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The former Armada grid coach and teacher was hired last week by the Brown City school board to replace Bob McClintic as varsity football coach.

Tony Burton, BC athletic director, said seven people applied for the position and the athletic committee interviewed four. Burton said the committee liked that Zebelian was not only head coach in the past, but had also coached at all levels of football, not just varsity.

"He has varsity experience. That's one of things we were looking at as a committee," said Burton. "The second thing was overall coaching experience, and he fit those. Plus, he's from the Blue Water Area and he knows this area well."

Zebelian, who has been more involved in his cattle farm the last few years, retired as a teacher of 26 years and also as the Tigers varsity coach in 2001-02. His father was a dairy farmer in the Armada area.

After seven years with the Armada varsity, and with a sophomore son that would move up next season, Zebelian figured it would be the right time to get away from coaching.

"I didn't think that I should coach, or teach, my own son," said Zebelian, now 60. "But I see coaches like Tony Burton (varsity boys basketball at BC) and see how that has worked with him, and now I think it was a mistake (to retire)."

Zebelian, like his cattle, is locally grown. He graduated from Armada High School in 1966, played three years of football at Anderson College (Ind.), and graduated from there in 1971. He was a senior on the Anderson team that reached the NAIA national finals.

He coached the Armada freshmen team in 1971 and then the JV the following two years and landed a teaching position at Armada in 1973.

After staying away from coaching to get married and start a family, Zebelian was a varsity coach at Dryden in the fall of '82. From there, he coached at New Haven two years, adding an STA co-championship one of those seasons.

Zebelian had an early connection to Brown City football when he came back from a brief coaching retirement to assist Jim Watkins at Imlay City. Watkins introduced the Wing-T to BC football after longtime coach Dick VanDrew stepped down in the late 1970s.

From there, Zebelian returned to take the varsity job at Armada in 1995 and coached through the 2001 campaign. He did volunteer as an assistant coach with the Tigers for a couple of seasons after that.

"I tried to be a civilian and stay on the farm," Zebelian said on his current return to coaching. "There were only a few places I would consider working at and Brown City was at the top of the list." He also noted, "I almost went to Brown City in 1980 (when Watkins was hired), but I had too many strong ties in Armada."

The Green Devils have fallen on tougher times in recent years in a very rugged GTC East. Zebelian, however, has some decent returning players plus a group from the JV that is coming off a successful season.

"I've been a student of the game for years and I like Wing-T football and the four-four defense," Zebelian said. The Wing-T had been reinstalled by McClintic two years ago, so the transition will be easier in that way for the new Green Devil coach. The four-four, though, was something Dick VanDrew used at BC in his tenure and the following coaches continued with it, most of the time.

"Dick VanDrew taught the 4-4 to me," noted Zebelian. "We can get by with smaller, aggressive kids in that defense, and that's what we have some of at Brown City."

On the Wing-T, he added, "It may not exactly be the same look as in the past. But, we'll try to make use of the talent we have. I think some of the things we do will work good with this group of kids."

Zebelian also announced that Jesse VanBuskirk, a teacher at Brown City, will be a main varsity assistant. Phil Osten, a longtime assistant with Zebelian, will also be on the Brown City staff.