Tom Minard has quite a challenge on his hands. The new head coach at Marriotts Ridge High in Howard County has the unenviable task of turning around a program that hasn't won a game in over two years.

The Mustangs finished 0-10 two seasons ago under coach Ken Hovet and followed that up with a second straight winless campaign under Tom Browne. Now, after Browne left to take the Oakland Mills job earlier this year, Minard will get a crack at it.

Minard has had plenty of previous coaching success . . . just not on the football field. From 2001-2006 he coached varsity lacrosse at Mount Hebron, leading them to two state championships. Before that he coached lacrosse at Long Reach High (1996-2001) and was named Howard County Coach of the Year in 2000.

But Marriotts Ridge didn't hire Minard for lacrosse (although he is already an assistant coach on the staff). They also valued his previous football experience.

See, Minard is a football guy at heart. He played defensive back at Wilde Lake High under legendary coach Doug DuVall. Then he tried to continue playing at Shepherd University, although his career came to a halt one semester in.

Minard did go on a six-year hiatus from football after graduating with a business degree in 1998 - he dabbled in business before getting a teaching degree at Towson - but he eventually reacquainted himself with the game. In 1996, Long Reach hired him as a jayvee football and varsity lacrosse coach.

When Minard jumped to Mount Hebron in 2001, however, he gave up football in favor of lacrosse. But in 2010 - four years after he left Mount Hebron due to family issues -- Minard decided to give the gridiron game another try.

He took over Marriotts Ridge's jayvee team last fall and led them to a 1-8-1 record. Evidently that didn't stop the school from promoting him to varsity in March. Of course, if Minard wins just one game like he did on the jayvee it will be an improvement.

MdHigh recently spoke with Minard about his new position at Marriotts Ridge. Below is a full transcript of their question-and-answer session.

Well, I needed a break from football. Basically, the time commitment was too much. I was married and had kids, so I needed to spend time with them. And Mount Hebron had a very nice lacrosse program and it was a great opportunity for me. I couldn't coach both lacrosse and football, so I had to [give up football].

Honestly, I really love both sports; I enjoy coaching both sports. Even though I'm taking over Marriott Ridge's football program, I'm still going to be an assistant lacrosse coach, so I'll be involved with the two sports I love.

I actually think it helps that I coach both sports because I can get the kids out for lacrosse and football. I think in a high school, if you get the kids to buy in a and play both sports, it helps out both of your programs. You might not think so, but there are a lot of lacrosse kids who make very good football players and vice versa.

Well, I would think that football would be very similar to lacrosse in terms of what you have to do to prepare. I know football is a lot of work, but so was lacrosse. I expect the work to be about the same.

In lacrosse, I had to pay attention to recruiting, coaching, scheduling, dealing with kids, getting them to college - all of that. And I was very successful there, winning state championships and all . [Coaching football] is a huge challenge for me, for sure. But I'm excited about it.

When they found out Tom was leaving for Oakland Mills, the [athletic director] sat down with me and we talked about [the head coaching job]. I told her to give me a couple days, and then I came back and told her I was ready for it.

But I hope that I wasn't just some emergency hire (laughs). I think my track record is proven. I have been a successful head coach before, even though it was in a different sport and a different program.

Then I've shown the ability to relate to kids and get the most out of them. Even when I coached football at the jayvee level I had a great relationship with the kids. I think that stood out.

And, finally, I've been in the area since 1975 and have a lot of connections and good relationships in the county. A lot of coaches know who I am and know what kind of a guy I am.

Considering all that, I think Marriotts Ridge felt I was the best match for what the kids needed here.

Right now, because they've struggled, I think they really need someone who shows confidence in them. They need someone who trusts them, believes in them and is optimistic. You know, someone who believe that we are going to turn things around. The kids need to hear that.

I really don't know. Even though I was the jayvee coach here, I wasn't in the building because I was teaching at Howard [High], and I didn't see what went on. . . .

You know, I'm good friends with Tom Browne, but what happened in the past is in the past. What happened before wasn't his fault, and it wasn't the kids' faults. None of that matters now.

We're looking ahead. All I know is we have some good assistant coaches, we're getting in the weight room and we're going from there. We're going to do our best to get back on track.

What I told the kids is this: 'I've been in the Columbia area since 1975. I've seen numerous programs rise and fall. I played at Wilde Lake and there were times when we were winning state titles and other years where we were just .500. It's a normal cycle of what happens at any program. We'll come back. It's just a matter of doing the work in the offseason and during the season.' . . .

That wasn't just some rhetoric I was feeding them either. I truly believe that. Unless you're like Mt. Hebron's girls' lacrosse program and you win a championship practically every year, you're going to eventually hit a down cycle. We're hoping that we passed our down cycle and we'll be on the upswing soon.

Yeah, absolutely; you're right. But like I said before, I wasn't in the building. I don't know if it was just a matter of not having very talented kids or problems in practice or something along those lines. I just can't comment.

First thing we're going to stress is getting back in the weight room. We have to get a unified program that everyone is going to follow and build it up from there. Just by looking at the kids, I can sort of see that the weight room really hasn't been stressed enough.

Then we just have to coach them up. We have to instill discipline as coaches. After that, we have to simplify things by making football fun and understandable. Instead of putting together a huge, complicated playbook, we'll try to do a few things really, really well. I think that will pay off.

I do have some ideas. I'm bringing over a guy from South Carroll and he likes to run out of the spread. So we're toying with that idea. That said, I'm a Wilde Lake guy who learned from Doug DuVall, so I like that straight-ahead, ball-control style. We'll see how that works out.

Defensively, we have some basic philosophies. I know we're not real, real big, so we'll probably try to take advantage of our quickness. But until I really see what we have, I don't have a system nailed down. I'm bringing over Joe McCullough from South Carroll as my defensive coordinator, so I have to sit down with him and see what he's thinking.

He was very influential. He does so many things well, but one thing that really stood out was how he motivated kids. When I talk to kids, I always have things in the back of my mind I heard from Coach DuVall. He made you want to play and want to do well. He got those kids to believe in themselves.

I think when I was coaching lacrosse at Mt. Hebron I was able to do the same thing using Coach DuVall's philosophy. I hope that that translates here to Marriotts Ridge.

I was the jayvee coach at Marriotts Ridge last year, so I knew those younger kids a little bit. Who I didn't know were the returning varsity players. They seemed to be pretty enthused, though. I'm an optimistic guy and I think they immediately got that from me. . . .

My [optimistic] approach seemed to work with the jayvee kids last year. We struggled on the field, going 1-8-1, but we played hard. There were a lot of games we were in, but things fell apart at the end. It didn't help that a lot of our better freshmen and sophomores were brought up to varsity.

But, regardless, I had a great relationship with those kids and they played hard for me. Hopefully that will continue on the varsity.

Oh, very important. I've seen schools like River Hill where guys come into that program, they know the success that program has had and they're eager to contribute as soon as they get in there.

So I plan on getting out there to middle schools, elementary schools, running camps -- all of that stuff. I want to get the kids excited about Marriotts Ridge.

I'm not saying we're going to be 10-0 next year. But I'm hoping that we can win some games. When I talked to the kids one of the other things I said was, 'I can remember five or six years ago when Hammond was an 0-10, 1-9 team. Now look at them. They're in the playoffs. It's possible that we can have the same kind of turnaround.'

I believe if you work hard and the ball bounces your way a little, then you can start to build confidence. Once that happens, you can win some ballgames.

I can't really give a record that I think would be considered successful right now. I think the main focus has to be getting better every day. After each practice and workout I'll ask the kids, 'Did we get better today? Did we improve?' Eventually, if you keep making those small gains each day, then you will start to see the results on the field.

So, yes, I would love to win games. But right now I just want us to be better fundamentally. Then the other stuff will take care of itself.

I really can't even say that for sure. And that's because Howard County football has gotten a lot better over the years. I mean, there are some really, really good teams. So I'm up against that.

Then, on top of that, we're a class 2A school and we're going up against a lot of 3A and 4A schools. That's not typically a recipe for success.

But, even with all of that, I'm confident we can get a couple of wins.

Well, I'm not going anywhere. This is probably my last coaching job. I've been coaching for 15 years and been at two other schools, and I think this will be my last stop.

But my ultimate goal is to make Marriotts Ridge competitive year in and year out. I'm not saying I want to put Marriotts Ridge on the map. But I want it to get to the point where the program is not a pushover and they've got a chance to win every week.