SLIPPERY ROCK — Bill Beatty wasn't the first choice to be the first coach of the Slippery Rock High School football team 40 years ago.

"I applied for it and didn't get the job," Beatty said.

Instead, another coach got the position. He lasted three weeks.

When Beatty finally took the reins of the Rockets' first football team in 1966, he found plenty of obstacles to overcome.

He had no coaches. No uniforms. No equipment. All he had was 70 players eager to begin a football program.

"I had good kids here," Beatty said. "We got it going after the first year. We had to rent equipment, buy blocking dummies. We got all the best equipment we could get."

Forty years later, a lot has changed.

Coaches no longer have to stand on the school, some 100 yards away from the field. There's a press box now. Fans don't have to sit on wooden bleachers full of splinters. There are new aluminum seats.

Custodians know how to line the field — the coaches had to help the first year.

Players don't have to take their uniforms home to be cleaned. The school does that.

And the assistant coaches know the game. Beatty said his first assistants only watched football and had only a passing knowledge. They were basically chaperones.

Perhaps the biggest change Beatty has noticed has nothing to do with the game on the field at Slippery Rock.

"It's a year-round now," Beatty said. "It's a full-time job."

Beatty served as the Slippery Rock coach from 1966 to 1971 and was an athletic director at the school. He had a hand in hiring his successor, John Lersch, and every other coach at the school, from Wilbur Mapes to Joe Walton to Scott Nelson to Mike Kish to BrendanSmith. Only current coach Clyde Conti was hired without his input.

Beatty, 72, is the public address announcer for the Rockets' home games. He said this will be his last season in that capacity.

He has seen a lot in the past 40 years and the past 397 games and counting.

Beatty still remembers those first few games vividly.

"I was probably as nervous as I have ever been in that first game," said Beatty, who had coached at Ridgway HighSchool and Moniteau before getting the Slippery Rock job.

The Rockets lost that first game on the road to Laurel 27-7, but returned home for the first game on their field and lost 20-13 to Shenango.

The next week, Slippery Rock earned its first win, 13-7, at Mohawk.

"I remember that more than anything," he said.

Beatty went 18-33-3 in his tenure.

Of the eight coaches to roam the sidelines at Slippery Rock, only Conti has a winning record (27-21). Slippery Rock is 163-227-7 in its history.

The Rockets have made the playoffs only five times in the 40 seasons before 2006.

"One of the reasons is Slippery Rock is such a unique district because of its geographical separation," Walton said. "You need good talent and good athletes, but you also need people within the program who have the commitment."

Walton had such a group in 1984.

After three consecutive 3-7 seasons, something clicked in that year.

The team had grown up together, Walton said, taking their lumps as a young team the previous seasons.

Even before the year, Walton said he felt he had something special. He just didn't know how special.

Slippery Rock went 10-0 and advanced to the WPIAL Class A playoffs, where it beat Riverview 21-20 in overtime before falling to Rochester in the second round, 17-7.

"I don't think you can ever anticipate a season like that," Walton said. "It was just a very special group. We had some talent, but also very smart kids. I didn't have to tell them the same thing twice."

Slippery Rock left the WPIAL and joined District 10 in 1988.

Kish had his share of success in District 10 in the '90s, taking the' team to the playoffs in 1996, only to lose in the first round to Greenville, 36-19.

"One thing that has always been a constant about SlipperyRock High School football players is they are tough," Kish said.

Smith also led the team to the playoffs in 1999. The Rockets failed to make the playoffs the next year, but they had what could be the greatest single season turned in by any player in school history.

That year, senior running back Josh Kniess set the now defunct Mercer County Athletic Conference record for single-game rushing yardage with 412 against Franklin in the season finale. He had set the mark a few weeks earlier with a 384-yard performance against rival Grove City.

He finished the season with 2,172 yards on 284 carries, 31 touchdowns — and no fumbles.

Perhaps the two greatest seasons in school history came in 2002 and 2003 under Conti, who had taken over the program from Smith.

Conti had served as coach at Clarion-Limestone for 22 years before he was unceremoniously let go by the school board.

He came to the Rockets in 2002 looking for a fresh start.

"To be honest, I just wanted to coach for someone who wanted me," Conti said. "Had Slippery Rock not called when they did, I probably would have been somewhere else."

After an 0-2 start in his first season, Slippery Rock won six out of the next seven games to make the playoffs. The Rockets did it without senior quarterback Mike DeCola, who broke his clavicle in a loss toSharon. Instead, Slippery Rock turned to freshman quarterback Ben Collins.

With him under center, SlipperyRock won two playoff games, unseating Sharon for the District 10 Class AA title.

The next season, Slippery Rock rolled through the regular season 8-1, won the District 10 title for the second consecutive season and advanced to the PIAA Class AA semifinals against Aliquippa.

The Rockets led that game 15-14 in the fourth quarter, but two long scoring runs by the Quips ended the greatest season in Slippery Rock history, 28-15.

The Rockets have struggled since, going 7-15 in the last 22 games.

But if the last 40 years are any indication of the future, another magic season has a way to popping up.

"The only thing more difficult than tough times is not having an opportunity to compete to begin with," Conti said.