Former McCaskey assistant hopes to lift program back to the top in Section 1
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It might be hard for some to remember but McCaskey was once a key player in Section 1 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.
The Red Tornado football program has fallen on hard times, with 14 straight losing seasons, but just before that it battled for and won section championships.
Todd Mealy certainly remembers all of that. He was an assistant coach in the program when the Red Tornado shared Section 1 titles in 2001 and 2003.
Now he’s returning to the program as head coach, to help ease one of the most trying times in its history. Mealy, a three-time Lancaster-Lebanon League Coach of the Year, has been named head coach at McCaskey.
He replaces Ben Thompson, who oversaw just seven wins over the last four seasons, including a 2-8 mark last season.
Mealy is the second head coach hired in the Lancaster-Lebanon League since the end of last season; in December Hamburg named Tyler Hartranft its head coach.
There are openings at Columbia, Elizabethtown, and Penn Manor.
Mealy, an assistant at McCaskey for nine seasons, compiled a .673 winning percentage (76-37) in 10 years as head coach at Penn Manor and Lancaster Catholic.
His teams went 56-35 at Penn Manor, where he is the program’s all-time winningest coach; he took the Comets to their only 10-win seasons, in 2009, 2012, and 2013.
During his time at Penn Manor from 2007-14 his teams were often the biggest threat to Wilson’s league-record winning streak; they qualified for the District 3 playoffs seven straight seasons.
At Lancaster Catholic in 2018 and 2019 Mealy’s teams went 20-3 and won back-to-back section championships, reaching the District 3 semifinals twice.
He was named a section Coach of the Year in 2009, 2012, and 2019.
“I can’t fully express how grateful my family and the coaching staff are to return to coaching at the place where it all began,” Mealy said in a statement released by the Lancaster School District.
“It won’t happen overnight, but we are confident that as long as the students and their families commit, it won’t be long before McCaskey football becomes one of the most competitive and respected in the LL League, District 3, and across the commonwealth.”
The Red Tornado went winless in Section 1 play last season and are 1-40 in league play over the past seven seasons, the lone win coming against Reading High in overtime in 2023.
McCaskey is 8-61 over the past seven seasons and 10-69 over the last eight. It hasn’t had a winning season since 2010 and hasn’t been to the postseason since 2012.
McCaskey was a dominant program during the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s, winning or sharing seven Section 1 titles over a 10-year period. Only Wilson and Manheim Township have won more Section 1 titles.
In addition to teaching social studies at McCaskey, Mealy is an adjunct professor in the History Department at Dickinson College, the Executive Director of the National Institute for Customizing Education, and has authored eleven books.
“Everywhere we’ve been, we have taken great pride in what we’ve accomplished on the field, in the classroom, and in the community,” Mealy said. “We will bring those same values to this program.”
Mealy was an All-State linebacker at Bishop McDevitt who played on the Crusaders 1995 PIAA championship team.
