Struggling with participation, Fairfield looking for new football coach to rebuild team

Jason Thurston said he just felt like it was time.

After five seasons leading the Fairfield High School football team, Thurston resigned as head coach earlier this month after the Green Knights went 2-8 and lost to Steel-High, 62-6, in the District 3 Class 1A title game. He confirmed his decision last Tuesday.

"It was something I thought about throughout the course of the season and by the end I just thought it was time," Thurston said. "When I took the job, I felt Fairfield was a place where I could be successful. The kids worked really hard. But at this point, I don't feel I can be successful moving forward so I'll step down and let somebody else take a crack at it."

Fairfield went 13-34 in five seasons under Thurston, but that record doesn't tell the full story of his effect on the program.

Fairfield is the smallest school in the YAIAA with an official PIAA enrollment (meaning ninth through 11th-grade students) of just 226 kids (106 male). Building strong participation numbers has always been a challenge for the football program, which wasn't established until 2004. Prior to Thurston's hiring in 2018, the Green Knights had just one winning campaign (6-5 in 2013) in their first 14 seasons.

And Thurston took over during challenging circumstances. He was the only person to apply for the job when Darwin Seiler surprisingly resigned at the end of May in 2018, right before the start of summer workouts. He wasn't officially hired until July and the district's school board seriously considered only competing at the JV level that season due to youth and expected low participation.

But the Knights kept a varsity program and never finished in last place in YAIAA Division III under Thurston. After three straight two-win seasons, the Knights went 5-4 in 2021 and beat traditional power Bermudian Springs for the first time in program history. That last-minute 14-13 win was followed by another dramatic victory over Hanover that made the Green Knights one of the biggest stories in the YAIAA for a few weeks.

"With the numbers we had to work with, we did some great things and moved the program forward," Thurston said. "I'm proud of the kids and the coaches I worked with. None of my coaches had varsity experience and I saw so much growth in them. They knew the tables would be stacked against us and they worked so hard."

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But after having 27 players on the roster in 2020 and 22 in 2021, Fairfield had just 18 this season. The Green Knights canceled their Week 3 game against Hamburg when injuries limited them to just 14 available players. They still qualified for a district title game for the third time under Thurston due to District 3 having just three Class 1A teams.

Thurston said the lack of participation was not the reason he resigned, but he acknowledged it was disappointing to take a step back in that area this season.

He said he doesn't have the answer to what it will take to get more kids from the small school to play football. Fairfield had 32 players on the roster Seiler's last season in 2017.

"I was asked that question a lot the last couple of months," Thurston said. "We had made positive strides and then this year some kids went in a different direction (and didn't play). I'm not sure why. I hope somebody else can step in and find success."

Fairfield athletic director Andy Kuhn said he also doesn't have a perfect solution to the program's turnout issue, but he plans to work with the district's youth program and hopes to recruit more single-sport athletes around the school to try football.

Still, Kuhn said he respected Thurston's decision to step down and that the coach had the full support of the administration. He said other coaches and athletic directors would constantly reach out to him to compliment the football team's perseverance. The Green Knights nearly upset Littlestown (13-6) and York Catholic (17-10) this season despite being outmanned.

And Kuhn, who took over at Fairfield last year, doesn't expect there to be any trouble finding coaching candidates this time. He said the school has already had "three or four qualified applicants" and hopes to start the interview process now following Thanksgiving break.

"We want the process to go as quickly as possible so we can get the kids in the weight room," Kuhn said. "The new coach and myself need to get out of the office and into the classroom and show kids that being a Fairfield football player can be beneficial to them. There are so many small schools and communities where football is important and we want that to come to fruition at Fairfield. Jason was instrumental in getting the band and the community involved here and we need to build on that. On Friday night, we want the town to shut down because everyone is going to the football game."

Fairfield is the fourth YAIAA school looking for a new football coach this offseason along with Hanover, Spring Grove and West York.

Thurston, who previously was the head coach at New Oxford from 2012 to 2014, said he currently plans to focus on being a middle school teacher at Fairfield and raise his three kids with his wife, Casey, who is the athletic director at Gettysburg High School. Still, he did not rule out coaching again in the future.

And he thinks more winning seasons like 2021 are possible for Fairfield in the future.

"I certainly think the potential is there if the kids buy in," he said. "Anything is possible over time. Overall this was a positive experience for me and I'm humbled for the opportunity."

Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone.