Every once in a while, the right coach gets together with just the right team at exactly the right time.

Like Belichick and the Patriots. Phil Jackson and the Bulls. Bill Saban and Alabama.

Randy Cuthbert and the Emmaus High School football program could be just that kind of combination.

"I picture a day when everyone is looking up at Emmaus," said Cuthbert last week at a press conference to announce his hiring as the school's 18th head coach. "I'm looking forward to getting ready to take that next step."

Cuthbert was selected from a pool of 28 applicants. Athletic director Dennis Ramella and a coaching search advisory committee trimmed the list to six candidates. Cuthbert quickly rose to the top of that short list.

"Five minutes into the interview," said Ramella, "we looked at each other and I could tell what everyone was thinking: 'This guy is special.'"

Cuthbert, a 1988 graduate of Central Bucks West High School, has been successful at every level of football. A three-sport athlete in high school, he was an all-state and All-American player. His teams went undefeated throughout his high school career.

He went on to Duke University where he served as a team captain and was a three-time All-ACC running back as well as an academic All-American.

After three years as a running back and special teams player in the NFL, Cuthbert returned to his roots, taking a job as assistant coach at CB West in 2000. He ascended to head coach of the Buck. After four years in that position he left for Pennridge, where he resurrected the program, taking last year's team to the school's first undefeated season and league title since 1964. His record as head coach in District 1 is 83-56,

A math teacher at Pennridge, Cuthbert moved to Coopersburg a few years ago and kept an eye on the Emmaus. He called it a 'sleeping giant' and thought that if the job ever opened up, he would take a shot at it.

"I'm excited to be at Emmaus," he said. "Coach [Joe] Bottiglieri did a great job moving the program forward."

He also called the Hornets' booster club 'second to none.' He feels all the pieces are in place to make Emmaus competitive with any team in the area and beyond.

Just a decade ago, before Bottiglieri took over, Emmaus regularly finished near the bottom of the Lehigh Valley Conference. Since then, the Hornets have become a team that competes for a district playoff spot nearly every season.

Bottiglieri, who resigned for a spot as a Lehigh University assistant, and his staff made the program the kind that would attract candidates like Cuthbert and some of the area's other top young coaching prospects. Emmaus won 70 games in his 11 years at the helm.

"The candidates that we received for his position are a reflection of Joe Bottiglieri as a coach and what he did at Emmaus," said Ramella.

He laid a foundation, building up the middle school program and strengthening the youth feeder programs so that the talent pool doesn't run dry.

With those resources, Cuthbert expects to keep climbing toward the top of the league and district.

"I think it's at a point where if we get the right combination of coaches and players together we can push it to the next level," Cuthbert said. "Parkland and Easton are schools that are talked about as the perennial favorites. We want to be part of that discussion. We don't want to be 5-5 anymore."

The time is right for Emmaus to become a football powerhouse. And Cuthbert seems like just the right man to lead it there.