It’s a small world for local football coaches

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

Even though the intense rivalry has mellowed somewhat over the past few years, most knowledgeable area football observers still admit there really is nothing better than a North Shore-Lakeshore match-up.

Many players on both teams know each other both from school and the neighbourhoods they grew up in. As well, during the heyday of the rivalry, which was really not so long ago, there was certainly no love lost between the two organization’s coaching staffs. Nobody knows that better than the two head coaches who faced each other on the sidelines Sunday afternoon at Parc des Bénévoles in Kirkland during the midget AAA encounter between the North Shore Mustangs and Cougars, won 42-0 by the Mustangs.

That’s because both Mustangs head coach Justin McHugh and Cougars head coach Jim States have been on both sides of the fence. McHugh, who is in his third season as Mustangs head coach, has spent 23 years in North Shore as a player and coach, including working as an assistant coach with the Mustangs in 1993 and ‘94, ‘99 to ‘01 and ‘03. However, in 2004, he actually jumped ship, working as a defensive co-ordinator under Bob Mironowicz with the midget AAA Cougars. Meanwhile, States had bled North Shore through and through since playing for the now-defunct junior Broncos from 1986-’89. After that, he went on to work as an assistant coach with the bantam AAA Lions and Mustangs and spent two terms as Broncos head coach, his most recent ending when the team folded this spring.

“I’ve been in North Shore forever,” said States. “But they needed a coaching staff at Lakeshore at the midget level this year or the program was in danger of folding, and I decided to help out. Anyway, kids are kids, no matter where you coach. It’s nice to try working for a different organization once in a while. I love it here.”

McHugh, who was actually a teammate of States’ with the Broncos in 1988 and ‘90 — a club that was coached by his late father Glen McHugh and which won the provincial championship in ‘89 — also coached alongside States with the Mustangs for two years. “Jim and I know each other very well,” said McHugh. “We’ve both gotten on with our lives over the past few years, but both of us just want our kids to play hard. Yes, we both coach hard, but in the end, it’s all about respect.”