Baldwin has hired Tim Sweeney as its next head football coach, the program announced on Wednesday.
Sweeney comes to Baldwin after six seasons at Derry. He took over a program that had been 0-10 the year before he arrived and went 49-18 in total.
He built the program up from scratch, winning four games in 2014, five in 2015 and won three straight section titles from 2016 to 2018, including a trip to the 2018 WPIAL Class-3A championship game at Heinz Field.
“These guys have been in some big games, not just this year, but going back to our 2016 season,” Sweeney said to Pittsburgh Sports Now before the 2018 title game. “That experience pays dividends for you.”
“Success isn’t necessarily measured in wins and losses, it’s in the body of work and we need to make sure they’re good students in the classroom, they’re community-minded and thankful that we’re just a small part of a great community.”
Sweeney is a Derry alum but now lives in the South Hills, where he will inherit a Baldwin squad on the rise. The Highlanders finished 5-5 and 4-3 the Allegheny Eight Conference in 2019, good enough for a playoff berth, where the Highlanders lost, 21-20 to McKeesport in the first round.
Baldwin features a couple of the WPIAL’s top recruits in the Class of 2021, with three-star defensive tackle Dorien Ford holding over a dozen Power Five offers and wide receiver and defensive back Connor Lavelle also receiving Division I interest.
Sweeney will replace Loran Cooley, who departed after three seasons to take a job as wide receivers coach at Division-III Westminster College.
