Rob Flowers leaving Daniel Boone after five seasons as head coach

Rob Flowers, Daniel Boone’s football coach for the past five seasons, is stepping away from the game to re-evaluate his future in it.

He met with his players today to share the news; he said he told school administrators late last month of his decision.

“It’s time for me to make a change,” Flowers said. “We did the best that we could. I’ve been a head coach for 12 years (at Boone and Reading High before that). I’ve coached with Coach (Preston) McKnight and Coach (John) Yocum. I feel I need to observe more and do some different things.”

Flowers found instant success at Boone, going 6-5 and beating Owen J. Roberts in an Eastern Conference championship game in 2018. The Blazers had won just two games the season before.

He took the Blazers to their first District 3 playoff appearance in seven years last season when they finished 5-4. They couldn’t maintain that momentum this season. Despite having 11 starters returning they won just two games, and once in their debut in Section 3 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

Flowers won his final game, 35-8 at Fleetwood, and finished with a 17-31 record at Boone.

“I feel we did a lot of good things in five years,” Flowers said. “I did the best that I could with the guys that were with us. Obviously we all want to win more. Even when I was at Reading, we were always winning off the field, period.

“Now, you’ve gotta win on the field (too, but) we were always winning off the field: How the young men are doing in school, how they’re doing with their lives, the relationships we build — all that’s so important. We changed the program from when we got there and we made a major impact on a lot of families.”

Flowers said he has no immediate plans to seek a head coaching job for the 2023 season; he has not ruled out taking a job as an assistant.

He does plan to return to the game in some capacity, he’s just not certain when, where or what it’ll be.

Flowers said he told his players: “This is not me leaving to go to this place, (or) that place. This is me leaving to get more in alignment with myself and what I want in a football program.”

Flowers said his players were surprised and upset to hear he was leaving. He’s a big believer in building relationships with the young men who play for him and it was difficult for them to hear — and for him to tell them — that he was exiting

“I reminded them that my love for them is unconditional,” he said. “I reminded them I was still going to be in the building in my professional role (as the Director of Community Relations and Equity Awareness in the Daniel Boone school district).”

Flowers was an all-league quarterback and defensive back at Muhlenberg and part of one of its strongest teams. The Muhls went unbeaten in the Inter-County League and finished 11-1 his senior season in 1998.

He was named head coach at Reading High for the 2011 season and coached the Red Knights for seven seasons, including a pair of playoff appearances.