Randallstown football used to be a state power. Back in the late '80s and through the '90s the Rams won numerous Baltimore County championships, produced a slew of Division I athletes and even won two state titles (in 1985 and 1990).

But in the last decade the program has leveled off considerably, hovering right around the .500 mark under coach Albert Howard. Last year, however, the bottom dropped out. Randallstown went 1-9, and the school decided to make a coaching change.

In February Randallstown hired Milford Mill offensive coordinator Greg Trogdon, a Baltimore native who brings 15 years of coaching experience at the high school and college levels.

Trogdon attended high school at Northern in Baltimore before moving on to Towson for college. After graduation he immediately returned to his high school alma mater, where he began his coaching career. He spent his first two years coaching wide receivers and the next two as offensive coordinator.

Trogdon then left Northern for Woodlawn, where he served as offensive coordinator under coach Reggie White, one of the most respected coaches in Baltimore. Trogdon spent two seasons at Woodlawn before receiving his first head coaching job at Milford Mill. He went 7-3 at Milford -- quite an accomplishment for a first-year coach.

That opened the doors for another promotion. Towson, his college alma mater, came calling and hired Trogdon to be a tight ends and special teams coach. Trogdon spent two years with the Tigers, but he left after Towson changed regimes.

Thus, Trogdon returned to Milford Mill. But this time he wasn't the head coach. That position had been filled by White during Trogdon's absence. So once again Trogdon became the offensive coordinator under his former Woodlawn coach.

He spent six more years at Milford before receiving his second head coaching opportunity at Randallstown.

Earlier this week MdHigh publisher Dave Lomonico spoke with Trogdon about his new job at Randallstown.

Well, I went 7-3 and made it to the county championship. But the college job came open at Towson and I took that opportunity.

Pay attention to the little things. If you do that, winning will come.

It starts with building a strong offseason program with weight lifting and conditioning and making sure everyone is participating. Then you have to make sure the kids are held accountable for everything, on and off the field. You make them realize they represent the school as well as their families.

When it comes to football, you make sure they pay attention to details. We already have plenty of athletes, but those athletes have to be precise. They have to understand alignment, footwork, knowing how to run routes, game situations, things like that.

That they were a power to be reckoned with. I remember those two state championships…

And when I was coaching, in 2000, we played them in the county championship - and lost. Then at Milford we played them in the county championship - and lost. So I know all about what they used to be and could be again.

First of all, I want to bring some structure to the program. From the outside looking in, it seemed a little dysfunctional. I'm working to get it back on track.

I want to bring a winning attitude back to the program. I'm going to reach out to the alumni so there is a winning presence in the program. I want to bring in Mike Bowie, who was the best linebacker ever to come out of the school; Larry Washington, who was the best running back the school has had; and the coach, Buck Heist, who led them to the state championships. By bringing them in as consultants, the program will have that winning vibe.

Those are definitely important. When I first got the job we instilled a three-day-a-week offseason program that included weight lifting, biometric training and academic sessions. One of our coaches is assigned as academic coordinator to make sure the kids are eligible and doing SAT prep work.

We're planning to adopt the Randallstown Rec program. We're going to do camps and clinics with their players to make them fall in love with Randallstown. We want to establish a strong feeder program to help us in the future.

On the field, I plan on having a dominant defense and running the football. That's how you win in high school. You have to be able to run and stop the run. That's my philosophy.

Changing the culture around the football program.

There haven't been any county championships since like 2001. So I need to establish a winning attitude, where the kids expect to win and do not accept losing.

Also, school spirit is down. We need to get the students involved and excited about football again. And you do that by building a foundation and winning football games.

I've been getting a lot of support from the athletic administration and the athletic director, Mike Newman. They have helped me put together the academic study sessions and they're on the bandwagon of me trying to change the spirit of the school.

At our first introductory meeting the guys were very excited. There were between 90-100 kids there. They were so eager to start fresh. I mean, they went 1-9 last year and they never want that to happen again.

Yeah, last year was quite a debacle. What went wrong? What happened with Coach Howard?

From the outside looking in, I think Coach Howard didn't have the right support around him. He depended a lot on first-year assistant coaches, and you need some experience there - guys that know the ropes. A foundation of a strong coaching staff wasn't in place. That was my assessment, but I talked to Coach Howard and he pretty much agreed with that.

Absolutely. In fact, Coach Howard is coming back to help me out, so we're almost going to have a co-head coach there.

I'm not a coach with a lot of ego. I want experienced head coaches around me and I'm willing to accept criticism and input. I respect Coach Howard and last year was his first year with a losing record. I don't think we'll clash at all. He's going to really help me out.

We're going to be athletic but young. We lost a lot of seniors. We're going to be led by two linemen, Brian Gardner, our center and defensive tackle, and Dustin James, our defensive end.

I expect to be competitive in every game. If we execute our game plan, we're going to be in position to win our share of games.

I'm thinking we can make a playoff run.

To be a dominant power in the county as well as the state. This program has done it before and I believe it can get there again.

Well, the county literally bleeds Tech black and orange. They've been to the state finals in each of the last three years. So if we want to have any success we have to go up and beat them. That has to be our goal. We don't have any problems going up against them or the best teams. That's what we have to do to be successful.