Mark Elder steps down as Moeller High School head football coach after 3 seasons
The Moeller Crusaders are in the market for a new head football coach.
Mark Elder, Moeller's head coach since 2020, stepped down Friday after three seasons with the Crusaders, the school announced in a press release.
Elder went 27-12 in his three seasons with Moeller. The 2006 Sycamore graduate led Moeller to back-to-back Division I regional championship and berths in the state Final Four. Moeller was 9-3 overall in the playoffs under Elder and won a Greater Catholic League-South title last season.
"The opportunity to work with the young Men of Moeller was not really anything on my 'life radar.' I love that I have grown with these guys and I will miss them and their families. I now understand what people mean when they say their hearts are heavy," Elder said in a statement.
In Elder's first season, Moeller went 3-6 and finished last in the GCL-South. The Crusaders won a playoff game that year and would go on to finish 24-6 over the next two seasons combined.
Elder, who was the eighth head coach in Moeller football history, was previously the head coach at Eastern Kentucky University for four seasons from 2016-2019, going 21-24 overall. Elder had previous coaching stops at the University of Cincinnati, Tennessee, Central Michigan, Michigan, Wayne State, Lehigh, Iona and Akron.
Moeller will now search for its fourth head football coach since the John Rodenberg era ended in 2017 with a pair of state championships (2012, 2013) over 10 years. Doug Rosfeld, who is now with the Cincinnati Bengals on Zac Taylor's staff, led Moeller to a league title in 2018.
Todd Nauman was Moeller's head coach for the 2019 season before Elder was hired.
In the press release, Moeller president Marshall Hyzdu said Elder has helped in the search for his replacement: "Mark (Elder) continued to show his support for Moeller and the football program by helping build a short list of candidates to replace him, and more importantly to continue the momentum. We will begin the public search immediately, but we know it is going to take a very special person to capture what Mark has started."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: High school football: Mark Elder steps down as Moeller head coach
