USA Football Announces Team USA Under-19 Coaching Staff

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

If you listen to the May 10th High School Football America radio show, you heard how excited St. Xavier (Cincinnati, OH) head coach Steve Specht was to also be the head coach of USA Football's Under-19 national team that will be playing for a world championship in Austin, Texas in about a month.

Yesterday, USA Football, the sport's national governing body, announced the other members of Specht's staff that will be helping him try to defend the gold medal that Team USA won in the inaugural IFAF Under-19 World Championships in 2009.

The man that led the Red, White and Blue to that first championship three years ago in Canton, Ohio is back.  Chris Merritt, the head coach at Christopher Columbus in Miami will be Specht's offensive coordinator.  Specht was Merritt's defensive coordinator in 2009.

This year's defensive coordinator will be Rick Streiff of Indianapolis Cathedral, who has led his school to seven Indiana state titles in 17 years at the school.

Below is the rest of Specht's staff:

• Tom Bolden, Colerain (OH) - offensive line coach
• Gabe Infante, St. Joseph's Prep (PA) - defensive line coach
• Ken Lucas, Annapolis Area Christian School (MD), secondary coach
• Greg McCaig, Cypress Creek (TX), tight ends and special teams coach
• Cory Moore, Lakewood (FL), linebackers coach
• Charlie Ward, Westbury Christian School (TX), wide receivers coach
• L.D. Williams, Westwood (TX), offensive line coach

Click here to read the entire news release from USA Football.

Click here to listen to my interview with Coach Specht on May 10th on the High School Football America radio show.

The world championships will begin June 30th, ending with the gold medal game on July 7th.

To learn more about the IFAF Under-19 World Championships, click here to go to the event website.