John Marquette is the head Knight once again. After a three-year hiatus from coaching Parkville High in Baltimore County, Marquette re-assumed his old gig when Jackson Tarr stepped down in January.

Marquette compiled a 29-14 record in his previous four-year tenure at Parkville (2004-2007), leading the Knights to the playoffs in two of those seasons. After spending the last three years as an assistant, he's taking over for Tarr, who went 12-18 but improved the team's record in each of his three years at the helm.

Marquette began his coaching career in 1996 at Dundalk High, where he was defensive coordinator. After a two-year stint there he jumped cross-town to Towson High, assuming the same coordinator role. Two seasons later he moved over to powerhouse Eastern Tech, where he led their defense for the next four years.

Finally, in 2004, Marquette had a chance to become a head coach at Parkville. The Knights never had a sub-.500 record during his four-year tenure, and in 2005 they came within a game of a Baltimore County conference championship. But after four seasons he decided he needed a break, so he stepped down and became an assistant at Chesapeake (Baltimore).

One year later Marquette came back to Parkville, but this time as a defensive coordinator under Tarr. But as of late January, their roles are reversed. Tarr, who resigned for family reasons, will be the Knights' defensive coordinator. Marquette will take over as head coach for the second time.

MdHigh Publisher Dave Lomonico recently spoke with Marquette about his new position at Parkville. A full transcript of their question-and-answer session can be found below.

I'm very excited and I'm looking forward to it. It's another challenge, for sure, but I found where I want to be. I love Parkville, I love the kids, I love the atmosphere. I feel very at home here. These are my guys, and I want to be apart of their careers. Now I'm ready to take it to the next level.

Coach Tarr is getting engaged and buying a house. His schedule just isn't going to allow him to do the things with the football program that a head coach needs to do. He didn't want to put the kids in a bad situation.

Actually, you'd think so. But he replaced me two years ago and I came back to work under him in 2009. That worked out just fine; he put a lot of faith into what I did and let me do my thing as a coordinator.

And now he's on board with the situation working under me. I'm going to put the same faith in him that he put into me. We have a great working relationship.

To be honest, I needed a break from being a head coach. Coordinator was more of the role I wanted. I wanted to get back to the heart and soul of coaching, which is being a position coach.

Yeah, I got the itch back. You know, I wasn't leaving Parkville anyway, and when the head job opportunity presented itself I felt comfortable stepping back in. I'm ready to take over again.

It's hard to say. I guess I'm more of an old-school coach. I believe in doing a lot of routines and getting everything streamlined. That consistency with everyday routines, I think, will bring a better result.

You know, there's so much football coaches do that can really get petty. I guess I learned that you shouldn't do stuff just to do it. You shouldn't do stuff just because that's what the book says or that's what football people do.

You have to be focused on the daily disciplines and routines that help you win. You have to stress weight-room work, getting the kids academically stable - things like that. That's the important stuff. If we can accomplish that, we'll have an even more successful program this time around.

It really is. When I took over in 2004 one thing really stuck in my mind. One teacher told me, 'The best football team at Parkville isn't eligible to play.'

So, yeah, we need to work on that. We need to get the kids to care about their grades. If they don't care about that, then they're not going to care about football. To truly believe in the Parkville football program they have to work for their grades.

To be fair, some of the kids are doing a better job with academics. They're going to after-school study hall to pick their scores up. We have eight to 10 kids in study hall everyday instead of going to the weight room. Now, we'd like them to be working out, but they understand they have to pick up their grades first. If they keep plugging away at that, at least they'll be eligible at the end of the year and can play in the fall.

Actually, I was talking to the assistants today about that. They were saying how we need more four-year players at Parkville. We have a lot of kids who come out to play as juniors and seniors for the first time. We do what we can to work with those kids, but there's no substitute for one or two years of jayvee before coming up to varsity.

We have to make sure the kids learn our system as freshmen and sophomores to be successful.

Yes, definitely. I'd like us to be a physical, aggressive team. That's where we'll start with everything we do. We want to be the first off the ball, we want to make the big hit, we want to make the big interception, we want to force the fumble.

I want guys who are hungry and work hard. I want guys who play football the way it's supposed to be played.

We'll be a 3-5-3 base set. We like to bring the pressure and force the offense to change to what we do. We will dictate the tempo. We're going to get upfield, get aggressive and get after people. It's hard football.

We're a wing-T team, but we'll look to spread it out a little bit from time to time.

Basically, we'll look to be a ball-control team and we'll win games by winning the time of possession and the field-position battle. We don't have a big home-run hitter or an all-state running back, but we have a bunch of very good runners who can get the job done.

On the field, the kids know I ain't taking [expletive]. It is what it is. You're here to work. I always tell the kids, 'Everything in life may be crappy, but from 2:45 to 5:00, let's just go hard and play football.'

But off the field, they can come to me whenever they need. I realize that not every kid has the perfect home life and sometimes they need a neutral third party to talk to. I feel like I can be that, and I like doing that. I'll do anything in my power to help them.

We're going to follow a similar blueprint that we did earlier in the decade. In 2003 we were 12-1 and lost in the state semifinals. I know what has to be done in terms of discipline, weight-room work and getting kids eligible and excited to play for Parkville. I'm going to do those same things again.

It helps that we have good support from the athletic director and administration. So once we get those kids in the building and ready to play, I think we can compete with anybody.

No all-state players, but we have a few good ones. Our fullback, Desmond Tisdale, really stepped up and did a heck of a job last year. Our quarterback, Andy Madore, is coming back. He's five-foot-nothing, but he's football smart, a great leader and a winner. Nolan Shacklet, who's a linebacker, did a great job for us. And Ryan Davis, a defensive back/slot back, stepped up and made some plays for us. Then we have this kid, Da'Quan Pittman, who started as a sophomore. He's 6-3, 260 and has a chance to be a big-time college player.

Overall, this entire group is interesting because the seniors were part of a jayvee team that went undefeated a few years ago. So it's a good situation and we'll see what they're able to do.

The varsity staff is pretty much rounded out. Coach Tarr is staying on as defensive coordinator, and he'll do the defensive calls. Then I have Dave Hall, who was a coach at Dundalk and Towson. He'll run the offense. Then there's Harry McNair, who was the head coach at Towson for awhile. And finally Steven Voncannon is a teacher at Parkville who has been on staff awhile, too.

Well, I'd love to be able to say we'll be able to come right out and compete with Hereford. But our schedule is a bear. We have Eastern Tech, Hereford, Perry Hall, Franklin -- all perennial playoff powers. Then there's Milford Mill, who's always good, and Towson, who just barely missed the playoffs last year.

So I'd love to say we're going to come out and knock some heads, but I think that would be a little too bold.

The immediate goal is to get back to the playoffs. We haven't been there for four years now. I don't think we've won a playoff game in a long time either, so that's something I'd like to do.

Down the road a couple years I'd like to compete for a county championship and win it. I don't think it's going to happen next year, but I believe we're fully capable of that.

Nah, I'm not going anywhere. I think my next move after this may be to retire (laughs).