***

Linganore's physical education teacher moves around the athletic-club sized weight room studying each student's routine. Like a patient father, he offers advice and encouragement. Add a little more weight to that bar. Take it easy with those leg lifts. Come on now � push, push. You can do it. He talks in a friendly, unassuming twang, almost like a southern uncle. He is wearing a grey T-Shirt and black-and-red shorts. "Linganore Athletics" are prominent on both.

He runs a hand across his smooth, bald head, then smiles at a student who's having trouble with the bench press. He hovers over her, calmly deconstructs her technique and offers to be a spotter. "You're doin' great now," he says, his soft eyes and easy smile offering reassurance. "Don't give up; push a little more."

Would you believe this man is the architect of those stalwart Urbana defenses that won four straight state championships? Would you believe this is where the best defensive mind in Maryland spends his time during the day? Would you believe the ultra-competitive, fist-pumping coach of Linganore High School is a sympathetic physical education teacher?

And what if I told you he's just as concerned with helping that girl in the weight room as he is with his All-State running back? Unbelievable, right?

Apparently there's more to becoming one of the best high school coaches in the Mid-Atlantic than film study and sleepless nights in the office.

Rick Conner does not want to be doing this interview right now. Too many personal questions. Ask him about his Division 1-bound linebacker, or how he'll do against rival Urbana this year. Don't bother with the accolades he's earned; his job isn't about that. Plus he's just "not all that daw-gone interesting -- and who's goin' to read a story about me anyway?" The truth is, he'd rather be down in the weight room helping some rail-thin ninth grader build his muscle tone.

"Rick is very shy," said Linganore's athletic director, John Grim. "He's very modest."

Fine. But what about that defense, those championships, those Coach of the Year honors� Nope -- Conner deflects credit faster than a church missionary group.

"I learned from a really successful coach in the '80s named Kevin Riley at Brunswick," Conner said. "I came out of college thinking I knew football and realized I didn't know a whole lot. He really taught me how to teach football."

But those seven years at Urbana�

"It was a special time. Dave Caruthers was the head coach. His record speaks for itself."

And that undefeated team at Thomas Johnson�

"Coach Ben Wright did a great job."

And at Linganore, where you took that 2003 squad to a state championship�

"That was a pretty special group of kids � they played great defense all year long."

Modesty defines Conner's life, beginning with his childhood. He thanks his parents for taking him to football practices and supporting him through college. When Conner showed promise as a football player at Northwood High School, which has since closed, Conner's parents paid for him to attend Western Maryland College (now McDaniel).

"I owe them everything," Conner said.

At Western, Conner became a superb defensive back and won Centennial Conference Player of the Year in 1983. He set an array of records that still stand today, including the longest punt return (90 yards), the most interception yards in a game (164) and the most interception returns for touchdowns in a season (three).

"I was a good high school player at best and somehow I pulled things off and got to play in college," Conner said. "I don't really think too much about my accomplishments."

Certainly Conner has pride. Certainly he's earned the right to brag just a bit. But that's not Rick Conner. Perhaps his oldest son, Ricky Jr., said it best:

"He's just an ordinary guy that puts in a lot of hard work."