PREP FOOTBALL: Arlington High promotes assistant to coach football team

Published 12:00 am Thursday, May 15, 2008

For his first head football coaching job, Greg Dailer took over a new program at a high school in Florida.

Technically, Dailer won’t be starting from scratch for his second head-coaching opportunity. But there’s plenty of work to do at Arlington High School, he said.

Dailer, 34, is the new head football coach at Arlington, which next season is expected to return just five players who have varsity experience.

The hiring of Dailer, who this past season was an assistant coach for the Eagles, was approved Monday by the Arlington School Board, said Arlington High athletic director Allen Jefferson.

“Character is the first thing that strikes me about Greg Dailer. He brings on a sense (of) things we try to teach in athletics: doing things right and working hard,” Jefferson said.

Dailer replaces Tim Tramp, who resigned in late February after coaching Arlington two seasons. Tramp guided the Eagles to a 7-13 record.

A math teacher at Arlington High, Dailer previously was head coach at Ocoee High (Ocoee, Fla.), located about 12 miles west of Orlando. He guided Ocoee to a 10-11 record, including an 8-3 showing his final season.

One reason Dailer left was to escape the relentless Florida heat. He prefers the Pacific Northwest climate and said it’s similar to northern West Virginia, where he lived until age 15. The lack of sunny days around here this spring “hasn’t bothered me,” Dailer said.

Dailer attended West Orange High (Winter Garden, Fla.), where he was a three-year starting quarterback and also played basketball. He attended West Liberty State College in West Virginia and played receiver for its NCAA Division-II football team. As a senior, Dailer earned All-American First Team honors.

At Arlington, Dailer takes over a program that will lose a large core of seniors that helped the Eagles go 4-6 this past fall and advance to the Class 3A playoffs.

“We don’t have a lot of experience coming back,” Dailer said.

Arlington, which moves up to the 4A classification, will learn a new offensive system, Dailer said. He teaches a spread no-huddle attack, similar to the one Rich Rodriguez used at West Virginia University.

The player likely to lead Arlington’s offense is sophomore Jake Parduhn, who got a taste of varsity competition in the second half of the 2007 season.

“He’s a really bright kid, which you really need in that (QB) spot. I’m excited about having Jake,” Dailer said.

Arlington wrestling coach resigns: Doug Byers, Arlington’s head wrestling coach the past two seasons, resigned Tuesday, Jefferson said. Byers is moving to Colorado to live closer to his son and daughter, Jefferson said.

Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.