It's no secret St. Frances Academy in East Baltimore is known more for their basketball prowess then football. The MIAA B-Conference football program (they're moving down to the C-Conference this year) has only been around for three seasons, but they've already had three different head coaches.

Mike Clay started the program off with a solid 4-4 campaign in 2008. But one year later he resigned with three games remaining in the 2009 season (the Panthers finished 2-9). Last year, Joseph Garner took over and didn't record a single victory.

But when Garner left this offseason for a chance to coach at Coppin State, St. Frances turned to Messay Hailemariam. A visionary who coached at Pallotti and High Point, Hailemariam has a plan in place put St. Frances football on par with their basketball program.

Hailemariam played defensive back at Wootton High in Montgomery County before walking on at Maryland. He graduated in 1996 and started a personal business venture as well as a personal training company called Star Fitness. Withing four years he was running his own gym and beginning his own Arena Football indoor team, the Maryland Maniacs.

But Hailemariam wanted to re-involve himself with young people and coaching. In 2002 he took an assistants' job on High Point's jayvee team. The next year he became assistant varsity head coach. After two years at High Point he moved over to Pallotti High, where he was the defensive backs coach and the strength coach. Two years later he was promoted to defensive coordinator under Pat Courtemanche. He served in that role until the St. Frances job came open this offseason.

MdHigh publisher Dave Lomonico recently had a chance to speak with Hailemariamm about his new position at St. Frances. Below is the full transcript from their question-and-answer session.

I'm actually from East Africa, in Ethiopia. I came to the States when I was in fourth grade, so that explains the lengthy name.

'Messay' means 'look like' in Ethiopian. I was called that because I look just like my father. He named me that because he was hoping I would look like him. I was his first son; he had three daughters and he wanted a son real bad. He thought when he finally had a boy it was a blessing for him. So he named me 'Messay.'

And 'Hailemariam' doesn't mean anything. It's like 'Smith' here (laughs); there are a lot of Hailemariams in Ethiopia.

Yes, definitely. I've been training athletes for 12 years in the community. I train athletes from seven year olds all the way to NFL players.

I own a gym down there in PG County and I have a training company, which is called Star Fitness. The gym is actually (former Washington Bullets player) Chris Webber's old gym in Greenbelt, Maryland. I used to work for Chris Webber when he was with the Bullets. Then I bought it from him.

Then this last offseason I formed a partnership with Darrell Green (former Washington Redskins star) and I mentored, developed and trained seniors who are getting ready for the NFL draft. I spent two months in Orlando, Fla,, with Green helping him out.

Well, it's not going anywhere. I'm blessed enough to have a large staff at the facility, so it pretty much runs itself. I can just oversee it and be the general manager. It doesn't tie me down.

Actually, I wasn't even seeking this job. I was blessed to have this opportunity.

Years ago I got back into high school coaching because I had a strong desire to run my own program. I wasn't very patient at the time; I had been an assistant head coach and defensive coordinator and really wanted that head-coaching job. But then I told myself, 'From now on, you have to be patient. And if you want to stay in coaching and be a head coach you're only going to do it if the right opportunity presents itself.' This -- St. Frances -- is the right opportunity.

I feel like there is a lot of potential here. But, also, it's going to take the most work. It's a big challenge, and I do not back down from challenges. It's a huge rebuilding process.

Well, it's a relatively new program. It's only been around for three-plus years. So it's not really 'out there' yet, if you know what I mean. It's not talked about in the City yet.

Then, St. Frances is known as a basketball school; they have a renowned basketball program. When you talk to people in Baltimore, they know all about St. Frances basketball, but they barely know there's a football program.

So it's going to be a challenge for me to change the culture and the ideas surrounding the football program. People talk about the basketball program there and they say, 'We.' But when they talk about football, it's 'They' or 'You guys.' So that has to be changed.

There is no foundation there for a football program, and it's going to take some years to build. It's going to be a lot of networking in the community and creating a sense of urgency about football.

Well, you know, I haven't even thought about that - no just kidding (laughs),

Yes, I do have a plan in place.

First, I have coaches coming in who will help me create that strong foundation. I probably have like 13 or 14 coaches coming on with me to help out. You're only as good as the people around you.

I brought in Terry White, who was the head jayvee coach at Pallotti last year. He's been coaching for almost 39 years - longer then I've been alive. He has wonderful, wonderful ideas. He's going to be my defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. Then he's bringing along three or four guys that he knows up to St. Frances.

Then, I'm also bringing in three or four guys who I knew from Maryland who have ties to the Baltimore community. Garrett Clig grew up in Baltimore, played under Ralph Friedgen at Maryland and coached at Landon and Pallotti. He's a wonderful mind and he has a passion for high school football. He's going to be my offensive coordinator. Then Jason Goode, who played at Maryland and for the Redskins, is also from Baltimore. And those are just a couple.

Their job is to get our name out there; we have to create familiarity. So I brought in these Baltimore guys - young people - who can get out there, meet people and relate to these kids. They're going to let everyone know we're serious about football at St. Frances.

Yeah, that's very important, you know what I mean? I'm trying to implement a program that I feel the school needs. What I mean by that is there are things that need to be done that weren't in the past.

For instance, weight lifting. We're going to be lifting four days a week and doing strength-and-conditioning two hours a day. We're getting the kids excited about that. You know, the offseason is when you really build your team. You benefit from all that work during the season.

Then we're getting out there in 7-on-7s and basically eating, sleeping and drinking football.

Then the more important part of what I'm providing is a mentor and guide for the student-athletes. I want them to trust me and understand what it takes to be successful as individuals. I'll help them use their commodities and athletic gifts to get some leverage and eventually get a college education.

Yes, [qualifying] is going to be a challenge, but not as much as you might think. I truly believe if kids have something to look forward to and they see this [football] as an outlet, then they will accomplish things they didn't think possible.

Let's be honest, kids don't look forward to school everyday. But if we give them an incentive like playing football, then they're going to push harder in the classroom to be apart of that.

Then, once the kids are in the program, we're putting together a pretty intensive study-hall program that's almost like what you see at the collegiate level. It's four days a week of study hall prior to practice.

My academic standards will be even higher then the requirements of the school itself. The type of young people we plan on developing - and we're not trying to deny anyone - will be the people who will use football as a tool for higher education.

I felt like there wasn't a lot put into the program. The people around here, I think, weren't in it for the long haul.

Now, I've never been a head coach, but I've helped run a program for a lot of years. I understand that you have to be there for these kids. The most exciting part of this whole process, to be honest with you, is helping these kids and being a mentor for them.

These kids at St. Frances are hungry for it. They want to be nurtured, to be educated and to be guided. They want someone who will be there for them. I've seen the benefits of that.

You know, when I came into St. Frances, the previous coach didn't even film any of their games. I feel like that was a disservice to these children. I feel like I can help change not only that, but the entire attitude of the program and the kids in the school.

To me, that's exciting. As tough as it's going to be to build this, I believe there's nothing but greatness that will come out of this program.

I will not be teaching immediately, that's true. The school is small and I'm not sure what kind of teaching opportunities will open up for me. But my vision is to have to have at least two of my coaches from PG County come up and be teachers in the school. They will be dealing with the kids during the day.

But I don't think [me not teaching is] too much of a detriment because I will be up at the school everyday - all day, all night. I live in Columbia and my business down in PG County will support me. That leaves me to eat, sleep and drink St. Frances football.

Yes. Fortunately for me, my business has afforded me that opportunity. My staff will run my gym and leave me to training the kids at St. Frances.

So, basically, I'm going to treat this job like I'm making $5 million a year. That's just how I do things when I commit to something. The excitement of teaching, coaching and mentoring will never wear off for me. When people get that excited for something, they can accomplish things they never imagined. I have that kind of mentality, and that's why I see great things coming out of St. Frances.

I actually had a chance to speak to the entire school, and it seemed like the faculty, the administration as well as the kids were all very excited. You're talking about a school that's not accustomed to talking about football, and I got to speak to every student and teacher - the whole community. I got them to embrace the football program.

I actually sat down with administrators, the majority of the teachers, the sisters … everyone. I wanted to share my ideas and also hear their ideas. We talked about how I can help the athletes be better football players as well as students. We talked about my vision for the program. And, you know what? They are all buying in.

Specifically, there are sets we like. But we're going to be open-minded. We're going to base what we do on the kids we have. I have no idea what the kids are going to be like, so I can't set any of my schemes in place.

But, long-term, we do want to be able to run a spread offense and pass and run the ball effectively. Then, defensively, we'd like to run a 50 front and fly around the football.

Oh, that will immediately help. That might be the best thing that could happen to these kids right now. Numbers are important and we didn't have a lot of students playing football to begin with. So to play with schools the same size as you, that should help.

Secondly, it's going to take a few years to build a foundation like they have at Calvert Hall, Loyola or Gilman. The kids need to play [at a lower level] just to build their psyches and harbor some confidence.

Do you have aspirations to move up in the MIAA again?

Oh absolutely. The first coaching meeting we had - we met for nine hours on a Sunday - and I laid out what I expected from each and every coach. We wrote commitment letters to each other. We said we'd be coaching these kids like we're getting big money. We're leaving our egos at the door.

The expectation and standard we set is very high. Our goal at St. Frances is to be considered one of the best schools in Maryland in a few years. As unrealistic as that sounds, that's just the way I coach. I just ask the good Lord to give me the vision to get to the top.

Hey, I wouldn't put it past me. It's going to take a whole lot of work, that's for sure. But I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years we have this conversation again, and this time you won't be laughing.