Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com

Twenty-five-year-old Eric Cumba became the youngest NHIAA head football coach when he was offered and accepted the St. Thomas Aquinas job last weekend.

Cumba, who was an offensive lineman at the University of New Hampshire, has been an assistant coach at St. Thomas for the last two seasons. He replaces Rod Wotton, who retired last fall after serving as the program's head coach for the last 15 seasons.

"When a head coach steps down every assistant coach's first thought is, 'Should I apply?'" Cumba said. "The more time went on the more I knew I wanted to be the head coach at St. Thomas." 

Cumba learned from one of the best. Wotton won more games than any other high school football coach in New England. He left coaching with an overall record of 342-81-3. His St. Thomas teams were 111-43-0 during his 15 years there.

Wotton, 71, coached at South Berwick (Maine) High School before he became the head coach at Marshwood High School in Eliot, Maine, in 1966. His Marshwood teams posted a 220-33-1 record and won 17 state titles.

In 1987 Marshwood owned a 45-game winning streak, which, at that time, was the longest streak in the nation.

"Everyone knows who Coach Wotton is," Cumba said. "I was fortunate enough to work for him for two years, so I'm not going into this blind. I'm taking over a program that isn't broken."

The Saints will graduate 21 seniors from a team that finished 9-2 and lost in the Division V championship game last season.

Cumba is a Dover resident and works as a paraprofessional educator at Oyster River High School in Durham. He played high school football for Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J.

Cumba said he hopes to have his staff finalized within two weeks.

"Our JV team was undefeated last year," Cumba said. "There's still plenty of talent in the program."

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