FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - South Boston High School's Steve Flaherty has been named the New England Patriots High School Coach of the Week in recognition of his 28 years of coaching at South Boston.
The Knights finished this season, which is Flaherty's last season of coaching, with a record of 7-3; Flaherty's career record is 157-92-11.
I feel good knowing that the program is in much better shape than the way I found it 27 years ago, when we didn't know if the school doors were going to even open,'' said Flaherty.Back then, we had no assistant coaches, one set of uniforms and no football field. Now we have two sets of unis, a state-of-the-art playing field (Moakley Park) and a box trailer to store our equipment and two terrific assistant coaches in Bob Lerro (Flaherty's successor) and Ray Butler."
This season marks the eighth year in which the Patriots have joined the National Football League in conducting the High School Coach of the Week program, which recognizes outstanding high school coaches and promotes youth football. Each week during the season, the Patriots will honor a coach from the New England area as the Coach of the Week.
The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation will donate $1,000 to the South Boston High School's Football Program in Flaherty's name in recognition of his selection as Coach of the Week.
The Patriots High School Coach of the Week is selected by a panel including representatives of the Patriots and WCVB Channel 5, which airs the team's weekly magazine show, Patriots All Access, on Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. WCVB sports anchor Mike Lynch is the host of the show. Lynch and Andre Tippett, a Patriots Hall of Fame member and the Patriots Football Development and Promotions Director, will present Flaherty with the Coach of the Week honors on this week's show.
