DeMatha Grad Takes Over As Football Coach

DeMatha has promoted Stags assistant coach Elijah Brooks to replace program.

The 27-year-old Brooks is no stranger to , the school he graduated from in 2002.

“He’ll do just fine,” said Joe Slaninka, a 2003 DeMatha graduate who played with Brooks. “He’s got a pretty big challenge ahead of him in filling McGregor’s shoes but he played under McGregor so he has first hand experience in what it takes to be a great coach.”

A three-sport athlete at DeMatha, Brooks played running back and linebacker on the Stags’ 2001 WCAC championship team.

“He was definitely the heart of the team that year,” said Slaninka, who was an offensive and defensive lineman on that team.

Brooks finished his high school career as a two-time all-conference performer as well as an all-state honoree.

The Largo native began his college career at Kent State before transferring to William and Mary where he rushed for 2,551 yards and 19 touchdowns from 2004-2006.

He earned a degree in kinesiology in 2007 and began teaching and coaching at his high school alma mater shortly thereafter. He’s been coaching the DeMatha running backs for the last four years but has some large shoes to fill in replacing a legend.

“He learned from the best,” said Slaninka, “and he’ll know how to keep the winning tradition going at DeMatha.”