Mike Brennan resigns as Danville football coach

After three district championships in three years at Danville, Mike Brennan has resigned as football coach.

The veteran coach, who won a pair of PIAA titles at Mount Carmel, has taken a job with the Pottsville school district as graduation coach. He’ll be working with students at risk of dropping out or failing.

Brennan told the The Daily Item of Shamokin he took the job in Pottsville, where he lives, to spend more time at home. His daily commute to Danville was 38 miles each way.

“It’s a good thing for me and my family,” Brennan told The Daily Item of taking a job closer to home.

The Ironmen went 12-1 this season. They were eliminated by Wyomissing 21-19 in a PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal when they missed a 32-yard field goal with three seconds left.

Danville’s 2020 season, Brennan’s first with the Ironmen, was also ended in the state playoffs by the Spartans, 44-14.

Brennan went 28-9 in three seasons with Danville.

“I can’t say enough positive things about my experience at Danville,” the 54-year-old Brennan told The Daily Item. “This season was one of the best experiences in my coaching career since I started in 1998, and at no point in this season did I feel like this would be my last year as a football coach.”

Brennan has also coached at Nativity, Blue Mountain and Hazleton during his 24-year coaching career. He has a 162-115 record.

He did not close the book on returning to coach, saying: “I still have the energy to coach.”

Pottsville does not have an opening for a head football coach. The Crimson Tide went 4-6 last year in the regular season before beating Big Spring 32-10 for the Eastern Conference Class 4A championship. They lost to Wyomissing 49-0.