Joe McElfish Named Head Football Coach at Manassas Park

A man who led the Manassas Park High School football team in the late 1980s is back at the helm.

 Joe McElfish has been named the head varsity football coach for the 2011-2012 season, according to a press release issued this week by the school.

McElfish served as the team's offensive coordinator this school year and was the head coach of the team from 1986 to 1989, according to the release.

McElfish, a graduate of Frostburg State University, holds a bachelor's degree in health and physical education and also holds a master's degree in school administration.

In addition to coaching football, McElfish currently serves as the head boys and girls outdoor track and field coach at Manassas Park.

In 2010, his Girls' Track team won the Virginia state championship in outdoor track. He will start his new football coaching position on Aug. 1.

 McElfish inherits a program that went 7-4 in the  2010-2011 season and advanced to the Region B, Division 2 semi-final game for the first time since 2005.  McElfish served as a physical education teacher at Manassas Park High School from 1980 until his retirement in June.

During his first tenure as head coach, McElfish led the Cougars to the 1986 state championship, where they lost to Parry McCluer High School.

The Cougars also won the 1989 Region B championship under McElfish.

In 1990, McElfish became the athletic director at Manassas Park High, a position he held until 1994.

In addition to having been a head coach, McElfish served as defensive coordinator for the Cougars in 2004 when they won the Group A, Division 2 state football championship over Powell Valley High School and in 2005 when the Cougars finished as the state football runners-up to Giles High School.

The head football coach position became available in February when coach David Couccoli decided to step down to become the head football coach at Forest Park High School in Prince William County. Coach Coccoli had served as head coach since 2008.