As students at WHS are finishing up finals, students who played football this past season received an email that there will be a team meeting at roughly 10:30 am on Tuesday. This came as a surprise to a lot of people, considering the football season ended 2-3 months ago, but little did we know that our coach would be resigning after a historic season.
After leading Woodhaven to its first playoff win since 2019, Head Football Coach Dave Mifsud has turned his notice into the school board and will now be the head coach at Bedford for the upcoming 2026-27 season. But why? People are asking, “even after a successful season…Why is he leaving?” The answer is simple. The drive to Woodhaven for Coach Mifsud was roughly 40 minutes a day and was strenuous on him and his family. Coach claimed, “My daily commute from home to Woodhaven is about 41-42 minutes each way. I would say that I make it in 38-39 minutes about twice a week. But sometimes it can take me over an hour (due to traffic jams or weather). It has taken about an hour and a half, about 5 times. The hardest part of that is when I want to see a basketball game or a wrestling match or something… If I go home after school, then I make a long drive like that twice on those days. If I stay after school… then it’s just a really long day without being home at all. The same is true on the weekends. Just a long drive.” Even though the coach joked about beating his driving record, the long distance was getting a bit old and created a major reason why he believed it was time for a switch.
When asked how long the move had been on his mind before it became official, Coach Mifsud admits that a change was never a priority, nor was he ever thinking about it. But then he was asked to apply to Bedford to remain closer to home. Coach expressed, “I wasn’t thinking about a change at all. Then the Bedford job opened up. I ignored it at first and was then asked to apply. I slept on it and hemmed and hawed for about a week. When I started thinking about it and considering how close it was to my house, I decided to apply. The process went very fast. It was a total of about 2 weeks that it all happened, and we had some snow days in there, so it could have been even faster. It was a tough decision because of how much fun we had this year and because of the strong relationships that had developed with this year’s seniors and captains, and also the rest of the varsity team. The application, the interview, and the decision all happened very fast.” Once the opportunity presented itself, it felt like the right decision for his family and his coaching career.
Looking back on his very successful year at Woodhaven, he shared that it wasn’t just the wins that meant the most to him. Coach stated, “This year, this season overall- by far -is my best memory of my three seasons at Woodhaven. This year, the seniors set the tone – the buy-in, the positive attitude… it was just outstanding, and the rest of the team followed their lead. It was fun.
Overall, this season was one of the most enjoyable of my career. I can’t pinpoint just one season… but this was definitely in my top 3 or top 5 of my career. The win at Belleville in the playoffs is very special! It’s something everyone here should always be proud of! I feel like I’m leaving the Woodhaven football program in great shape. There are some excellent returning starters coming back, and some very talented players coming up through the program. I have high expectations for the Warriors and feel strongly that the football team will win a lot of games these next few years! I’ll always root for the Woodhaven Warriors!” Although he may be leaving, Coach Mifsud knows the program is in very great shape and that he expects Woodhaven to continue winning for many years to come.
This demonstrates how difficult it really can be to be a varsity coach and balance your professional life. To be a good coach, it takes a good amount of dedication and time away from your personal life. But sometimes, making the hard decision is best when it comes to the most important people in your life.
