A very familiar face will roam the Broadneck football sideline this season.
Jeff Herrick, the longest-tenured and winningest coach in Broadneck football history, has rejoined the program as an assistant.
Herrick compiled a 165-78 record over 22 seasons at Broadneck and ranks second in Anne Arundel County history for victories behind Chuck Markiewicz (243). Herrick led the Bruins to 10 playoff appearances, six region crowns and a berth in the Class 4A state championship game in 2003.
Herrick was hired at Broadneck in 1989, replacing Grant Jones. He stepped down as football coach in 2010 and six years later retired from teaching. Rob Harris served as defensive coordinator under Herrick for five seasons before succeeding him as head coach and has triedto get the Anne Arundel County Sports Hall of Fame member to come back as an assistant ever since.
“I’ve been asking Jeff to join the staff for years and there was always something that prevented him from doing so,” Harris said. “I guess the timing was right this year.”
Harris had an opening after losing running backs coach Anthony Lopez. That position was ideal for Herrick, who was a running back at Arundel High, Anne Arundel Community College and Towson State.
Herrick will also work with the Broadneck specialists. Herrick was the starting punter at Arundel, AACC and Towson and was renowned for developing outstanding punters and placekickers at Broadneck.
“Having Jeff come back is awesome. He’s home and where he should be,” Harris said. “It’s another great mind on the sidelines to bounce ideas off and talk through things.”
Herrick spent the past four seasons serving as offensive line coach at Stephen Decatur, which captured the Class 2A state championship in 2023.
“I sat down one day and realized that I’ve been coaching high school football for 45 years,” Herrick said. “I figured it was finally time to hang it up.”
However, Herrick changed his mind in part because he did not want to pass up the opportunity to coach alongside his son. Thomas Herrick has been the defensive backs coach at Broadneck for six seasons and asked his father to return to Broadneck.
“I think Jeff is very proud of how far his son has come as a coach and couldn’t turn down a chance to coach with him,” Harris said.
“I wanted to get closer to my family,” said Herrick, who is 69 years old. “I also truly believe you need to stay active as you get older. It’s still fun to be out on the football field. Broadneck has a great coaching staff and I’m proud to be part of it.”
Herrick admitted it’s been a crash course learning the multiple spread offense employed by Harris. When Herrick was at Broadneck, the offense was a combination flexbone and run-and-shoot.
“It’s a whole new system with different terminology,” Herrick said. “Fortunately, I work very closely with Rob because he’s the offensive coordinator and he is getting me up to speed.”
Anne Arundel roots
Olympic sprinter Quincy Wilson has deep ties to Anne Arundel County and it all starts at Severn School.
Wilson is the 16-year-old who took the track and field world by storm this summer by earning a berth on the United States Olympic team then earning a gold medal as part of the 4×400-meter relay team.
Wilson became the youngest male track and field Olympian in United States history. The Bowie resident set the 18-and-under world record in the 400 at the U.S. Olympic trials, then lowered his mark to 44.2 seconds three weeks later at a meet in Florida.
It should come as no surprise that speed was the primary trait that made Wilson’s mother a standout two-sport athlete at Severn. Monique Jennings Wilson starred in soccer and basketball for the Admirals, earning All-County honors in both sports from Capital Gazette Newspapers.
Jennings, a 1996 graduate, was inducted into the Severn Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011. Her older brother was Michael “Q Tip” Jennings, who spent two years at Severn before transferring and graduating from Severna Park. Michael Jennings went on to enjoy an outstanding college basketball career at Penn State.
Quincy Wilson has many other relatives who were noteworthy athletes in Anne Arundel County, including Severna Park and Morgan State basketball star Maurice Jennings along with former Severn and James Madison football standout Dennard Melton.
Wilson’s father was a 1999 graduate of the Naval Academy. Roy Wilson played varsity football for Navy and was introduced to Monique by teammate John Vereen.
Roy Wilson had a 25-year career in the United States Navy as a submariner and is currently an associate director of naval power at RTX, an aviation and aerospace component manufacturing company.
Roy and Monique Wilson moved to Maryland from Chesapeake, Virginia, so Quincy could attend the Bullis School in Potomac and become a member of its nationally-renowned track and field program.
Merrill Madness
San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill achieved another career milestone when he was named National League Player of the Week on Aug. 12. The Severna Park graduate batted .417 (10-for-24) with four homers, eight RBIs, a double and triple from Aug. 4-10. The 21-year-old also scored nine runs, drew three walks and stole two bases.
Merrill hit a pair of game-tying home runs in back-to-back games at Miami the Aug. 9 and 10. He now has five game-tying or go-ahead homers in the eighth inning or later this season.
Merrill matched a career-high with four hits, including two homers, against Pittsburgh on Aug. 7. He also had a six-game hitting streak during the week with a .464 on-base percentage in six games.
Cottle legacy at Loyola
Anne Arundel County native Sean Cottle has joined the Loyola Maryland men’s lacrosse staff as an assistant coach for the 2025 season.
Cottle has been a club and high school coach in the Baltimore area the last several years, most recently working as offensive coordinator at Archbishop Spalding and as head coach of the Annapolis Hawks 2025 team.
“Sean brings a lifetime of lacrosse knowledge and experience to our position,” Loyola coach Charley Toomey said. “We are excited that most recently, he has worked with one of the most successful high school programs and top club teams nationally, and we look forward to his integrating with our staff.”
Sean is the son of Dave Cottle, a member of the Intercollegiate Men’s Lacrosse Coaches Association, Greater Baltimore Lacrosse Foundation and Loyola Athletics halls of fame. The elder Cottle was the head coach at Loyola from 1983-2001 and has the second-most wins in program history (181). He later led the University of Maryland to 99 victories from 2002-2010.
Sean Cottle started his coaching experience in 2016 as the director of operations for Hoganlax and the Annapolis Hawks, coordinating the former’s tournaments and the latter’s scheduling and operations.
He was also the Hawks’ offensive coordinator from 2016-19 helping the team become one of the most prolific in the Class of 2019.
In 2019, he became the junior varsity coach at Archbishop Spalding, then was elevated to an offensive assistant for the varsity program that was one of the top teams nationally.
In 2022, Cottle took over as head coach of the Hawks’ 2025 team, mentoring 25-plus players that made NCAA Division I commitments. He took the team from being unranked to top-five nationally in two years.
Starting in 2023, Cottle was the offensive coordinator at Spalding, creating one of the highest scoring units in the MIAA A Conference. He played at St. Mary’s High and graduated from Maryland with a bachelor degree in American Studies in 2019.