Hall to step down
Citing family reasons, Loyola Blakefield football coach will leave after season
Loyola Blakefield football coach Brant Hall had been feeling the pull of his family away from the Dons football program for a few years, and after this season he will step down as coach.
Hall decided he needs to spend more time with his wife and two sons, ages 8 and 5.
“It’s been eating at me for the last two or three seasons, just having to leave the house and leave my sons here when they want to spend a lot of time with me. I ask myself, ‘Do I want to do everything that a head football coach needs to do to be successful?’ So it’s been eating at me, and I think the time is right. I’m sure of it. But it was a very tough decision.”
Hall, a Loyola graduate, will stay at the school as assistant athletic director and as the seventh-grade lacrosse coach. He plans to begin studying for a master’s degree in educational leadership, but he will remain involved with Dons football recruiting, especially in the transition to a new coach. A search will begin in December for his successor.
Hall, 36, has been involved in football for 29 years, including as a player at Loyola, where he was the All-Metro Player of the Year his senior year, 1997. He is in his fifth season as head coach after nine years as the Dons’ offensive coordinator.
“I’m extremely thankful for the Loyola community and all the support they’ve shown me over the years. That school changed my life,” Hall said.
Although there’s a lot of football to be played first, Hall would like nothing more than to go out with a Turkey Bowl win Thanksgiving Day. The Dons won in 2013, but Calvert Hall was victorious in Hall’s other three meetings.
Calvert Hall coach Donald Davis said he has enjoyed every battle with Hall’s teams in the Turkey Bowl — all of which have been decided by a touchdown or less.
“It’s been tremendous because every game has really come down to the final play or down to the wire. … You’re talking single-digit games four years in a row. In any rivalry, that’s tremendous,” Davis said.
“It’s been, and will be this year, an honor standing across the field from Brant Hall. I have tremendous respect for Brant, his staff and the kids. He’s a great guy and a tremendous educator. That’s a huge loss for Loyola football.” In his final season, Hall’s team is off to a 3-0 start.
State poll update: McDonogh’s loss to DeMatha on Friday night cost the Eagles three spots in this week’s Maryland High School Football Media State Poll, but they remain the highest-ranked team from the Baltimore area.
The Eagles (3-1) dropped to No. 5 behind No. 1 DeMatha, No. 2 Good Counsel, No. 3 Damascus and No. 4 Wise after falling to the nationally ranked Stags, 49-28. Three other Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference teams are ranked in the top 10, as Archbishop Spalding (2-1) moved up one spot to No. 6, Mount Saint Joseph (2-1) moved up one to No. 8 and St. Frances (3-1) jumped four spots to No. 9.