It isn’t easy replacing a coach like Ott Hurrle, who had been the head coach at Scecina for 32 years, but Dan Harris is going to try.

Harris was recently named the new head coach at Scecina, replacing Hurrle, who led the Crusaders to a 229-151 record, including Class 2A state championships in 1990 and ’91.

“To replace Coach Ott means there are big shoes to fill, but it also means the program is in fantastic shape. The foundation is very strong already, so it’ll be mine and the assistant coaches’ job to develop and advance it even further,” Harris told Indiana Preps.

Harris has coaching experience at Roncalli, Ben Davis and Noblesville and said his career as both as a player and assistant has prepared him.

“I was blessed to play under two legendary coaches in Bruce Scifres and Mike Leonard. They really provided the blueprint of how to run a program. Professionally, I was able to work under Jason Simmons at both Noblesville and Ben Davis. Jason knew I wanted to be a head coach and he provided me opportunities to grow as a coach. But I believe being able to be a coordinator at two high level programs in Ben Davis and Roncalli has provided me the experience to prepare myself to be a successful head coach,” Harris said.

Harris said everything has gone great so far since taking the job and he is getting his feet wet at Scecina.

“It honestly feels great so far. Everyone in the Scecina community has been incredibly welcoming. My main goal is to develop our players into young men who are successful on and off the field. On the football side, we, obviously, want to win games, win the highly competitive ICC and make long tournament runs in 2A,” Harris said.

While some may be concerned about the timetable and Harris just being hired and whether or not the Crusaders could be behind the eight ball, Harris is not.

“I am not concerned with being hired later in the offseason. Thankfully, a lot of our players at Scecina are multi-sport athletes, so we would have had limited time anyways. We will have a comprehensive summer plan starting after Memorial Day that will allow us to hit the ground running and develop our players to our Scecina standard,” he said.

As for goals, Harris said his overall goal is to develop a program on the Eastside that players and parents want to be involved in.

“I’ll be an active presence in our Eastside Deanery feeder schools that allow them to recognize how strong of a school and program Scecina has to offer,” Harris said.