Q&A with Doug Whaley

The rich tradition of high school football in Western Pennsylvania is rooted in personalities who are featured in this space each week. As part of the 100th anniversary of the WPIAL, former scholastic football greats will be asked about their careers, which ultimately led to great futures in college and pro football.

Doug Whaley played both ways on the Upper St. Clair team that won the PIAA Class AAAA championship in 1989. Whaley and the Panthers won back-to-back WPIAL titles in 1988 and 1989, but they didn't play in the inaugural state playoffs after beating Central Catholic for the WPIAL title in 1988 because the school board voted against it.

The Panthers weren't denied in 1989, and Whaley became the team's feature back because of an injury late in the season. He rushed for more than 300 yards in back-to-back games.

Whaley lettered four years as safety/linebackers at Pitt, and after a stint as a stockbroker on Wall Street, he broke into pro football as a scout.

Now in his ninth season with the Steelers, Whaley said he applies some of the lessons he learned playing for USC and coach Jim Render to his job as the team's pro personnel coordinator.

Q: When you and some of your USC teammates get together do you say, "Hey, we should have won two?"

A: I don't think we say we should have won two. We just know that we beat the team that ended up winning (Central Catholic in 1988) so we kind of feel almost like we won it ourselves. Would we have liked to have gone (to the PIAA playoffs)• Yeah, but that decision was out of our control and at the time we're like 'What can you do?' We were a bunch of high school kids. The next year, it maybe gave us a little more incentive.

Q: What stands out from that season?

A: "Personally, it was just the camaraderie and the friends. At that time of your life, your whole world is your high school. For us to galvanize the community and everybody being behind us and to go on that run and to know you're the best in the state and even being ranked in "USA Today," that was pretty special. I've been in football since then, but those are some of the fondest memories I have. There was a little bit of every game that I still kind of remember. One of the biggest things is when we beat Hollidaysburg to go to the state championship, all of the fans from St. Clair were there and they were throwing Hershey Kisses to us. Those are memories I'll never forget."

Q: The back-to-back 300-yard rushing games you had against Butler and then Hempfield is a season for some running backs.

A: Actually, I was a fullback most of the season and then our starting fullback, Pete Habib, got hurt, and I moved into (the featured back role). It was just one of those things where my line was blocking right and I even returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

Q: How cold was it for the PIAA Quad-A title game in Hershey against Wilson High School?

A: We got up there and there was at least a foot or more of snow. So we were supposed to practice that night and they cleared off some of the field and we were just freezing. During the game that next day, it was just bitterly cold and it was like playing on concrete. Once you got in the flow of the game you really didn't notice it until maybe there was a timeout or at halftime. But you always felt it when you hit the ground. It was frozen solid. Also, we were playing against Kerry Collins, and he has a strong arm. I don't see how their receivers were catching the ball because he still had that zip on the ball and it had to sting.

Q; How did playing for Jim Render shape you, and how does that continue to impact your life?

A: There are things I do in my job today that I refer back to things that he teaches you. He puts together a great, knowledgeable staff, and he's a great knowledgeable coach himself. He teaches you the basics and not only the concept of your position, but the whole defensive scheme or offensive scheme. He also teaches you that to get anywhere you have to work hard, you have to rely on other people and get good people around you and you just have to stay focused. There's a lot of life skills and a lot of life lessons that he imparted on us through teaching us football.

Q: Do you still get to any Upper St. Clair games?

A: It's hard because of what I do. I'm usually gone Thursdays through Sundays because of my job. Hopefully, if they make the state playoffs, I'll be able to get out to one of those games. If they do it early Saturday, I'll still be able to get out. I'll be done with my college scouting by then and just do my pro games where I leave on Saturday.

Q: If you won't be able to attend the USC-North Allegheny WPIAL semifinal game Friday, will you at least give us a prediction?

A: I think if (Upper St. Clair) plays the way it has been playing, doesn't make mistakes and doesn't get caught up in the hype or even looking past North Allegheny since we've beaten them already, I think we'll have a good chance. North Allegheny, with that offense, the one thing we're going to have to stay away from is the big play. I feel pretty confident about this game, but that's why they play it, and that's why I tell everybody sports are the ultimate reality TV because you never know what's going to happen.

Q: Can you talk about your job and what it entails?

A: During the season, mostly I'm the advance scout for the coaches, so during the week I'll break down the film of the opponent -- not their plays, but their players: the good points, the weak points and the summary of how they played. During the weekend, I'll go out and do some colleges. This weekend, I'm going to go to UVa (University of Virginia), watch film of their players on Friday and Saturday watch them play Miami, and then Sunday I'll go to Baltimore. I'll be trying to get things the coaches can't get off film like injuries. If a guy's hurt, was he carted off the field• Was he running on the sidelines• You try to get some signals and things like that in the general flow of the game because when you get the game, we don't have the TV copy so you don't get the continuous feeds. You get the offense and the defense. So I'll tell them, 'Hey, they started strong. They didn't really finish.' In the offseason, we get together and start looking at the unrestricted and restricted free agents, see who we're going to bring in. And we're always involved in college, the all-star games and going to the (NFL) Combine and getting ready for the draft. After the draft we'll start looking at NFL Europe players. It's keeping on top of guys that are out there that we may be interested in and guys in the league that we might be interested in, too, when their contracts are up.