LYNN — Fred Hogan feels as though his coaching career has finally come full circle. That’s because Hogan, a Classical alum, has joined the Rams football coaching staff as as assistant to head coach Brian Vaughan.
Hogan graduated from Classical in 1988. He played two years of varsity football for the Rams as a wide receiver for former coach Dave Dempsey. Hogan will coach the Classical tight ends and serve as the assistant special teams coach.
“I’m very excited to be alongside coach Vaughan and this staff,” Hogan said. “These guys are into it, it’s a great staff. The kids are all hard workers, they’re unbelievable. The three tight ends are all great athletes. It’s really exciting to get back here, especially because it looks like this is going to be a pretty good team.
“It’s pretty good to see it come back full circle,” Hogan said. “I still live in West Lynn. I’m a West Lynn kid. I was born and raised there. I see the kids all the time, it’s pretty cool.”
Hogan’s the former head coach of the English girls basketball team. In addition to coaching the Bulldogs, Hogan was also an assistant football coach at English and Tech. He spent nine years doing so at both schools.
Vaughan was an assistant to Hogan when the latter coached the English girls hoops team.
“Coach Brian Vaughan was my first hire when I was the girls basketball coach at Lynn English,” Hogan said. “Our daughters grew up together. We used to work out together. He wanted to bring me along. I have to thank him, (former principal) Gene Constantino and (athletic director) Billy Devin. Those three guys were very important in bringing me to this coaching staff. A lot of my friends from my days at Classical are very excited for me.”
Hogan stayed involved with local football teams last fall by attending games and watching from the stands. A stellar season in Lynn that saw four of the city’s five high school teams reach the postseason gave Hogan an itch to get back on the sidelines.
“Last year I didn’t coach football in Lynn so I got to watch all the schools and the success of them all,” Hogan said. “Brian’s a great friend of mine so I watched Classical a lot. These teams were all pretty good and Classical looks to have a good year this year.
“I missed football,” Hogan said. “I’ve been in basketball all my life but I played football in high school. I love football. I’ve been to a couple Super Bowls and I’ve seen the Patriots win them live. I’ve coached East Lynn Pop Warner, West Lynn Pop Warner. It’s really exciting being back on the sidelines. It’s a lot of work but our first game will be here before we know it. We’re all excited at Classical.”
With coaching the team’s three tight ends (David Barnard, Nick Medeiros and Chauncey Williams), comes the responsibility of preparing the trio for a number of tasks under Classical’s offense. They’ll block in the running game and run routes in hopes of emerging as solid weapons for quarterback Keith Ridley in the passing game.
“My job is to get them ready, to have good technique and do things the right way,” Hogan said. “They’re going to block first and they’ll catch the ball second but the ball will be thrown to them. It’s good that three of these varsity guys get to work with me solo for a portion of practice. We have 20 wide receivers but we have three tight ends so they get a lot of reps, to make sure they do things right.”
Although the Rams are just a few practices into their preseason, Hogan said the team looks solid thus far. Classical has adopted a motto this year, “better every day” and the team has followed it with hard work.
“It’s super early, still,” Hogan said. “You’re trying to work out all the kids. We have a motto this year, it’s ‘better every day.’ No matter what you do yesterday, you can do something better. That’s what we’re drilling in the kids’ heads. We’ll find out. We have three good scrimmages coming up.”
