Conversation with Coach – Brandon Bailey, Richland
Tagged under: Coaches Corner, District 6, News, pfn
Phil Myers | September 1, 2026
Folks around the state may know that Brandon Bailey is the head football coach at Richland High school which is located just outside of Johnstown. But they may not know that he was first team all-state quarterback in 1991 who also played in the Big 33 game in 1992. When passing still wasn’t a big thing, he threw for 5,667 yards and 64 touchdowns during his career, including 2,825 yards and 34 TDs his senior year. They also may not know that he played his high school ball at Forest Hills which is Richland’s rival and that his coach was his dad, the legendary Don Bailey, who amassed 375 wins during his coaching tenure of 45 years.
Sadly, Don Bailey passed away in February. Brandon had this to say after I offered my condolences, “He’s a lot to live up to and it was nice seeing all his former players and colleagues and staff saying so many kind things over the past several months.” You could tell in his voice the heartfelt sincerity of his comment and how deeply he has been touched by all those who have reached out to him and his family.
PM: “How was it having a legendary high school football coach as your dad?”
BB: “It was great! I was able to spend a lot of time on the sidelines with him as a young kid as a ball boy, manager, and that sort of thing. And then I got to play for him. A lot of people don’t know it, but I briefly coached with him for two seasons back in 1997 and 98.”
Coach Brandon Bailey has obviously learned a lot from his dad, like how to treat people, how to prepare and do things the right way, and how to be a successful coach. He previously said in another interview, “I learned as a player to come out expecting to win. Understanding that you have to put in that work in the off season and put in that work during the week. Then on game night, it’s just a test after all the preparation is done.”
PM: “Coaches’ wives are special people. How was your mom (Diane) through those 45 years your dad coached?”
BB: “Coaches’ wives are special people especially when you have the longevity my father did. What’s really neat about my mother was her connection to the team and the kids he coached. As so many people came through the line at the funeral home and the church, she’d recall, ‘oh you were number 11, etc.’ Three guys came through and they all wore number 13 from three different decades and she said, ‘you were from the 80s and you were from the 90s.’ It was kind of neat to see that. And certainly I appreciate my wife sitting in the stands the last 25 years at Richland. She had a chance to watch my two boys and all the other kids I’ve coached through the years.”
We then talked some more about family. Besides Brandon, Don and Diane Bailey had another son, Derek, who graduated from Forest Hills in 2001 and played football at Morehead State. Coach Bailey’s family includes his wife, Heather, and their three children, Karsen, Morgan, and Koby. He elaborated a little about each of his kids, “Karsen is the oldest and lives and works in Washington D.C. Our daughter, Morgan, teaches and coaches softball in Richmond, VA. Then our youngest son, Koby, lives in New Jersey and works for Rutgers football in the front office.”
Brandon graduated high school in 1992 where, besides football, he played basketball and ran track and field. He played football in college at two places. He went to West Virginia for two years before transferring to the University of Connecticut where he graduated in 1996 with a degree in healthcare management. He went back to school at Robert Morris to get his teaching certificate. While at Robert Morris, he was a graduate assistant running back coach to Joe Walton for two years. Many will recall that Walton coached the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers, then moved on to Robert Morris. Bailey finished grad school in 1998.
PM: “Why did you decide to get into coaching and how did that come about?”
BB: “For me, it was a no-brainer. Both my parents were educators. My mom was a long time teacher, and my dad was a football coach, teacher, and school administrator. Just watching the impact that both of them had on kids and the relations they were able to build seemed like such a positive thing to me. Originally, that was not the path I was on. But I kept getting pulled back into ‘that’s what I want to do.’ That’s what I was passionate about. I was fortunate to get that grad assistantship and my teaching certificate from Robert Morris. Joe walton was a great mentor for me.”
PM: “So, what concepts about football do you think are the most important and that you and your staff try to teach your players?”
BB: “I think keeping things simplistic. Defensively, if all of your kids know where to go and how to get aligned and what they need to do on each play and they can play fast, you’re going to have a great defense. But, if they have to think about things, then analysis, paralysis. Where they’re analyzing and they’re not able to move in a rapid fashion.”
“Then on offense, it’s really similar where you want to keep it simplistic. Our offense at Richland, and we’ve been successful, is built to deal with whether the opposition loads the box or not. And, in doing so, shows single coverage on the outside. Our whole offensive mindset is predicated on what the defense presents to us. You’ll see us, a lot of times, go up to the line of scrimmage and bluff the snap count so we can get a good handle on what the defense is going to do. Then we may have to get into a better play that has a better chance for success. And all that happens in 25 seconds.”
We proceeded to talk some about the old days, like when his dad started coaching, where coaches called a play and that’s what the players ran despite the fact that the defense appeared to be set for that particular play. “I can’t even fathom calling a play in the huddle and going to the line of scrimmage knowing it’s not going to be a good play,” Coach Bailey stated.
PM: “Coach, how do you measure success?”
BB: “As a high school football coach our measure of success is seeing these kids come back and the positive things that they’re able to be. Are they good fathers? Are they good people in the community? Those are the things that are your measures of success. But the thing is in sports, if you don’t win on the field, you’re not able to have that longevity. That’s just how it is in our society and I understand that. So, I think there also has to be some measurement of the wins and losses and how that works. I was telling my wife this team that we have (this year) has never lost a football game on their home field. We’re hoping to continue that this season but we have some really tough opponents. That type of thing is a measurement of success in terms of wins and losses.”
PM: “Talk about how the sport of football relates to life for your kids?”
BB: “That’s what makes football one of the greatest games in sports. You need so many different people to make a successful team. And that teamwork goes a long way in life. Having that discipline, doing small things right, treating other people right, if you do those type of things in life and you do those type of things in football, you’re going to be successful in football and life.”
PM: “What do you find is the toughest thing today about coaching?”
BB: “I think it’s tough being a year round thing and not necessarily tough on the coaches. I think it’s tough because you have to have a fine line of expectations for your players. I coach in a small school. We want our players to play other sports. In the winter, we want them to play basketball or wrestle or play hockey. The same thing in the spring time. There’s a big expectation that everything’s 24/7, 365 and you have to be doing football all the time. Balancing that fine line of we’re going to train and be ready for football season but at the same time not burning kids out because you need the kids who love the game passionately and will do it 365. And you need those kids who like football and want to be good at it but they might be just as interested or more interested in something else.”
Photo from Tribune Democrat
PM: “How has coaching changed since you started coaching in 2002?”
BB: “Yeah, this is one I feel pretty passionate about. People always talk about kids and how they’ve changed and how society has changed. And I think society has changed and I think things are a little bit different, but kids nowadays work just as hard as they ever have, if not harder. They’re as disciplined as they have ever been. It’s just that expectation of those things. So, I think sometimes as a society our expectations have been lowered. But I know with me, our program here, and our assistant coaches, and our community, we have higher expectations than we ever have.”
PM: “How do you account for your overall success since you’ve been at Richland?”
BB: “I think, number one, I have a great group of coaches and support staff that are totally dedicated to the Richland football program. A lot of our coaches have been with us for 20 or more years. They really care about the team and the product we put out there. I think the support of the school district and the community and the expectations of both the school district and the community of the program is so important. And I think it’s the kids. The kids continue to hold each other accountable to those high expectations. They all want to leave their own mark. This senior group has never lost a home football game, as I said. The other ting about this group is if they win a lot of football games this year, they have a chance to go down in the history of Richland as the winningest football team that’s come through here. I think all of those things go into why we’ve had so much success over the last 25 years.”
PM: “So, when it’s all said and done, what would you like your legacy to be?”
BB: “I think that somebody who’s always treated people fairly and somebody who’s always had high expectations and somebody who’s always given their all.”
PM: “What’s the biggest thrill you had playing football in high school or college? The second part of the question would be, what has been your biggest thrill as a head coach at Richland?”
BB: “I will go with a high school, a college, and a coach. As a high school football player, being on an undefeated football team that won Forest Hill’s first District 6 AA championship in 1991 was a pretty culminating effort in a hard fought game over Penns Valley.” (I just happened to have witnessed that game. Things got a little dicey towards the end of the game. Forest Hills won 23-6. You can find the complete replay of the game on YouTube.)
“As a college player, I played at West Virginia for 2 years and the University of Connecticut for 2 years. When I was at West Virginia, we were on an 11-0 football team and we were the first team (from West Virginia University) to defeat the University of Miami when they were rolling winning National Championships. We beat them at home. That was probably the biggest game I was part of as a college football player.” (On November 20, 1993 West Virginia beat Miami 17-14 at Morgantown.)
“As a coach, we’ve had a lot of great memories so far. But, if I had to pick one, and it’s difficult, it was the night there were so many firsts. Back in 2018, coming off a couple tough seasons where we had losing records, our team was able to beat Chestnut Ridge (24-20) in probably the muddiest game I’ve coached in where everybody was completely drenched in mud after the game. We finished 10-0 and won the Laurel Highlands championship. My youngest son was part of that team and it was also my 100th victory. It was an incredible night where a lot of things happened. Hopefully, the biggest one hasn’t come for me.”
PM: “Any thoughts on how long you’ll keep coaching?”
BB: “I would imagine that I won’t have the longevity that my father had. That being said, I still love it. I love coming to summer workouts. I like going to training camp with the kids. I like the feeling of camp and getting ready for Friday nights. There’s nothing like it. As long as I continue to love it, as long as the school district wants me to continue to be the head coach, I plan on coaching. I don’t know how many years that is, but I think I have a handful left in me.”
PM: “Any advice for the young kids out there that may be desiring to play high school football?”
BB: “I’m pretty active in our youth program here at Richland. I’ll actually give advice to the people that are actually running the youth programs. We believe strongly that youth football should be developmental. They should have the opportunity to work at skills and get better. Winning and losing is not as important as kids enjoying the game and coming back year after year. I tell the youth coaches that the judgment of your success will be, ‘do all the kids come back the next year.’ Some people out there don’t feel that way. They just want to win. I believe winning and losing is important. But at that level not as important as developing kids. In terms of the kids (his advice is), just have fun, learn as much as you can, and continue to work hard each year and get better and better.”
PM: Let’s do what I call a few fun questions now. Is there a football coach, past or present, living or not, that you would love to pick his brain?”
BB: “For the sheer entertainment and knowledge, I would like to sit down with Mike Leach.” (Leach, nicknamed ‘The Pirate’ for his fascination with 18th century pirates, won the national coach of the year twice and was the mastermind behind Texas tech’s famous ‘air raid’ offense from 2000 to 2009. Leach died of heart complications in 2022.)
PM: “Is there somewhere in the United States that you’ve never been and would love to get to at some point?”
BB: “Phil, my wife and I just visited our 50th state in the summer in Hawaii. So, we’ve checked those all off. They were great, and all for different reasons.”
PM: “That’s cool. So, what would your favorite meal consist of?”
BB: “I would probably go with a nice juicy steak, a good baked potato, side salad, and a Mountain Dew.”
PM: “And what would you have for dessert, a favorite dessert?”
BB: “I’ll go with gob cake.”
PM: “Do you have a favorite movie or movies?”
BB: “Yeah. There are so many great ones and I’m a sports movie guy. I’ll go with ‘Friday Night Lights.”
PM: “What do you do with your spare time?”
BB: “I don’t hunt. I don’t fish. So, my hobby is coaching football. I would say travelling with my wife and spending time with our three adult children.”
PM: “One thing that people may not know about Brandon Bailey?”
BB: “Wow. I would say the perception amongst a lot of people that don’t know me well is that I have a little bit more of a sense of humor than they would think.”
I mentioned to Coach Bailey that Jim Roth, the head coach at Southern Columbia had said the same thing when I interviewed him a few years back and Coach Bailey laughed and said, “well that’s good company. He’s had an unbelievable career.”
PM: “What’s the outlook for the upcoming season? I hear you should have a pretty good team this year. PFN is going to rank your team pretty high.”
BB: “That’s what everybody says. We have two 1,000 yard receivers back in Jamere Christian and Arnold Mugerwa. Grayson Mahla had 1,000 yards rushing. And Jake Regan threw for over 2,700 yards. Everybody sees that and says ‘oh, you’re going to beat everybody.’ But we lost a lot of great football players. We’re a little bit young and inexperienced on the offensive and defensive lines. We know we’re going to be favored early on and that the expectations are high. We’re really excited for the opportunity we’re going to have in front of us. Ashton Roberts and Ryan Rokita both started on the offensive line last year. Chase Tresnicky played a bunch on the offensive line. So, we have three guys who played a bunch and some guys who played a little bit throughout the season.”
PM: “Is there anything that you’d like to see changed in high school football?”
BB: “Well, for years I was always upset that quarterbacks could not throw the ball away outside the tackle box like they were able to in the NFL and college. They finally changed that after several years. I think what I’d like to see is less of an emphasis on what kind of wrist bands are worn, or eye black, or knee pads, how they’re worn. Those things drive me crazy cause they really don’t have an impact on the game. I’d like to see less of that but I don’t think my one voice is going to change that.”
PM: “Is there anything else you’d like to comment on?
BB: “No. I thought it was great. We’re excited for another season of high school football.”
It was a real pleasure to talk with Dr. Brandon Bailey (his official title at school where he is the assistant superintendent). I can remember going to a few Forest Hills games when he was the quarterback and was impressed by, not only his ability to throw, but his ability to run the ball and manage the game with his intellect. Coach Bailey may not be coaching as long as his legendary dad, but he’s already made a name for himself at Richland, and given his passion, he may be around quite a while yet. His record over the past 24 years of coaching the Richland Rams is 179-98 to begin the 2026 campaign. With the program and system he and his staff have built at Richland, don’t be surprised that a certain group of players, in the near future, bring home the Holy Grail of PA high school football, a state football championship, to Richland High School.
