Brad Meester has been around football all his life. But this next step is something brand new.
Meester was named the Mount Vernon varsity football coach, pending school board approval.
“I have a real love for the game,” Meester said. “I am a teacher now, and I love that part of it. Being able to teach kids and watch them grow.”
Meester was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach under previous coach Lance Pedersen, who took the head football job at Clear Creek Amana.
Pedersen said he was lucky to be able to snag the former NFL offensive lineman and have him as part of his staff.
“Brad comes in with the most important aspect of being a coach, he cares about the kids,” Pedersen said. “In addition to that, Brad has great football knowledge.
“He is also very organized, humble, and will do a great job taking over this program.”
Meester played for a lot of coaches during his career, including Iowa high school legend Ed Thomas at Aplington-Parkersburg, Terry Allen at UNI, and Tom Coughlin, among others, during his 14 years with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“So many different people, so many different personalities,” Meester said. “I see myself pulling from a lot of them. Coach Thomas, he had a way about him, and people listened to him. (Gus) Bradley put forth tremendous effort. Coach Coughlin was tough, an old-school tough, coach. But you could truly tell he loved his players. He cared about people.”
Mount Vernon activities director Matt Thede said that Meester plans to get a substitute teaching license so he could be in the high school more often.
“He wants to impact kids during the day,” Thede said. “That’s a big deal to us.”
Thede said the opening received plenty of interest and a lot of resumes.
But he was handcuffed a little bit because there were not any teaching jobs open now. Of the three finalists, two were internal candidates who did not need a teaching position.
But hiring from within was always going to be a top option, no matter what.
“The whole coaching staff was returning, and we felt like we did not want to disrupt that continuity,” Thede said. “We wanted to try and keep everyone together.”
Mount Vernon has a record of 78-30 over the past decade with seven playoff trips, including a pair of runner-up finishes. Expectations will remain high heading into the fall.
“We’re going to keep working,” Meester said. “We’ll give it everything we’ve got, and who knows what will happen?”
MV hires new football coach
Ryan Suchomel, Sports Reporter
April 18, 2024
About the Contributor
Ryan Suchomel, Sports Reporter
Ryan Suchomel is a sports reporter for the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.