St. Mary's High in Annapolis, a member of the Metro-Interscholastic Athletic Association's B-Conference, hired just their second head coach in the last 22 years. Russell Croteau, a Michigan native who has been an assistant at three different Maryland high schools, succeeds longtime coach Brad Best. Best won five conference championships during his tenure at St. Mary's.

Croteau grew up in Bay City Michigan and played wide receiver at powerhouse Bay City Central High, one of the most successful programs in the state. He went on to play defensive back at Albion College, but an injury short-circuited his football career.

Croteau transferred to American University in Washington, D.C., and earned his degree in political science. He spent one year studying law in New York before giving it up for a coaching career.

In 2007, he landed his first job working as a receiver's coach under Ken Roberts at Bladensburg High in Prince George's County. Roberts resigned that same year, however, and Croteau followed him out the door.

Croteau moved on to nearby Oxon Hill, where Kevin Wolfolk hired him to coach the team's quarterbacks. But Wolfolk, like Roberts, resigned after one season. So Croteau left again, this time for Cambridge High on the Eastern Shore.

At Cambridge, Croteau helped develop quarterback Taylor Henry, who in 2009 became one of the better quarterback prospects in Maryland. But the long drive across the state wasn't feasible, so Croteau decided not to return in 2010. Instead, he went back to Bladensburg, where he coached running backs under Derek Tyler.

The St. Mary's job will Croteau's fifth different stop in five years, although it is his first head-coaching stint. Needless to say, he plans on being around a lot longer then one season. Whether or not he stays for 21 years like Brad Best remains to be seen.

Yesterday, MdHigh Publisher Dave Lomonico spoke with Croteau about his new position at St. Mary's. Below is a transcript of the question-and-answer session.

It's a huge honor to be at St. Mary's, and I'm humbled to be offered the job by such a great program. I can't wait to get started. I'm excited. I expect to have a great season.

I always wanted to get into coaching. My father was a basketball coach for 20 years and it's something I've wanted to do since I was a young teenager. I was better at football, so I didn't go the basketball route (laughs). But I've always liked the idea of teaching young men and helping them grow as athletes and people.

I tried a year of law school in New York, but I couldn't shake the fact that I wanted to get back into coaching. My girlfriend at the time - she's now my wife - said 'Why don't you teach and become a coach?'

So I got into education down there [near American] and was hired at Bladensburg. As a coach there I worked for a great guy, Ken Roberts, who is now the offensive coordinator at Wicomico. He hired me as the wide receivers coach, and I was focused from Day One.

I respect the game too much and I respect St. Mary's too much to even apply if I didn't feel I was ready. When I decided to leave law school to become a football coach, I started preparing myself to lead a program immediately.

I surrounded myself with good coaches. Everyone I've worked for has taught me a ton about football. Coach [Kevin] Wolfolk at Oxon Hill might have had the best defensive mind in the state. Coach Roberts at Bladensburg is a great spread-offense guy, and I learned a lot from him. And the new Bladensburg coach [Derek] Tyler - he's a double-wing guy; I learned a lot about the power-running game from hm.

So when you combine what I learned from these great coaches with my desire to be a head coach at a place like St. Mary's, I believe I'm prepared.

First of all, my wife and I are parishioners there. My wife teaches in the elementary school.

But the commitment they have to excellence in everything they do would be appealing to anybody. The academics are first rate. The facilities are first rate. The people there are incredible. It's nice to know that the people you're working for have the same high expectations you do.

I didn't know Coach Best, but I know all about the legacy he left there. It's a tremendous thing to live up to and a great challenge. But it's something that a competitive coach would want to do - to carry on a legacy like that.

The St. Mary's program is bigger than any one person, and it will be there long after I'm gone. I'm the caretaker of it now, and it's my job to get them back to being a great success.

I'm not aware of or concerned about what happened at St. Mary's before I got the job yesterday [January 12]. We're starting with a clean slate, and we're going to get the program heading in the right direction again.

If you're a competitive person and you want a challenge - like I do - then this is the conference you want to be in. To compete with the Boys' Latin's of the world you have to be prepared and you have to be dedicated to what you do.

You can't win until you're prepared to win, and that's what we're going to do -- prepare. So we'll win when we deserve to win.

A lot of it has to do with what you do in the offseason. As soon as I meet with the kids next week we'll begin a vigorous offseason-conditioning program. That includes speed training, plyometrics, weight lifting - the whole nine yards. It won't be easy for them.

Also, I'll be surrounding myself with top-notch assistant coaches. I know a few who will be working with me, and I'm on my way to interview more right now.

We understand winning comes from doing everything the right way. It comes from working hard in the weight room, it comes from working hard in speed development, it comes from practicing 100 percent whenever you step on the field. Once those things happen, the wins will come.

You'll never hear me say we don't expect to win every time we step on the field. I'm not conceding anything. I've had one losing season in the entire time I've played and coached - last year at Bladensburg. I hated it. I never want to lose again.

There are people that love to win and there are people that hate to lose. I hate to lose.

We have the highest of expectations for our program and we want to get there as quickly as possible. We want to win conference championships again.

But we also understand that we're building a program here, and that's more then just wins and losses, especially at the high school level. It's about teaching young people to become good young men, to become good husbands, to become good fathers. And at St. Mary's, it's also about becoming better Catholics.

I really don't think the excitement ever left. One thing I've gotten from meeting with our athletic director, Matt Hogan, and our principal is that people are excited about football already. The students there are excited about football, the administration is excited about football, the teachers are excited about football and the athletes are excited about football. I've gotten phone calls and text messages over the last 24 hours about how excited they are and the direction we're going to go in at St. Mary's.

They might need some motivation, but St. Mary's wants to win. I don't think it's going to take much to get people out there on Friday nights.

The Annapolis area is full of talent, and Maryland in general is a very underrated state in terms of football talent. We're going to be in all corners of the state.

Recruiting will be done vigorously and ethically. We have a lot to offer at St. Mary's. I can't overstate how great the academics are here, and as much as an emphasis that they put on academics, we're going to put that into athletics and football. That's a big selling point to young people.

It's the same roadblocks and challenges at every high school program in the United States. Every time you're dealing with young people, especially teenagers, there are a lot of variables. It's an interesting time in a young man's life.

But if their dedication is there and we as coaches work as hard as we're supposed to work, I don't see any reason we can't be successful right away.

Well, the offenses and defenses will be dependent on the personnel. I have an idea in mind, but that will stay with me for awhile.

I will say this: I'm a decided Mid-Western guy. I grew up in the Mid-West, I'm proud to be from the Mid-West and I'm a huge Michigan fan before Rich Rodriguez (laughs). That's my kind of philosophy.

Well, there are a lot of different offenses in the Big 10. We might be Wisconsin, or we could be Northwestern (laughs). You'll find out in August.

Well, I'm not sure I lean one way or the other. I played both wide receiver and defensive back and I coached a number of different positions. So I got the best of both worlds there.

I'll tell you the big boys up front win you games and you have to have a good running game, especially at the high school level.

If nothing else, when teams leave the field against us, they're going to know they were in a football game. We want to be a tough, hard-nosed team that loves to play football.