By Dominick DiRienzo
Meadville Tribune
Aug. 18, 2010 7:00 a.m. —
Bender Field has changed. Gone are the crowded locker rooms, dirt practice field and grass playing field surrounded with cinders.
“It feels good to be back. The place has changed a lot since I was here last,” said Meadville football coach Ken Achenbach said. “It’s a great facility. I knew it was a good facility, but I hadn’t really spent a whole lot of time here.”
Some of the last names are the same, though.
“It’s great (to be back), I’m coaching the kids of some of the players I coached,” Achenbach said. “I’ve got some of the guys on my staff that I coached in high school.”
Mike Feleppa is defensive coordinator and assistant head coach and Brad Schnauber is working with wide receivers and helping out in the defensive secondary. Both are former players for Achenbach.
“It’s just fitting,” said Achenbach, 54, who also teaches at Meadville.
It’s been more than a decade since Achenbach, the coach with the most wins in Meadville’s 102-year football history, has been on the sidelines at Meadville. Achenbach, who led the Bulldogs to 84 wins and four D-10 championship appearances, has made two stops as an assistant at the NCAA Division III level and another coaching stint at Saegertown, where he led the Panthers to three District 10 playoff appearances before stepping down in 2008, is back with the program he took over in 1984. Achenbach coached for Meadville for a school-record 16 seasons between 1984 and 1999. And is now in the third day of camp for his 17th season, the only coach in school history to be at Meadville more than 10 seasons is trying to bring other experiences back to the Bulldogs.
“My involvement with Allegheny and Thiel ... my experience at Saegertown ... trying to take all that and make it a part of Meadville football,” Achenbach said.
Achenbach said he is depending on video and classroom instruction more than his first time with Meadville.
Achenbach replaced Mike Pendolino earlier this year when the school board opened the position after Pendolino went 21-47 in seven seasons.
Senior Calvin Heagy said camp is a little different this year.
“There is a new coach and a new opportunity,” Heagy said. “We are just trying to stick together as a team.”
Achenbach said that he and the coaching staff are still getting to know each other.
“We are just two days in,” Achenbach said. “We’re still trying to get to know them. I know them (from school), but I don’t know them, things like ability, retention, skill level what they need to work on, we are constantly evaluating those things.”
