McNamara has dismissed football Coach Keith Goganious, the coach confirmed Thursday.
“It was more small things that they saw that we needed some improvement on. I didn’t think so. We agreed to disagree,” Goganious said. “They just wanted to go in a different direction.”
He said the move was “unexpected.”
Goganious, 48, compiled an 19-22 record in four years with the Forestville school. The Mustangs went to the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference playoffs one time, in 2014, and posted one season with a winning record — 2015 when they went 6-4 with the help of a win over St. John’s.
Keith Goganious led McNamara to an 18-22 record in four seasons at the Forestville school. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)This fall, they finished 4-6, and 2-4 in conference play.
“I’m more disappointed,” he said. “I thought we were on the same page when I came in and I thought we were still on the same page.
“It didn’t end the way I thought it should end or the way I wanted it to end.”
McNamara Athletic Director Tony Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When he was hired in 2013, the former Hampton and North Point assistant trumpeted a “Resurrection to Glory” theme that he hoped would bring “respect back to our program.”
But in the powerhouse WCAC, the Mustangs were winless in 13 games under Goganious against traditional league stallwarts Good Counsel, DeMatha and Gonzaga.
He inheritted a program in 2013 that had won only one conference games in each of the three years prior.
“Yes, we didn’t win a WCAC championship, but we competed with some of those powerhouses,” he said Thursday. “In some cases we had them on the ropes and we couldn’t knock them out.”
Goganious played five years in the NFL as a linebacker for Buffalo, Jacksonville and Baltimore.
“When I was in college recruiting, I spent all my time here,” he said. “There is talent here, not just on the football field, but in the classroom.”
Goganious said he wants to return to coaching at the college or high school level. The stint at McNamara was his first as a head coach.
