Roy-Al Edwards, the dean of students at Universal Audenried Charter High School in South Philadelphia, has been recognized as the Philadelphia Eagles High School Coach of the Week. Two years ago, Audenried did not have a football program. Edwards, who had been an assistant coach at The Haverford School for six years, was approached by then-athletic director Kenyatta Bey about starting a team.
“I was leaving to go to practice and I had my Haverford School football gear on,” Edwards said. “And the athletic director at the time, Mr. Kenyatta Bey, said to me, ‘We always wanted to have a football program here at Audenried, but we weren’t in the best place to do it. We didn’t have the guy for the job.’ And he thought I was the guy for the job.”
Edwards initially did not plan on becoming a head coach but reconsidered after being encouraged by his colleagues and turning down other coaching offers. He decided that working with students throughout their school day was important to him.
After getting approval from the school board and surveying student interest, Edwards started building the team. Although 100 students initially signed up, only about 25-30 remained by the start of last season. The new team finished its first year with a 6-3 record in junior varsity play.
“After the first year, we were pretty successful and they moved us up to varsity this year, which was a great, great thing because we won our first three league games,” Edwards said.
Edwards noted that participation in football has improved student motivation and academic performance. “The kids that are on the team, they’re more motivated to do better in school, to show up and get their education because you’re a scholar-athlete and you’ve got to be a student first,” he said.
He also highlighted how football provides structure and support for many students facing challenges outside of school: “A lot of these kids deal with a lot at home and in their life. This is an outlet for them where they can be themselves around other young men who deal with a lot of the same difficulties… It’s a brotherhood.”
Edwards’ connection with Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni goes back to his college days when Sirianni recruited him as wide receivers coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). Sirianni commented on Edwards’ recognition: “I’m happy for him. He’s always had a great personality and good football mind, so it doesn’t surprise me he’s in this profession of leading young men and obviously he’s doing a really good job to get this award. I’m proud of him.”
“Being named Coach of the Week means the world to me,” Edwards said. “I’ve always been an Eagles fan… So it’s just all full circle.”
As head coach at Audenried, Edwards uses values such as connection, competition, accountability, football IQ, and fundamentals—principles learned from Sirianni’s coaching philosophy.
“You’ve got to take care of the little things, that’s the fundamentals… To teach them football IQ is very important,” Edwards said.
Sirianni added: “It’s an honor that he’s taken stuff that we talked about a long time ago and continues to talk about that today and use that… At the end of the day… You play tough, you play detailed, you play together, and good things happen.”
Reflecting on his work building Audenried’s program from scratch without equipment or even a field at first, Edwards said what makes him most proud is keeping students engaged: “I would say honestly just keeping these kids busy and off the streets… Football’s keeping them busy… building relationships with these kids. And now they know that they have somebody that they can trust that’s going to show up for them every day.”
