GlenOak has hired a new football coach after Scott Garcia’s recent retirement. Matt Dennison is in his 25th year of coaching and is also the current Athletic Director at Canton South. Dennison came to GlenOak after the school experienced a few rough seasons.
While some may question why Dennison would take over a program that has struggled in the past years, he responds by embracing the challenge.
“Every program I’ve taken over has been going through a little bit of a downtime and it’s fun to bring that back up to where it should be,” Dennison said.
Dennison emphasized that his goals are not exactly to change the program, but to strengthen it.
“I don’t know if I want to change. I just want to grow the program,” Dennison said.
He explained that Scott Garcia has started a great foundation and if he starts strengthening that, the team will rise to compete at a high level in the Federal League.
Dennison brings a useful experience of rebuilding programs like Claymont, New Philadelphia and most recently Canton South and sees an opportunity in GlenOak. Rather than viewing these past few seasons as a setback, he sees them as room for growth. While going into the next few seasons, Dennison has clear goals in mind and truly wants to succeed.
“I want to raise the standards. I want us to be at the top of the Federal League every year,” Dennison said. “I want us to make playoff runs every year.”
Showing his desire to make a complete program, as well as competing at a high level, gives the entirety of Plain Local, even the athletes, a hope to have a successful program.
“It gives us a hope that I feel has been missing, I want to see what the next season brings us,” sophomore football player Seth Maryo said.
Dennison has always been in touch with the program, as well as having a connection with retired coach Garcia.
“When the job opened, I’ve known Coach Garcia for a long, long time. So I’ve always followed the program,” Dennison said. “When the program was really good in the 90s/early 2000s I watched them.”
With experiences around the county and watching GlenOaks team in the past, Dennison’s arrival brings excitement and a great mindset of wanting to win, proving it with his 191-83 record during his career.
