Paul Stamm steps down as Oiler coach

Paul Stamm, the winningest coach in Oil City High School football history, has retired.

The Oil City Area School Board read his resignation at a work session Monday, Jan. 14, and plans to accept it later this month. The job opening was posted Tuesday, Jan. 15.

Stamm retired from teaching two years ago.

"Last year, before the season started, I told the

Stamm

coaching staff that it would probably be my last year," Stamm told The Derrick in its Jan. 15 edition. "Then, after we turned things around this year I thought about staying on because I looked at the talent we had coming up and knew how hard-working the kids were and wanted to be part of it again.

"I realized that was selfish on my part," he said. "A lot of coaches will wait until the things go bad and then push a program on someone else. I've worked hard and so have the assistant coaches and I had to be fair to them."

Stamm coached the Oilers for nine seasons, registering a 58-32 record. He is the first OCHS football coach to post a career winning record since the legendary Hud Wells, who was 44-29-4, also in nine seasons -- from 1930-38.

Despite a 1-9 start in 1993, Stamm's tenure was the most successful in Oil City football history. It included the school's first playoff appearance (1996), and the crown jewels -- the Northwest Conference and District 10 Class AAA championships in 1998.

Stamm was named Northwest Conference "Coach of the Year" and 1998 and shared the honor with Greenville's Bob Stone in 1994 when the Oilers posted their first winning season since 1988.

Oil City had just one losing season under Stamm -- his first in 1993 -- and seven winning seasons. The Oilers have a string of eight non-losing seasons since 1994.

The 1995 team scored a school-record 315 points. The Oilers also set school records for wins in a season (11-1 in 1998), longest winning streak (12 in 1997-98), longest regular season winning streak (17 in 1997-99) and longest consecutive game scoring streak (62 games from 1994-2000) during Stamm's tenure.

His teams produced three Associated Press all-staters: linemen Adam Lehnortt and Ben Lynch (1999) and Ryan Hutchinson (1998), all of whom made the third team. They were the school's first AP all-staters since Jim Shaughnessy made the first team in 1964.

Lehnortt also was named to Pennsylvania SportsFever's all-state first team and Lynch made the second team. Both earned football scholarships from West Virginia University.

The Oilers picked up 28 first-team, 38 second-team and 29 honorable mention All-Northwest Conference selections under Stamm.

Two of his backs, Eric McDay (37) and Kevin Kresinski (33), stand 1-2 on Oil City's all-time touchdown list.

Kresinski finished his career as Oil City's all-time leading rusher with 2,624 yards, including 1,311 and 1,306 yards his last two seasons. He broke Shaughnessy's 34-year-old single-season rushing record in 1998.

McDay broke Shaughnessy's single-season TD mark with 26 in 1995 when he rushed for 1,197 yards.

The bread-and-butter of Stamm's offense has been the running game, and with Kresinski and McDay leading the way, the Oilers have had backs rush for 100 yards or more in a game 45 times during his reign.

The passing attack hasn't been too shabby, either. Two of the four players who passed for more than 20 touchdowns in their careers, Matt LaVerde and Brandon Hall, played under Stamm.

Posted 1.15.02