Liberty coach Truby resigns
Hurricanes went winless in abbreviated season
Saying that it was time for someone else to take the lead and start fresh, Liberty football coach John Truby announced his resignation on Friday after eight seasons.
“After reflecting on the season we just had and looking at what it’ll take for some of the things to go the way it needs to at Liberty, I think maybe a new person needs to come in and take over,” he said. “We had some very good years and were lucky to have some very good players like quarterback Doug Erney. Everything kind of clicked in those years and I will always look back fondly on those years and have great memories.”
Truby was 37-46, but 3-13 over the past two years including 0-6 in an abbreviated 2020 season.
The 38-year-old Truby will remain a criminal justice teacher at Liberty.
“I will still be around the kids,” he said. “I saw a bunch of them today and it probably won’t be until next year that it will hit me that this chapter of my life is done.”
“We thank John for eight years of service to our program,” Liberty athletic director Fred Harris said. “Our student athletes were lucky to have a coach of John’s character during the last 8 seasons. Coach Truby served Liberty with loyalty, professionalism and passion and he will be missed. He worked hard with our athletes to make them better football players and better people and prepared them for the next
“I am committed to taking a year off to see how that goes. ... I will never say never to coaching football again. ”
—John Truby, Liberty football coach who announced his resignation Friday
level. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
Truby became the second Eastern Pennsylvania Conference football coach to resign on Friday and the third to resign since the end of the season.
Earlier on Friday, Bethlehem Catholic’s Joe Henrich resigned after nine seasons, citing philosophical differences with the school’s administration.
On Nov. 24, Allen’s George Clay resigned after nine seasons, saying he needed to take a break.
Truby’s team struggled against four Northampton County opponents during a 2020 season that started more than a month late due to the coronavirus pandemic and was considerably shorter than usual.
Liberty lost to Easton, Bethlehem Catholic, Northampton and Nazareth and then had its rivalry game with Freedom postponed due to a positive COVID-19 case within the Hurricanes coaching staff.
Even the addition of two games against Southern Lehigh and Parkland couldn’t produce a win, but the loss to the Spartans was the closest of the season — 27-23.
The game against Freedom was rescheduled for Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving, but was canceled about 24 hours before kickoff due to the surging coronavirus numbers in the region.
Truby hasn’t ruled out coaching again somewhere.
“I am committed to taking a year off to see how that goes,” he said. “I am just 38 years old and relatively young in the scheme of things. I will never say never to coaching football again. I don’t think a head coaching position is something I will pursue, but I am sure there’s something else I could do. As of right now, though, I amnot thinking about that. I am just looking forward to being a dad and spending time with my family.”
Truby, who was 30 when he was approved as Liberty’s coach in January 2003, had coached previously at Nitschmann Middle School, was the freshman coach at Liberty and the offensive line coach at Dieruff. He is a 2001 Freedom and 2006 Shippensburg graduate.
After going 5-5 in his first season in 2013, Liberty had back-to-back winning seasons.
The Hurricanes went 7-5 and beat Emmaus for the Eastern Conference 4A title in 2014 and went 8-4 in 2015 when the team beat Stroudsburg 44-0 in the District 11-2 subregional before losing to Wyoming Valley West 55-35.
Liberty returned to the District 11 playoffs under an expanded format in 2016, 2017 and 2018, but lost first-round games each time and finished with sub-.500 records.
The school is immediately accepting applications for the head coaching position. A cover letter and resume can be sent directly to: Liberty High School Athletic Department, 1115 Linden Street, Bethlehem, Pa. 18018 in care of Fred Harris.