EDITORIAL USC’s Render among most successful coaches anywhere, at any time
No coach in the annals of Western Pennsylvania high school football has more victories than Jim Render. The leader of Upper St. Clair’s perennial juggernaut won his milestone 400th Friday when the Panthers knocked off neighboring Peters Township. Just two other WPIAL coaches, George Novak and Joe Hamilton, have bypassed 300.
Statewide, only the late George Curry has recorded more triumphs than Render – 455, most of them at Berwick. Render would need five seasons – five excellent seasons – to catch Curry, but he is 76 and will likely step down before that. Then again, he is still healthy, still enjoys working with kids, still enjoys the competition and still wins.
Nationwide, a mere 23 other scholastic coaches have hit the 400 mark, led by John McKissick of Summerville, S.C., who won 620 games from 1952 to 2014. Now that probably is out of Render’s reach.
Render is in the early stages of his 40th season at Upper St. Clair, where he not only has won a lot of games, but a lot of big ones. His Panthers have won five WPIAL championships, two state titles and 22 conference crowns.
He has had some marvelous talent, including Sean Lee, Doug Whaley, Kevin Orie and Mac McArdle, but Render has been the choreographer, the man whose system has worked so well for so long. His teams are disciplined, fundamentally sound and in top physical condition. They often outperform opponents.
These tendencies became evident during his previous coaching stop, at Uniontown High School. After beginning his head-coaching career at Carrollton (Ohio) High, where he stayed for two years, Render took over the Red Raiders’ fortunes in 1972. Uniontown had a strong program less than a decade earlier, winning WPIAL titles in 1962 and 1965, but was foundering in football.
That changed. The team became respectable quickly and remained respectable through Render’s seven seasons, capped by a conference championship in 1978 that was secured in the regular-season finale with a victory at longtime nemesis Mt. Lebanon. Before the next school year began, he was on the Upper St. Clair payroll and en route to unparalleled coaching success in this half of the state.
Render, a retired physical education instructor, has a 400-138-6 record after defeating Peters Township Friday night. The Panthers were impressive in their season opener, edging South Fayette, a formidable foe from a smaller enrollment classification, 34-33. This could be still another successful campaign at Upper St. Clair.
Four hundred coaching victories is an impressive achievement, one to which many aspire but few attain. Yet, when asked during the preseason about the pending milestone, Render said simply: “It’s not that important to me.”
But it is to followers of local football, for it is a milestone beyond most milestones. That victory total is proof that Jim Render is a wildly successful coach, one of the best ever in Pennsylvania.