Brian Hensel has plenty of football knowledge. He also boasts an impressive coaching resume.
But that’s just part of the reason he was chosen from seven finalists to take over the helm of Central Bucks West’s football program.
“What stood out was his personality,” West athletic director Sean Kelly said. “Obviously, his coaching experience was excellent at many different levels, but really, his personality and ability to communicate with the students – not only getting kids to come out and play football but keeping them here in the program – that is one of our top priorities.
“I think Brian is going to really be able to touch base with a lot of these kids and help the program grow on the field and off the field.”
Hensel, an assistant under coach Bart Szarko at Central Bucks South the past five years, is inheriting a program that has struggled since the Mike Pettine glory years. Last year, under coach Chris Felton, the Bucks were 2-5 in SOL Continental Conference play and 3-7 overall.
“Our first goal is to build a level of enthusiasm that is going to attract more players to want to be involved with the program,” Hensel said. “The one thing I want to build upon is we can make this a fun program for the kids.
“We want to make them enjoy it, and we want to grow the program in numbers.”
Hensel, a 1990 graduate of Lehigh University where he was an offensive lineman, got his start in coaching in a most unusual manner.
Two weeks into the season the fall after his graduation, Hensel spent his Saturday afternoon watching Penn do battle with Dartmouth on television. That night, he made the trip to Maryland to watch his alma mater play Towson.
During the course of the game, Fred Mariani, Lehigh’s former offensive line coach, suffered a heart attack on the sidelines.
“He was a tremendous mentor to me, and I was on the sidelines concerned about Fred’s health,” Hensel recalled. “The head coach (Hank Small) saw me, and we were talking about Fred’s situation.
“He said, ‘What are you doing right now? How would you like to coach?’ I kind of looked at him and said, ‘Are you serious?’ He said, ‘Yes.’”
The rest is history.
Hensel, a journalism/public relations major who was doing free lance work, accepted the job as interim coach. In his very first game, Hensel found himself coaching against the quarterback he was watching on TV that fateful day – Dartmouth’s Jay Fiedler.
“That’s where my coaching career was borne,” he said. “It got into my blood, and I had a great experience with a lot of tremendous coaches on that staff who really inspired me to go back and get my teaching degree and pursue a coaching career.”
Hensel coached at Lehigh for two years during which time he obtained his master’s degree and teacher’s certification. Mariani, meanwhile, recuperated from the heart attack and today is the head coach at Iona.
Upon receiving his teaching certification, Hensel accepted a fulltime teaching position in the Central Bucks School District, and after a one-year coaching stint at Upper Moreland, he joined Mike Pettine’s staff at Central Bucks West in 1994. Two years later, he took over the middle school program at Unami.
Hensel stepped away from coaching after the 1999 season after the birth of his third child. Two years later, he joined Szarko’s staff at South where – after a year as defensive coordinator – he worked exclusively with the offensive and defensive lines.
Through it all, he maintained his ties to West.
“Coaching is like a fraternity,” Hensel said. “Chris Felton was in the secondary when I coached at C.B. West. I’ve kept a relationship with Chris.
“I always thought if a job opened up in the district it’s probably something I would jump at. I love teaching in this district. It’s a great community of people. I saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time.
“It had to be the right time and place for me. This just seemed to be the right time and place.”
According to Kelly, West received more than 30 resumes when the position was posted. Bill Manlove, former Widener and Del Val coach, was enlisted to help with the interview process. Seven candidates - including several from out of state - were brought in for interviews.
“The local ties and the fact that he was in the school district already helped, but that wasn’t our deciding factor,” Kelly said of Hensel. “It’s nice to have that, but that’s a bonus. It wasn’t a necessity or even a priority for us.
“A lot of people see this as an opportunity to do very well here, and I think we have the nucleus to do that. We just need the right person to really help it grow. We believe Brian is a good fit, and we were very excited about his coaching background as well.”
Hensel, a member of the Archbishop Ryan Football Hall of Fame, met with the players the day after he was offered the job.
“I absolutely believe the guys we have right now are the core of what could be a competitive team,” he said. “To me, there’s no league in the state that matches what the Suburban One League has. It’s a competitive league.
“With that, there’s motivation – if we want to compete at the high level Suburban One offers, we really have to get ourselves in a situation where we prepare our bodies. Our emphasis to them was we have to get in the weight room. We have got to make sure we’re building our bodies to last a full 10-game season and even beyond that.”
Joining Hensel on West’s coaching staff are a pair of familiar faces - Dean Logan, who most recently coached with Hensel at South, as well as Dave Camburn, who was part of West’s championship run in the late 90’s and was part of Felton’s staff.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm,” Hensel said.
And that’s exactly what West officials were looking for when they turned the reins of their program over to the former South assistant.
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