RELATED STORY: Feature from St. Xavier Web site * * *
Steve Specht, head football coach at Cincinnati's St. Xavier High School, was announced today as the 2005 season winner of the Paul Brown Excellence in Coaching Award.
The award is given by the Bengals annually to an outstanding high school coach in the region. Last season, Specht guided St. Xavier to a 15-0 record, including a victory over Massillon Washington for the Ohio Division I state championship. The Bombers finished with a No. 6 national ranking by USA Today.
Specht has a 25-1 record in two seasons at St. Xavier. He is a St. X graduate, and played football and baseball at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.
"We are proud to honor Steve for bringing a state championship to our city," said Bengals president Mike Brown, who presented the award to Coach Specht today at the team's annual Pre-Training Camp Media Luncheon at Paul Brown Stadium. "Just as importantly, Steve and his program stand for those qualities in football that my father, Paul Brown, held valuable."
Specht is the fifth coach to receive the Paul Brown Excellence in Coaching Award. Previous winners have been Charles "Doc" Gamble of Withrow (2004 season), Doug Ramsey of Elder (2003 season), and Vince Suriano of Anderson and Mike Martin of Taft (2002 season co-winners).
