'Gansett coach resigns; Beary frontrunner to replace Mizhir.

• Position: SPORTS

Byline: Jim Wilson

BALDWINVILLE - The way Joe Mizhir sees things, he's not really saying goodbye - he's just letting someone else handle the locker room speeches.

Mizhir, who has served as Narragansett Regional High's head football coach for the past eight seasons, announced his resignation on Monday, but said he hopes to remain on the Warriors' sidelines for the foreseeable future.

"I'm not really leaving, I'm just taking a little less responsibility," Mizhir said. "The staff is going to be all the same, we're just going to trade some responsibilities a little bit."

While nothing is official, former Nashoba Regional coach John Beary should be the frontrunner for the job. Beary, who stepped down at Nashoba before the season after accepting a physical education job at Narragansett, spent this fall on Mizhir's staff.

"John is in the building and hopefully he will be able to take over," Mizhir said. "He can handle the scheduling and all that. We've all been doing the same type of stuff for years now. I've been getting busier for years now and the ideal thing is to have somebody in the building who is the head coach. John would have the title, but I'm sure we'll all still do the same things."

After two seasons as an assistant at Nashoba, Mizhir took over for Tom DiGeronimo in 2000. The Warriors went 9-2 in Mizhir's first year and fell to 5-6 the following year, but Narragansett hasn't posted a losing record since. Mizhir's squads made a pair of Super Bowl trips - a 26-24 loss to Mahar Regional of Orange in 2003 and a 20-8 win over Putnam Voke of Springfield as part of a 12-0 season in 2005. Including a 7-4 season this fall, Mizhir steps away with a stellar 67-23 record.

Narragansett quietly has built itself into one of the most consistent programs in Central Mass. Since a 5-5 season in 1995, the Warriors have posted a 104-30 record that includes two perfect 12-0 seasons and just one losing campaign.

Mizhir, who has a law practice in Gardner when he's not running a football practice, said it has been getting tougher to balance the two jobs. In taking a lesser...