For the fourth time in seven years, the Epping/Newmarket high school football program will search for and hire a new head coach.
The difference between Chuck Fitzmaurice and recent Blue Devil coaches Ryan Francoeur (2011), Ross Salovitch (2013) and Justin Leonard (2015)? Fitzmaurice had every intention to return for 2018 and beyond.
He was informed on Dec. 28 that his contract as head coach would not be renewed. Fitzmaurice cited “philosophical differences” between the two sides, and noted that some lopsided wins — particularly a 72-0 romp of Farmington/Nute in a home game on Sept. 29 — were a factor in the decision.
It was one of three Blue Devil shutout wins of 36 points or more, in a season that saw the program finish 6-2 in the D-III South and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
“Every time I turned around I was in trouble last year,” Fitzmaurice said.
An e-mail sent to Epping athletic director Larry Averill Wednesday afternoon seeking comment has not yet been returned.
Lopsided football wins are not uncommon in today’s era of New Hampshire high school football, particularly in Division III. Campbell, the 2017 state champion, beat Epping/Newmarket 61-9 on Sept. 23.
On his own team, Fitzmaurice said: “We played our JVs the entire second half of the lopsided wins. They couldn’t stop my JV. You look at Farmington ... we put up 60 points in the first half. Twenty four of those points were scored on defense and special teams.
“I’ve been [within the Epping/Newmarket program] for four years. We’ve invested a lot of time and energy into that program and we finally saw the fruits of our labor last year. It is what it is. We move on. It’s the coaching world. I’ve been doing this too long to let it bother me.”
The Epping/Newmarket football vacancy has been posted on the Bulletin Board on nhiaa.org. The post lists vacancies for the positions of head football coach and varsity girls soccer coach, and instructs applicants to send a letter of interest, resume and three references to Averill at Epping High School.
Will Titus, Epping’s girls soccer coach for the past three years, was also recently informed that his contract would not be renewed. His teams went a combined 39-17-1 and reached the Division IV tournament all three years, including a trip to the final in 2015 and a semifinal berth this past fall.
“My goal was to be like Kerry (McDermott) with the boys job,” Titus said on Wednesday. “I wanted see who would last longer there.
“I was told that one specific coaching trait was, in the school's opinion, ‘lacking’ and they decided to not renew me for next year. High school coaching contracts are year to year, so they were totally within their rights to make that decision. My responsibilities in my last contract were complete. I personally disagreed with their judgment on that one aspect, but in the end it is up to them.”
McDermott is, by far, Epping’s longest tenured coach, expected back for his 24th season with the boys soccer team next fall. Softball coach Gabe Mosca (7 seasons), volleyball coach Angele Piotrowski (4 seasons) and girls basketball coach Ed Meade (4 season) are next in line.
At least two sports, coming off successful seasons, will be starting over. For the football program, no coach has stuck for more than two years since Francoeur stepped down in 2012 to become the offensive coordinator at Winnacunnet. Salovitch cited work reasons when he stepped down in 2013, and Leonard left two years after that to take the job at Division II Kingswood.
The program has been in the local news plenty in recent years, including in the fall of 2015, when two assistant coaches were let go after a female student informed Epping school administrators that one of the coach's comments made her feel uncomfortable.
Fitzmaurice called this week's news avoidable.
“I wasn’t leaving," he said. "I was invited to leave."
Both Fitzmaurice and Titus are in the process of finding new head coaching jobs, possibly on the Seacoast. Fitzmaurice has already interviewed with three different schools. He said, at the very least, that he’ll be back as a coordinator somewhere in 2018.
Titus is hoping to line up a new coaching gig by March.
“Getting to go to [the semifinals at] Laconia twice, that was awesome; the girls loved that,” he reflected on his time at Epping. “I had a great time. I was looking forward to coming back.”