From the ground up: After making himself into a coach, Stein made Oakdale an annual contender

Dec. 3—Kurt Stein's desire to be a high school football coach was born out of pain and frustration.

Heading into his senior season at Wheeling Central Catholic in the northwestern corner of West Virginia, Stein was a standout running back and inside linebacker who enjoyed the physicality of the sport and was not afraid to mix it up a little on the field.

He had led Wheeling Central with 107 tackles during his junior season as the only non-senior starter on the team and was looking forward to leading an entirely new cast of younger teammates as a senior.

But an ACL tear in his left knee that was sustained during a summer league basketball game, just weeks before the start of the season, dashed that dream and opened his eyes to new possibilities.

"It was devastating, you know what I mean?" Stein said. "Football was everything to me. I loved sports. I played everything. I played football, basketball, baseball, hockey. I loved playing sports. It's all I wanted to do. I was always best at football ... and to not get to play my senior year the sport I was best at was tough."

Now 41 and still the only head football coach Oakdale High School has ever known in 13 seasons, Stein was recounting why he wanted to become a coach right after practice on a cold, dark and blustery Wednesday night.

On Saturday, Stein will lead the Bears (11-2) into their second state championship game in the last four years against Damascus (11-1) in Annapolis, a testament to the quality of a program he has raised from its foundation.

"He's been outstanding," said Rick Conner, the longtime coach of the preeminent football program in Frederick County at Linganore High. "He's made [Oakdale] a tough out, year in and year out. They are really good in all three phases of the game, offense, defense and special teams. It's obvious he has put in the time."

While he couldn't play as a senior at Wheeling Central, Stein became a "quasi coach" for the team. The coaches there let him run the scout team and help in any way that he could. He was still very involved in the day-to-day aspects of the team.

"At the end of year, I told my dad, you know, I could see myself doing this," Stein said.

And Edward Stein, who was a special education teacher, looked at his son and told him that if he really wanted to be a coach, then he needed to pursue a career in education.

So, that's what he did, following a winding and uncertain path from Wheeling to Marshall University, then through Thurmont, to an upstart high school on the eastern side of Frederick.

And now here he is, all these years later — a much older man, a husband and the father of two young boys, Colt and Case, who were playing nearby as the wind whipped across the practice field and Stein shared part of his life story.

Asked about being the only football coach at Oakdale after all of this time, he gets a little choked up because he understands the hard work and sacrifice that has been required, not just from his players and assistants, to raise the program to a level where it expects to win every time it plays.

"My wife [Megan] sacrifices so much so I can be here [coaching] for so long," he said. "She is such a blessing, and she is such a football wife. She takes it so hard when we lose and is so happy when we win.

"You know, the whole frickin' community. When I go out on a Tuesday, I leave here and go to [his kids'] practice. There's 300 kids playing youth football on that field when I go over there. None of that existed 13 years ago. I am not trying to get choked up. But it's been a lot of work."

Stein was instrumental in bringing Oakdale into the fold of the very popular and successful LOUYAA youth sports organization, which created a separate feeder program for the Bears that was essential to developing the program.

Though Stein can be tough and demanding and raise his voice at times, the players generally love playing for him and appreciate the faith, trust and confidence he has in them.

Oakdale athletic director Mark Wolcott, a longtime coach himself, pointed out that the Bears have scored touchdowns in the state quarterfinals and the state semifinals on a hook and lateral and a fake field-goal attempt.

"That very assertive nature shows his preparation. It shows the confidence he has in his players. And it shows why [Stein] is a special coach," Wolcott said. "A vast majority of coaches would fall back on a much more conservative game plan out of a fear of failure and a fear of being criticized. But Kurt is willing to take chances, and it's a real thrill to work with people who run strong programs like that."

After taking its lumps in its inaugural season as a junior varsity team and its first two varsity seasons, including one without a senior on the roster, Oakdale has reeled off nine consecutive winning seasons, excluding the shortened spring season in 2021 when the Bears only played five games.

In 2018, Stein led the Bears to one of the greatest seasons ever for a Frederick County football team, as Oakdale cruised to its first state championship as a Class 2A school with a 14-0 record.

"One of the keys to success is you've got to love your job," said longtime former Catoctin High coach Doug Williams, who gave Stein his start as a Frederick County football coach as a 22-year-old when he brought him aboard in the summer of 2004 to guide the junior varsity Cougars and help with the varsity quarterbacks.

"Everybody looks at the wonderful things when you are winning and everything is good," Williams added. "What they don't see is the down-and-dirty work that goes on behind the scenes in order to make it happen. You have to be willing to put up with it. Kurt does that. He loves his job and can relate to the kids. He's just a wonderful high school football coach."

THE INTERVIEW

Stein showed up for his interview at yet-to-be-opened Oakdale High School right before Christmas in 2009, anxious to be a head coach but not really knowing what to expect.

He was 27 and had just helped Catoctin win its first state title in football earlier that month.

"It's such a great opportunity," he remembers thinking to himself of the chance to start a football program from scratch.

Plus, "[Oakdale was] drawing from Linganore, Urbana and [Thomas Johnson], at the time probably the three best football schools in Frederick County," Stein said. "So, you were like, 'OK, that's gotta be a good sign. That's probably going to be a decent football school, you would think.'"

Stein was one of seven to interview for the position, and he was unsure of his chances, considering he was so young and inexperienced.

But the fact that he sat for roughly an hour before the three-man hiring committee, laying out his vision for the program, was his first sign that he was on the right track.

"Someone went in before me. I saw them go in, and I saw them come out. It certainly wasn't that long," Stein said. "I was like, 'Well, I was a lot longer than that guy.'"

In his interview, Stein emphasized his desire to build a program capable of winning state championships. And the committee, consisting of then Oakdale principal George Seaton, then Oakdale athletic director Chris Krivos and then Frederick County Public Schools Supervisor of Athletics and Extracurricular activities Lynn Carr, was impressed with Stein's intelligence and undaunted nature.

"I just felt like Kurt was ready," Krivos said. "He didn't make any promises other than he was going to work very, very hard."

Years later, Oakdale played a poor first half against Tuscarora and fell into a big deficit at halftime.

As Stein walked off the field, Krivos shot him a what-happened look. And Stein responded, "Coach, we are going to be all right," then disappeared into the locker room.

Sure enough, Oakdale played a great second half and won the game.

"He knows what his kids are capable of, and he knows how to bring the best out of them," Krivos said. "He was just an outstanding hire."

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

If Stein was going to turn Oakdale into a state champion, he knew the first brick he laid in 2010 was going to be important.

"I just felt your football team is as good as your quarterback play is," he said. "So, if we ever really wanted to be great, we had to have great quarterback play. So, I had to immerse myself in that world and figure out how to be a great QB coach because we need great QB's to have great football teams."

So, the former high school running back and linebacker tried to learn every nuance he could of a new position. He began working at the QB Factory near BWI Airport, which gave him the chance to work with some of the top quarterback prospects from across the region and gave him a chance to pick their brains.

"I met Coach Stein six years ago, just throwing passes and doing drills with him at the QB factory," said the Bears' current dynamic dual-threat quarterback, Evan Austin. "We have been close for a while."

Through his diligence and determination, Stein has helped produce a long string of good quarterbacks at Oakdale, from Crosby Winters, who quarterbacked the Bears during their first three trying seasons, to Alex Mason, to Cory Schlee and is brother Collin — who now plays at Kent State and may be the best high school quarterback to ever play in Frederick County — to Joe Pippin to Austin.

"I'll say this," Stein said. "At Oakdale, we've had very good quarterbacking."

It's been a huge pillar in the Bears' success, and it didn't just happen by luck or happenstance.

It was always part of the master plan.

A LASTING CONNECTION

Stein engenders relationships with his players that last well beyond their time at Oakdale. And there's a reason for that, too.

In addition to showing faith and confidence in them on the field, he shows them that he cares off it, too.

Every Thursday after practice, Stein and the Oakdale parents put on a team dinner at the school to help build camaraderie.

He's also been known to have his team over to his home for breakfast.

It's these sorts of moments, in addition to all of the wins and great games, that will be remembered forever by those who play for him.

And it's in these moments that the bonds are formed that carry the Bears through their greatest and most trying times.

"I think it's how much he cares about this school and the people at this school. I mean, he'll do anything for us," junior receiver Hunter Thompson said of Stein. "I just think he wants the best for all of us. And he puts it out there every single week for us."