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Columbia High School's Extra Curricular Committee on Wednesday approved the opening of the Crimson Tide's head varsity football coaching position, meaning Jason Shoff will not return to the sidelines next season after spending the last six years as Columbia's head coach.
Shoff confirmed the move Thursday and said he hopes to be back coaching football at a different locale next fall.
Shoff's teams compiled a 29-35 overall record in his six seasons, including an 8-3 mark in 2007, when the Tide reached the District 3 Double-A playoffs after leading the Lancaster-Lebanon League in total offense, cranking out more than 420 yards per game.
Under Shoff, Columbia had the league's leading rusher in 2007 (Ben Guiles; 1,665 yards) and again in 2008 (Dakotah Lightfoot; 1,823 yards).
Lightfoot's yardage total is tops in school history.
The last two seasons have not been particularly pretty for Columbia, which went 3-8 in 2008 — including a trip to the District 3 Single-A playoffs, where the Tide lost to eventual state-champ Steel-High in the first round — and 0-10 this past season.
It was just the third time ever that a Columbia varsity football team did not win at least one game in a season. The 1958 team went 0-10 and the 1948 team went 0-9.
Shoff took over as Columbia's coach prior to the 2004 season, taking over the reins from Mike Burke, who went 137-57-3 in his 19 years coaching the Tide.
Under Burke, Columbia won the 1995 District 3 Single-A championship with a win over Hanover, and also reached District 3 Single-A title games in 1988 (falling to Camp Hill) and in 2001 (falling to Camp Hill).
Shoff, a Columbia grad and a former standout Tide player under Burke, played college football for Dickinson.
There is also a football coaching vacancy at Northern Lebanon; Jack Beidler resigned his post after 11 seasons on the Vikings' sidelines in early November.
Sports writer Jeffrey Reinhart can be reached at
jreinhart@LNPnews.com or 291-8777.
