Kurt Stein will have the honor of being the first head football coach in Oakdale High history. The 28-year-old Stein has spent the last six years coaching at Catoctin High, which just won its first state championship in 2009.

Stein grew up in Wheeling, W.Va., and attended Wheeling Central Catholic High. He played high school football but tore his ACL his senior year and suited up in just one more game: the West Virginia-Ohio all-star game.

Stein then attended Marshall University for four years. After graduating he began teaching and coaching at Catoctin. He served as a varsity assistant under coach Doug Williams his first year, became the head freshman coach his second year and was the head jayvee coach the last four years.

On Friday, Feb. 12, Oakdale hired Stein away from Catoctin. He will take over a brand-new Frederick County school that will consist of students from Linganore, Thomas Johnson and Urbana. Oakdale is set to open next fall for ninth and 10th grade classes.

Earlier this week, Stein spoke with MdHigh publisher Dave Lomonico about his new position.

It feels really good to have this unique opportunity. I get to come in at a new school at the ground level and start it from scratch. There's no culture here. You create your own culture. I'm excited about it.

The first year, with just ninth and 10th graders, we're only having a freshman and jayvee team. So we just want to get the kids in there and accustomed to Oakdale.

We're going to start working out together as a team this spring. Those will be our first steps.

Most of these kids grew up thinking they were going to Linganore, Urbana or Thomas Johnson. So our challenge is getting these kids on board with our staff, our culture and our system.

We have to make them understand how important that is because they're the first group to go though the school. They're setting the example for every class after them. We want everyone all in for Oakdale.

Even though we don't have varsity this year, this first group will be with our staff for three years. We're looking to get it right with them so we can build a strong varsity program by their senior years.

We have to get the players used to playing with each other. Most of them are coming from one of three schools and it's a possibility we might have a starting quarterback from all three of the Urbana, TJ and Linganore freshman teams last year. So it could be an adjustment because we obviously won't have three starting quarterbacks.

I'm getting my staff together - I have some names in mind - and I'm looking forward to meeting the players and getting them in the weight room. Football games are won in the offseason, so we want to get those kids in there right away and working. We're going to have the opportunity to do that in a couple weeks.

I'm a high-energy, enthusiastic guy. In practice, my staff and I will be coaching 100 percent of the time, getting kids fired up and ready to play.

As far as football philosophy, we're going to bring our own little spin. It's going to be a bit different then what people are used to seeing. Offensively, we're going to be a little more open and we'll run a little more out of the spread.

We want to be fast-paced; we won't huddle very often. We're going to be go-go-go all the time. That's how we're going to practice and that's how we're going to play.

We want to score a lot of points and have some fun. I want to bring that energy and excitement all the time. And I think once people get to see us play they'll be excited, too.

I'm not saying we're not going to run the football. I'm just saying we're going to throw some different formation at you besides just tailback-off-tackle every play [laughs].

It was very tough because it's all I've ever known. I've been out of college for six years and all six have been at Catoctin. Doug Williams and the rest of the staff up there really took me in like family. I wasn't from the area; I moved there a week before football started. So I really owe them a lot.

Besides that, the kids at Catoctin are wonderful. They worked their butts off as you could see this year with the state championship. I really felt apart of that even though I was the jayvee coach. My first couple years we struggled, but we really turned it around.

It's tough walking away from something you put so much time and effort into. But when you weigh it against this wonderful opportunity at Oakdale, the decision becomes a little easier.

It's a little daunting, but at Catoctin I did all the practice plans and pretty much ran the program from the freshman and jayvee levels. And Coach Williams had a lot of confidence in me and let me handle all that down there.

So I feel like, on a small scale, I've been doing the job already the last few years. I absolutely feel I'm prepared.

That's what I'm excited about. I hope we have a packed house every night. I hope the community is into the games. I want passionate fans. I want that pressure to win.

I personally don't, although I can see how someone could say that. I'm only 28 with six years of experience. But I feel that I'm ready.

And also [Oakdale athletic director] Chris Krivos, [principal] George Seaton and [Frederick County supervisor of athletics] Lynn Carr felt I was ready or they wouldn't have hired me.

I also think my age gives me an advantage, too. I've got the energy, I'm dedicated to the program and I've got the time. Because of my age I have the opportunity to be at Oakdale for a long time, which will give stability to the program.

With the way they're doing it -- only bringing in ninth and 10th graders -- you're really only moving one class of kids. Linganore, TJ and Urbana are only losing some ninth graders; the other kids were only in eighth grade last year. It's not like we're taking last year's varsity players.

So I don't think it's going to be that huge of an adjustment, and I have yet to hear any negativity from anyone yet.

From everything I can tell Coach Conner and his staff do an outstanding job. He has an outstanding team every year, they're always well prepared and they play extremely hard.

If we can model ourselves off of them and have the success they have, that would be great. That's what we're striving for.

I'm not even sure the school knows yet. My guess is the first year of varsity -- when we don't have any seniors -- we'll play at 1A because our enrollment will be so low. Then the following year we'll move up.

But I've heard numbers all over the board so I can't even say.

We'll play a full freshman and jayvee schedule. We'll get at least the eight games Frederick County guarantees and we might get a couple extra. I've seen the tentative schedule, but they're still working on it.

My assumption is we'll play the other nine Frederick County teams and maybe someone else along the way.

My ultimate goal is to have a positive influence on these kids and help them become good young men.

No. 2, we want to win football games, obviously. We want to win championships. If that's not your goal, then what's the point? If you're not playing to win the whole thing, then why play at all?

[Laughs] Every game, man. Every game. From one side to the other, 'We are … Marshall!" Every game. The movie wasn't completely fabricated.