Former Wilson assistant coach calls a timeout in coaching career
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Chad Brubaker knew it was time to step aside as Spring-Ford’s head coach when he got to the end of last season and found he wasn’t excited to get right back at it to begin planning for the 2025 season.
“If you’re not 100 percent (committed) going into the offseason, that’s a daunting thing,” said the former Wilson assistant coach.
Brubaker has known nothing but success during his playing and coaching careers but last season blindsided him. Spring-Ford, long a Pioneer Athletic League power and District 1 contender under Brubaker, entered the season ranked No. 9 in the state in Class 6A by PennLive.com.
They were coming off a 9-3 season which saw their junior quarterback, Matt Zollers, set program records with 2,917 passing yards and 37 touchdowns. He earned national acclaim, drawing attention from top programs such as Alabama, Penn State, and Georgia before committing to the University of Missouri.
Things went south in a hurry for the Rams with three September losses, the last of which saw Zollers carried off the field with a broken ankle that ended his season.
“That took a lot of air out of the tires,” said Brubaker said of a 1-3 start accompanied by injuries to key players.
The Rams never recovered as the injuries kept piling up. By the end of the season they were missing nearly half their starting lineup. They finished 4-7, the first losing season Brubaker experienced in more than a quarter century. He called a timeout.
“I felt I needed to step back and recharge,” he said of his resignation after 15 seasons leading Spring-Ford.
The 52-year-old Brubaker is far from done with football. Come spring he’ll be coaching the quarterbacks and running backs and calling plays for the Pennsylvania squad in the Big 33 Classic vs. Maryland.
He’s also busy petitioning the PIAA, on behalf of the Pennsylvania Football Coaches Association, for a change in the football calendar. The coaches would like to regain that second preseason scrimmage, which was essentially lost several years ago when the PIAA enacted its Heat-AC week.
This fall Brubaker will find himself with no concrete Friday night plans for the first time in nearly 40 years, since before he began running Phil Kauffman’s Veer offense at Cocalico.
“I’ll try to take at least a year or so off and see how it goes,” Brubaker said of his future.
He’s unlikely to stay away from the game for very long. He can’t, really.
He spent 11 years as an assistant at Wilson from 1999-2009, working for Jim Cantafio and then Doug Dahms. He was part of seven Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 championships and two District 3 titles with Wilson, where he coached wide receivers, special teams, and in his final few seasons was offensive coordinator.
He took over as Spring-Ford’s head coach in 2010 and had immediate success, flipping the Rams’ 3-9 record to 9-3 in his first season. The next year they went 10-2 and won the PAC championship. In his third season they won 12 games and went all the way to the championship game before falling to Coatesville.
“That was a tremendous run,” he said. “Spring-Ford had never won a playoff game (before that).”
Brubaker’s finale Spring-Ford resume includes a 122-49 record over 15 seasons, with four league championships, seven district playoff wins, and two appearances in the district title game.
In short time he turned a sleeping giant into a growling bear. Under Brubaker’s watch the Rams set program records for wins, scoring, and total offense.
“I had the privilege of witnessing our players grow not only as athletes but as young men,” he wrote in a statement posted on social media following his resignation. “Together we celebrated victories and stood up to challenges; we experienced jubilation and shed tears, and I wouldn’t trade in any of those times with our players and staff. I am immensely proud of what we have built.”
Brubaker learned in West Lawn that it takes more than just a good head coach and talented players to build a consistent winner. It takes an across-the-board commitment.
“When I first interviewed (at Spring-Ford), I could tell they really cared,” he said. “They wanted to get it right. It takes a lot more than just a head coach. You have to have good assistants, you have to have a good athletic director, you have to have a good administration, and you have to have a community that cares. Spring-Ford was all those things.”
Shortly after resigning, Brubaker and his wife Jillian took a weekend getaway to upstate New York. Like a moth he was drawn to those bright Friday night lights he found himself taking in a high school football game. He couldn’t resist.