With Coach Ron Prady’s departure, the Latrobe varsity football team faces a new chapter. However, for many players, the transition feels more like a continuation—thanks to the strong bond they’ve already built with the new head coach, Tom McIntyre.
Coach McIntyre was hired as the head coach on January 18, 2025, after an 8-0 vote by the school board. Former head coach Ron Prady resigned from the program after three seasons. During this time, Coach McIntyre served as his Offensive Coordinator. “The transition will be 100% easier since he has seen us play and a lot of the team has known him [Coach McIntyre] since junior high,” said Junior Izzy McMahon.
With 13 years of coaching experience and five years at Latrobe, McIntyre plans to utilize his past experiences with the team moving forward. “I know these kids well, especially since I taught most of them in seventh and eighth grade. We have a pretty good relationship so getting to continue to coach them and spend that time with them and the coaching staff will be great,” said Coach McIntyre. Before his recent years at Latrobe, he coached at Latrobe in 2010 for three years and coached at Mount Pleasant for eight years.
McIntyre was a 2005 graduate of Southmoreland, where he played as a quarterback and safety. After high school, he continued his football career at Washington & Jefferson University where he played for two seasons. He graduated from W&J in 2009 and has been a math teacher at Latrobe for the past 16 years.
Not only is McIntyre familiar with the team, but he is also familiar with the coaching staff as he plans to keep it in place. “We’ve [the coaching staff] become really close the past few years too,” said Coach McIntyre.
The familiarity with the team and coaches will make the transition smooth for this football season. “We have a lot of seniors who graduated and we will be turning over a lot of the roster, but even the guys that are stepping in there, they’re familiar with the playbook, they’re familiar with how we approach things, and the terminology we use so that should be helpful to kind of pick up right where we left off last season,” said McIntyre.
Not only does McIntyre have plans for the football season, but for the longevity of the team overall. “I’d say that the biggest goal, the most important thing is just to raise the boys we have to become good men and good people and grow them to be the best that they can be,” said Coach McIntyre.
McIntyre also has goals for the season itself. “I think the last few years, we’ve been good at kind of peaking at the right time and getting better each week rather than hitting a spot where we kind of go backward, so the goal is to get a little bit better each day, a little bit better each week, and really be playing our best football at the end of the year,” said McIntyre.
While Coach McIntyre takes on this new role he hopes to continue the success the program has had in the past years. “A lot of it is going to be the same. I am obviously in a different role and in-game decisions will look different now; Someone else will be doing the offense and I’ll be thinking about other things, but ultimately it’s kind of keeping the gang together, and hopefully building on the success we’ve had the last few years,” said McIntyre.
“We love the kids we have here and are really excited to watch them grow as players and individuals,” said McIntyre.
Click here for photos by Rob Phillips
