Unsung line coach has helped North Allegheny win battles in trenches for 3 decades

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, October 30, 2021 | 11:01 AM

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Who decided that the running backs and wide receivers are called skill-position players? North Allegheny line coach Mike Buchert strongly disagrees.

“When we divide up, they’ll say, ‘Skill guys over here and linemen over there.’ I get my guys together and say, ‘There are no if, ands or buts about it. This is the skilled position right here,’” said Buchert, who ranks among the longest-serving offensive line coaches in the WPIAL.

A 1981 North Hills graduate and former center under coach Jack McCurry, Buchert has coached at rival North Allegheny almost continuously since 1987, winning four WPIAL titles and three state championships in that span. He has instructed NA’s linemen for more than 30 seasons, coaching an impressive list of blockers who later played at Notre Dame, Michigan, Purdue, the Ivy League and elsewhere.

Yet, despite the team’s success, NA coach Art Walker said Buchert’s contributions are probably underappreciated by folks outside of the team’s locker room.

“He’s better than (the offensive line coaches) at a lot of places we’ve visited (for clinics), even at Division I schools. Honestly,” Walker said. “We’ve seen some really good O-line coaches, but we’ve also seen some that can’t compare to him in my book. You get a little bit spoiled being with him all the time.”

Buchert will retire from North Allegheny in January as a math teacher. What that means for his coaching future remains undecided. Right now, he’s focused on finishing this season and the WPIAL playoffs ahead.

North Allegheny is trying to return to the finals after being the WPIAL Class 6A runner-up last year.

“I truly believe that if you’ve done it long enough, when you get to the beginning of August, there’s something in the air that says you should be on a football field,” he said with a laugh.

When someone coaches in one place for more than three decades, like Buchert has at North Allegheny, they tend to develop sayings and traditions that endure. For instance, any NA lineman will know the abbreviation “L-M-W,” which is one of Buchert’s favorites.

“Low man wins,” he said.

Another would be the “6-inch step of champions,” a reminder that his offensive linemen shouldn’t take too large of a first step. Quick, small steps keep their feet grounded in the turf. As a reminder, Buchert took two-by-fours and cut 6-inch wood blocks.

“Every Monday, those kids take a block, set it on the ground and that’s their physical guide,” said Buchert, who’s a big proponent of practice drills.

But Buchert adds that the best coaches are also the best thieves. He said the 6-inch steps probably came from a college coach in Ohio, but much of his philosophy can be traced to late Pitt assistant Joe Moore, who played baseball with Buchert’s uncle.

Moore was a Pitt assistant from 1977-85 and later was Notre Dame’s offensive line coach.

“I really had an open door policy with him,” Buchert said. “A lot of what we do technique-wise and individually is based on what Joe did. We still watch Joe’s drill tapes every year in the summer.

“Any coach who tells you they’re not a good thief is not telling the truth. Ninety percent of what I’ve done I’ve stolen from someone else, and the biggest guy I stole from was Joe.”

Some aspects of blocking have changed in his 30-some years. He said the biggest is probably how offensive linemen are now taught to use their hands rather than their forearms and shoulders.

“I can remember teaching years ago how you’d bring your right arm out, make a fist and bring it in to your chest,” Buchert said. “From your elbow to your neck was the blocking surface. Now there’s all the hands stuff.”

He and his players have adapted.

Buchert briefly left North Allegheny in 1998 and worked two seasons as head coach at Seneca Valley, but later rejoined coach Jim Rankin’s staff. When Walker was hired in 2005, he kept both Buchert and current defensive coordinator Doug Brinkley on his staff.

“When I got here, Mike had been with Jim for years and they ran certain things,” Walker said. “I didn’t want to come here and say, ‘This is what we’re running and that’s it.’ … We kind of morphed our stuff together.”

North Allegheny won state titles in 2010 and ’12, each with more than one Buchert on the sideline. His son Mike Jr. was the team’s quarterback for one championship, and son Jason, a soccer player, was the kicker for the other.

His kids weren’t linemen, but Buchert had an impact on countless blockers who wore NA colors. Among the biggest-name recruits were Josh Lugg, a senior tackle now at Notre Dame, and brothers Robert and Patrick Kugler, who each played in the Big Ten. But their success probably doesn’t capture Buchert’s best ability.

Instead, Walker points to players who some would’ve written off as sophomores.

“Mike can make the good ones great and the great ones phenomenal,” Walker said. “But he’s maybe more proud of making the average ones good. He can take the kid nobody thought was going to play and make him into a starter as a senior.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny