Great NFL coaches: Bill Walsh, the great Vince Lombardi.

College coaches? Nick Saban comes to mind.

Think of a great Maryland high school football coach, you think of Rick Conner. Fresh off a state championship run that fell short in a loss to Franklin in the 3A state finals, coach Conner has been inducted to the Maryland High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

Coaching Linganore since 2002, Conner has led the Lancers to two state championships. He also has five state championship appearances and a stout 111-32 record.

“Being named to the hall of fame is so much more than just a name. It’s a recognition for Linganore football and our community, for our assistant coaches that have worked hard to make this happen and for the players that we have had over the past twelve years. That truly signifies what this honor means,” said Conner.

Conner got his coaching career started at McDaniel College as a graduate assistant. During his time at McDaniel, Conner coached football, women’s softball and wrestling. Then Conner made his way to Brunswick, where he was the youngest head football coach in the county at age 25. Conner also was the assistant football coach at Thomas Johnson and Urbana High School before making his way to Linganore.

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Coach Conner and his coaching staff have developed many division-one collegiate athletes over the past 12 seasons. From the big Rob Havenstein to standout Penn State running back Zach Zwinak, Conner has helped to produce dominant players.

“We’ve had so many great players come out of Linganore High School. Robby Havenstein, Zach Zwinak, Ryan Dixon, all those guys were pretty special,” said Conner.

Rob Havenstein, an offensive lineman at the University of Wisconsin, will be entering the 2015 NFL Draft and Penn State running back Zach Zwinak plans will be entering his senior season. Zwinak has not announced any decisions regarding his professional football future.

Zwinak, has rushed for nearly 2,000 yards and 20 total touchdowns in his two full seasons as the Penn State starting running back. The Penn State product was 2012 All Big Ten Honorable Mention and named to the 2013 Maxwell Award “watch list” at the beginning of the season.

“Coach Conner has helped me become a better person, developing all aspects of being a better player and student. He taught me how to work hard to maximize opportunities,” said Zwinak.

Havenstein and Zwinak both made their first state championship appearance under Coach Conner in the 2008 season that capped off in a loss to Sherwood 21-3. Linganore came back in 2009, defeating Huntingtown 31-14 to give Conner his second state championship.

“Winning the 2009 state championship was a great feat. Coach never let us forget what happened and how everyone doubted us. He reminded us all year that we were set on one goal,” said Zwinak, who was one of most prolific playmakers to ever play in the state of Maryland.

“Coach is a hard working man with full of integrity, and his passion for the game is unrivaled. He loves what he does and is a leader that any player will follow. And he is a person who will do everything in his power to help someone out,” Zwinak stated.

The 2009 Linganore football team that featured Zach Zwinak, Rob Havenstein, Ryan Dixon, Kevin Myers and Conner’s son Ricky Conner, will go down as one of the best football teams to play in the state of Maryland. They were ranked 34^th in the nation by highschoolrivals.com, outscoring their opponents by an average  30 points a game in route to a state championship.

“Every year here at Linganore High School has been a blast. We’ve had a great amount of support from The Tribe and our fan base,” said Conner.

Not only did Coach Rick Conner acknowledge the fan base, Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith was in attendance during the 2013 3A state championship game against Franklin High School and tweeted out this comment about The Tribe, “Linganore’s crowd is nice! First down chants and all.”

“It’s pretty cool when an NFL player sees that your school is doing football the right way. We have the best student section in the state,” said Conner.

Conner has had tremendous success at Linganore, winning his 100^th game this year, with only one losing season, in 2012, when the Lancers went 3-7.

“The 2012 season was frustrating. We worked hard every day in practice. During the game we just didn’t execute and we weren’t discipline. We got better as the season went on and that transferred into the following season,” said senior kicker Kyle Parsons.

“In 2012 a lot of unfortunate things happened. We had a lot of injuries and faced a lot of talented teams that just put up more points than we did,” Conner said.

Many starters from the 2012 team returned for the 2013 season, including quarterback Clark Stieren, star receiver/cornerback Josh Gontarek and offensive lineman E.J. Donahue, who committed to Maryland’s football program.

“There is no short cut to getting better. We push our players to get better everyday,” said Conner.

Conner did just that.  He turned a 3-7 football team into a 12-2 football team, falling just short to Franklin 20-7 in the 2013 3A state championship.

“Coach Conner got us back to work as soon as the season ended. We hit the weight room hard and coach developed a plan earlier in the spring and slowly worked is into it. We were both hungry to get back on the field and improve from last season,” said Parsons.

“He really made goals clear for each week and was really making us work hard through the offseason improving our game in every aspect as a team,” stated senior quarterback Clark Stieren, who passed for over 1,700 yards and had 27 total touchdowns in his senior year.

“Coach is one of the biggest role models I know. He’s constantly setting a good example for people around him,” said Stieren.

A big part of the 2013 championship run was senior running back Phillip Butler. Butler, a transfer from North Hagerstown, ran for 1,052 yards and 13 touchdowns this past season.

“Coach Conner is a really kind man. The day I met him, I walked into his office and he shook my hand nice and firmly with a big smile on his face and we introduced ourselves. He then took me to meet other coaches and players,” said Phillip.

Butler, who has electric speed, torched rival Urbana in the 3A regional game with 328 yards and 5 touchdowns. He hopes to continue his football career.

Phillip played alongside his younger brother, running back Dante Butler. Dante, who will be entering his junior year and is the top returning rusher, is looking to take over the reigns of the starting running back next season.

“Coach Conner is an amazing coach to have. He knows what he’s doing. He makes terrific defensive calls. Not only a terrific coach, he’s a great dad. The way he teaches our group of kids at football is the way he takes care of his kids,” said Dante.

Conner expects to continue coaching.  “Well I got a fourth grader right now that I’d like to get through high school, so that’s at least 10 years down the road.”

Coach Rick Conner and the LHS football organization are looking to make another state championship run this season.

“We definitely like the guys that we have. We have the pieces to make a strong run,” said Conner.

Sure, Rick Conner is a hall of fame coach, but his legacy at Linganore will always be as a hall of fame person.