The Roughers kick off the 2025 football season Friday at Tulsa Washington with lots of new faces and a sense of the unknown. Among the new faces are head coach Dale Condict who comes to Muskogee as a Hall of Fame coach with six state championships to his credit and the man he tabbed as offensive coordinator Mason Fine.

Mason played for former Muskogee High coach Matt Hennessey at Locust Grove where he set and still holds the state high school record for career passing yards and touchdowns. He then went to North Texas University and played for former Rougher Seth Littrell, again setting school records for career passing yards and touchdowns.

After playing in the Canadian Football League for two years, Fine returned to Green Country last summer to decide if he wanted to keep playing or do something else when he got a call from Salina High just as fall practice started asking if he would step in as the volunteer offensive coordinator for the season-a decision that set him on the path to coaching.

After the 2024 season, he sought full time employment reaching out to Hennessey, who was in the running for the Muskogee job and to some Wagoner coaches he had met earlier which led to a phone call from Condict.

“We sat and just talked football for several hours and then he offered me the job,” Fine recalled. “I jumped at the chance as a new coach to learn from someone with coach Condict’s experience.”

After two years of playing in the state championship game, the Roughers face a lot of turnover in both staff and players going into the new season. And Fine faces a lot of that as he evaluates two quarterbacks that are new to Muskogee in Kason Delgado and Stylan McHenry.

“They bring different elements and different strengths to the position,” said Fine as he discussed his QB candidates. “We’ll play fast and explosive and hold our guys accountable for being in the right place at the right time. It will be a matter of which of the guys proves to have the best sense of timing and anticipation and being resilient both mentally and physically which is where I think games are won or lost.”

Also new to the Rougher coaching staff is Jason Pirtle who coaches tight ends and special teams. He was Fine’s teammate at both Locust Grove where he set the state career record for receiving yards and touchdowns and at North Texas. (photo courtesy of Ruth Kelly Studios)