After 28 years under the leadership of Donald Herman, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) has a new football coach. MVRHS athletic director Mark McCarthy announced Friday that Stephen McCarthy, a 1975 MVRHS graduate and local landscaper, will take over as the new varsity football coach.
“We would like to welcome Steve to our coaching staff, and look forward to his leadership,” Mr. McCarthy said in a press release, in which he noted that they are not related. “Steve stresses academics, teamwork, community service, and commitment. One of Steve’s goals is to continue the tradition of football excellence on Martha’s Vineyard.”
Stephen McCarthy was an assistant coach under Coach Herman from 1997 to 2008, during which time he was part of several Mayflower League Championships and three state championship teams. Most recently, he was assistant coach at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School (SMES) in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. He helped lead that team to the 2014 Academy League Championship and a runner-up placement at the California State Finals.
“It’s a great hire for the regional high school,” head SMES football coach Stephen Barbee said in a phone call Monday. “In California he was instrumental in our team being 24-4 over the past two years. He’s got a wealth of knowledge, and the future is very bright for Vineyard football under his leadership.”
A panel that included a football parent, high school staff coach, and current player chose the new coach out of a field of three applicants.
The search began after Coach Herman retired this year from his coaching and teaching position at the high school. He won 231 games in his coaching career, led the team to eight Super Bowls, of which the team won five, and coached two undefeated seasons. He was inducted into the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2015.
