In February, it was announced that Dan Maresh was hired to be the new head football coach at North Bend Central High School, replacing Ryan Stieren, who resigned his teaching and coaching post after this past season.
Maresh, a 39-year-old native of Dodge, has been the head football coach at Lyons-Decatur Northeast, and the co-op of Bancroft-Rosalie/Lyons-Decatur for the past 12 years. He started as head coach at Lyons-Decatur in 2009, and then the BRLD co-op began in 2014.
Maresh talked about some of the memories from LDNE and BRLD that hell take with him.
“Just a lot. Its kinda where it all started. Just a lot of relationships with the kids. The first few years, just kinda building that program up, we were getting a few wins here, and few wins there. And then we had a couple groups come through and did just some amazing things,” Maresh said. “Just some key games throughout the years that Im gonna remember for a long time. Nothing but fond memories and great relationships from my time there.”
Maresh himself is a veteran of 8-man football, having graduated from Dodge High School in 2000, and then went on to play football at Nebraska Wesleyan.
LDNE was playing 8-man football when he started coaching there, and once the BRLD co-op began, they moved up to 11-man.
Maresh talks about the North Bend Central job.
“Im excited. Coach Stieren left North Bend in such a great situation. Theyre trending up, and the staff that they have there, and the facilities and the community support, Im just so excited to try and continue what hes already built, and take what weve been able to do at Lyons, and hopefully take the two programs and see what we can do with whats worked in the past,” Maresh said.
As head coach of BRLD, Maresh is very familiar with NBC, as the two teams were part of an instant classic in the 2019 Class C2 quarterfinals, with BRLD winning that game 60-53.
Maresh guided Lyons-Decatur to the playoffs in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015, and also led BRLD to the postseason in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019, reaching the state semifinals in 2019.
Maresh takes over at North Bend Central for Ryan Stieren, who announced his resignation in November. Stieren has since accepted a position teaching Business at LaVista Middle School, and will be an assistant football coach for Papillion-LaVista South.
Maresh begins his tenure as Tigers head football coach for the upcoming fall season.
