Dom Damico will not return as Mount St. Joseph High’s football coach, the school announced Monday afternoon.
“We are grateful for Coach Damico’s contributions to our high-caliber football program, and we wish him well in his next steps in life,” Mount St, Joseph Athletic Director Kraig Loovis said in a statement. “I am confident that our assistant coaches will keep our student athletes on their strength training schedule and stay connected with college recruiters looking for intelligent, hard-working, and selfless student athletes.”
The Gaels went 7-4 this past season and reached the MIAA A Conference semifinals. Mount St. Joseph finished No. 6 in the final Baltimore Banner/Varsity Sports Network Top 15.
Damico, who came to Mount St. Joseph after a successful stint at McDonogh, went 16-8 in three seasons at the Southwest Baltimore school.
Damico declined to comment when reached Monday.
He was at McDonogh from 1994 to 2017, winning at least a share of eight MIAA championships. Damico returned to the sidelines in 2019 as Franklin’s defensive coordinator.
In early 2020, Damico moved over to Mount St. Joseph in the same capacity for then-coach Rich Holzer, who led the Gaels to the 2019 MIAA A championship.
Weeks later, Holzer stepped down to become coach at Calvert County’s Northern. Holzer, the 2019 VSN Coach of the Year who lives in Harwood in Southern Anne Arundel County, said the opportunity allowed him to see his sons’ youth sports endeavors, mainly in Calvert County.
In the spring of 2020, Mount St. Joseph tapped Damico, who guided McDonogh to a share of four A Conference titles and four B crowns. After winning its two matches in a COVID-19-shortened campaign in the late fall of 2020, Mount St. Joseph went 7-4 in 2021, losing to eventual MIAA A champ Calvert Hall in the semifinals as the No. 2 seed.
The Gaels were the No. 2 seed in this year’s postseason tournament and lost again to Calvert Hall after winning during the regular season. Mount St. Joseph did not have junior starting quarterback Winston Watkins, who was unable to play because of the flu.
Loovis said the school has begun accepting applications for the football coaching vacancy.
