The 2017 football season is underway and with it comes a huge change in the Mason football program. George Mason High School has hired six new varsity coaches, with the head coach position being filled by former assistant coach Adam Amerine.

Amerine has been coaching at Mason for 19 years, and was promoted to head coach this fall when former head coach Tony Green stepped down.  

For years, Amerine has been a successful head coach of the George Mason baseball team and a respected defensive coordinator of the football team. He worked with multiple Mason football coaches throughout his time as a defensive coordinator.

“I’ve worked with a few good head coaches; Coach Horn and Coach Green, so I took a little something from all of them,” said Amerine.

Coach Amerine has stayed loyal to the Mustangs throughout his entire career. He took a coaching job at Mason directly after college at the age of twenty-two years.

“I’ve been a head coach before, so I know how to run a program and what needs to be done aside from the playing field.” says Amerine.

Amerine and the football team have proudly maintained their 4-0 record so far, and are determined to reach their goal of an undefeated regular season.

While Amerine has been proving successful with the Mustangs so far by breaking their eight game losing streak and winning his first four games as head coach, he admits that it’s been a big transition.

“You have a lot more to worry about. You have to worry about all three phases of the game (offense, defense, and special teams) and you have to worry about how your players are doing in school. It’s just a lot more responsibility,” he said.

Coach Amerine proves he knows how to handle his own responsibilities, but he also knows how to delegate. Some of his new hires include Coach Travis Warren and Coach Sean McNulty.

“Coach Warren is a big reason for the recent surge in team energy. He brings the juice,” junior team captain Jack Felgar said.

Warren grew up in Madison County and works mainly with running backs and defensive backs.

McNulty is the new offensive coordinator this year. He has already installed a number of offensive plays and formations that have sparked excitement among the team.

“Coach McNulty is an offensive genius,” Felgar said.

Players were in agreement of the changes they’ve seen in plays and attitudes this season.

“I think that our diverse set of plays this year will come in handy in the game and work well against all of our opponents,” senior and special teams captain Peter Scardino said.

“I think ‘coach A’ is doing a really great job about bringing the boys together,” senior quarterback Thomas Creed said.

Creed acknowledged the diversity of plays this year, with about eight offensive players consistently getting the ball, when, historically, Mason has had just a couple of playmakers that touch the ball almost every play.

“We’re doing a really good job of spreading the ball around,” Creed said. “We’re giving the ball to a lot of different running backs and a lot of different receivers that can make plays.”

No one can say for sure what can be expected from Coach Adam Amerine this year and the rest of the new coaching staff, but the future looks promising for the Mustangs with him as the head of the program.