As the season comes to an end, new changes are already in motion.

Mark Sander has resigned from his head football coach position.

Sander’s resignation was announced on Nov. 13. After a season of not so many wins and too many losses, the Charger football team is looking for a solution. Sander was well respected and very experienced, but in a small town, sometimes it takes more.

This season the Chargers were 3-8, and overall with Sander as head coach for 3 seasons they were 10-23. Sander said, “I just made some personal decisions that most coaches make in this profession and it was difficult to leave the day to day relationships with the boys.” Before coming to Bullitt East, Sander was head coach at Desales for 10 seasons. At Desales he went 76-47 with the program, and before that he was at Iroquois High School.

Sander is a 1986 Desales alumni and played in the program throughout his high school years. After graduating he went on to play at University of Louisville. It’s no question that Sander had the experience. He knows a lot about football and brought this knowledge to the program.

However, sometimes that’s not enough. A current football player in the program said, “He helped rebuilding the team. He knew a lot about football and defense. However, I feel like he tried too much to make it like a college program and I feel like a new coach that everybody gets along with better would be best for the team.”

Sander didn’t have many connections with the community either. His previous coaching jobs and where he went to highschool tied him to the southend of Louisville. When he came to Bullitt East he was a completely new face and didn’t know many people. In Mt. Washington, it’s almost a necessity to know the community in able to have a successful sports team.

Community members and players are wondering how much the coaching staff will change besides Sander leaving. Assistant Coach Bryan Mullins said, “I’m planning to still coach, to stay in the assistant type role. Obviously that’s not going to be purely my decision, that will be up to who they hire for the coach.” Mullins has been an assistant coach for the past two years.

D.J. Chappell is a senior this year and has played in the program all four years of high school. Chappell said, “It’s always going to be slow when you get a new coach. When Sander came in took a while just for him to get used to everybody and to get to know what everybody can do. So hopefully the new coach will get to know everybody quick.”

Athletic Director Troy Barr said, “We will gauge interest in our program from the applicants we receive and develop a list of people to interview at that time. We do not have a time frame to hire a new coach.” The program hopes to have major improvements in the years to come.

Sander said, “I am very grateful to the boys for their commitment to the program and wish them much success.” There will be more updates to come concerning the head coaching position.