Rudloff named new Marblehead football coach

Jim Rudloff was named the new head coach of the Marblehead High football team on Thursday.”The opportunity presented itself as being a great opportunity,” said Rudloff, a special education teacher at the high school for the past eight years, who spent the past four seasons coaching linebackers and running backs at Beverly. “I decided to go for it.”Originally from Natick, Rudloff also has Marblehead ties. Four years ago, he was the high school defensive coordinator under Bill Manchester. When Manchester left, he did, too, for Beverly. He called Dan Bauer, his boss with the Panthers, “absolutely instrumental in helping me get the (Marblehead) job. He’s such a good mentor.”Rudloff and his wife have lived in Marblehead for the past 12 years. They have three sons; their oldest, Christian, plays in Marblehead Youth Football. Jim Rudloff cites his involvement with his son’s youth football program as a way of staying connected to the community while coaching at Beverly.Marblehead athletic director Michael Plansky said that from an initial field of about 12 candidates, the decision came down to choosing between Rudloff and defensive coordinator Greg Gibson.”Greg Gibson’s a great coach,” Plansky said. “He’s done great things for us. I have no doubt he’ll be a fantastic head coach someday.” However, he said, “Jim is a teacher in the system. He’s involved in youth sports. He’ll be a perfect fit in the long run.”Rudloff takes over after several tumultuous years. His predecessor, Doug Chernovetz, faced a civil complaint after allegations of harassment of a former player.”One of the big things I’d like to see is to get the Marblehead High School football team back onto the sports page and off the front page,” Rudloff said. “Go back to working on football, very hard on football, and just football. It is the responsibility of the community, the school, the coaches, and the players to take on that responsibility and get back on the sports page.”I was a supporter of Coach Chernovetz. I thought he did do very admirable things while at Marblehead High School.”As examples, Rudloff cited the quality of team play and “the way the kids held themselves.” He said he “would rather not comment” on whether Chernovetz, who did not reapply for the coaching position after it was opened up, should still be at the high school.”Doug’s a pal,” Rudloff said. “It’s a shame what happened. At the same time, the kids need to have stability.””I think the big thing with Jim is that he’s definitely a teacher first,” Plansky said. “He’ll continue to teach our kids. He’ll also look to build on the great work Doug Chernovetz and his staff did.”Rudloff is a former football player himself, having played tight end in high school and college before a knee injury. As a freshman on the Northeastern scout team, however, he said he “spent quality time getting my head handed to me” by then-senior Sean Jones, who would play 12 seasons in the NFL as a defensive end (and pick up a Super Bowl ring with the Green Bay Packers against the New England Patriots in 1996).After college, Rudloff worked as director of security for the Four Seasons hotels before deciding that his passion lay in teaching.