Loyola assistant coach Blake Henry was named head football coach at Mount St. Joseph on Friday, replacing Chip Armstrong, who stepped down in January after five years to spend more time with his family.

Henry, a Loyola graduate, was an All-America offensive guard at Wake Forest and had a brief stint with the Atlanta Falcons. He joined Loyola's staff in 2003 and said Friday that he knew then that he wanted to be a head coach in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference.

"It's familiar because it's the conference I played in growing up, so I know the level of competition," Henry, 30, said. "In my opinion, it's the toughest league in the state. I enjoy the rivalries between all the schools, how well they know each other, and for the A Conference, there are no playoffs so there's so much emphasis on each regular-season game. There's a championship mentality for every game you play in."

Mount St. Joseph athletic director Paul Triplett said he received 45 applications for the position and that nine candidates were interviewed. He said Henry's familiarity with the A Conference and his football background ranked high among the qualifications that gave him the edge.

"We were looking for a quality person who has a sense of the mission of our school and has a sense of where football falls within the overall [mission] of the school," Triplett said of Henry, who will begin to run after-school weight room workouts at Mount St. Joseph after Easter break and will teach religion there beginning in the fall. "We were also looking for someone who would be a good role model for the young men and he really fit the bill in these three categories."