ll work a couple of college camps for Syracuse over the next few weeks and he’ll be acclimating himself to Robinson’s system and to life as a NCAA Division I-A college coach — though he’s not planning on making too many adjustments to his style.
‘‘Coaching is still coaching, no matter what level,” he said. ‘‘After stripping it all down, you still have to do the things that you feel are best, that you feel are right for the players and the program and that have allowed you to have success.”
Notes: Syracuse went 4-8 last season. It was Robinson’s second in charge as he tries to resurrect a once-powerful program, which won a national championship in 1959 and went to 13 bowl games from 1985-2001, but which has only been to one (2004) in the last five years. ... Famous Orange football alumni include Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Larry Csonka, Floyd Little, Art Monk, Dwight Freeney and Donovan McNabb. ... There are two players from Montgomery County on Syracuse’s roster — Rice Moss (North Bethesda⁄Georgetown Prep), a senior starting wide receiver and junior Cameron Dantley (Silver Spring⁄St. Albans), the team’s second-string quarterback. ... Tanard Jackson (Silver Spring⁄Bullis), a Syracuse defensive back from 2003-06, was taken by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of April’s NFL Draft.
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