DiDonatio building Grove City football brick by brick
Grove City head coach Andrew DiDonato talks to one of his players during a game against W&J. DiDonato is trying to build the program into a winner.
Andrew DiDonato with his wife, Andrea.
John Haught shares a moment with Andrew DiDonato
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Andrew DiDonato makes a point during his appearance at the 21st annual Washington County Prayer Breakfast.
Andrew DiDonato explains how he is turning around the Grove City College football program one brick at a time.
Since taking over a winless team, Andrew DiDonato has been building the Grove City College football program into a Presidents’ Athletic Conference contender brick by brick.
The South Fayette native has employed three essential keys to achieve that rejuvenatio and the 29-year-old shared those secrets with an audience of more than 600 gathered at the 21st annual Washington County Prayer Breakfast held April 7 at the Hilton Garden Inn-Southpointe.
Any successful team, from the Green Bay Packers, who beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXXXV, to the Crimson Tide of Alabama who captured the 2017 NCAA Division I football championship, has adhered to these strategies that DiDonato adopted after meeting Orlando Magic V.P. Pat Williams at a previous breakfast in 2007 when he was just an 18-year-old high school student. DiDonato uses Williams’ book “Leadership Excellence” as his text when he trades his clipboard and the football field for the blackboard and classroom. In addition to being the Wolverines’ football coach, DiDonato lectures students in exercise science and physical education at Grove City College.
DiDonato laughs when he recalls addressing his football team for the first time. The Wolverines had just lost their 20th straight game and were ranked at the bottom of 250 teams in Division III. That streak stretched to 33 consecutive defeats before Grove City won four of their final seven games last fall to finish 4-4 in the conference.
“Where do you even start?” DiDonato said he asked himself as he stood before his players two years ago. “I went to the three keys.”
Whether it’s sports, business or personal, DiDonato assured his audience “the three keys” will change one’s life. Being of Christian faith, DiDonato even pointed out how these basics influenced the outcomes in the lives of David and Moses.
“We have a slogan at Grove City. Four/40/forever. We talk about if you are an athlete or a football player, that’s going to last you through the next four years. If you are a mechanical engineer, 10 years from now, knowing how to execute a 3-step drop is not going to impact you much but your degree is going to last you the next 40 so what you learn in the classroom is going to be far more important than anything I teach you on the football field and will last 10 times longer. But, even that has an end. There is one thing that last forever and that’s our faith.”
Growing up, DiDonato placed a great deal of faith in football and his athletic feats. As a youth in South Fayette, he excelled as a quarterback for the Lions and as a point guard on the basketball team from 2002-05. A four-year starter, he ranks among the state’s top quarterbacks with 6,573 passing yards.
At Grove City, DiDonato set records for career passing yards (7,509) pass completions (750) and TD passes (49). He also managed season and game records in each of those three categories. He completed his collegiate career being named Sportsman of the Year in 2010.
After he earned his degree in business management, DiDonato returned to his high school alma mater and, while serving as offensive coordinator, helped South Fayette win back-to-back PIAA championships. During his tenure, he directed one of the most explosive offenses in the WPIAL and tutored Pennsylvania’s all-time passing yardage leader, Brett Brumbaugh. DiDonato, who added a masters degree from California University, also coached at Peters Township and the University of Buffalo.
“The three keys,” DiDonato said, “have shaped me and they are helping me change the football program at Grove City. That’s all great but they can change each and every one of us.”
A vision
For any person, organization, program or business to be successful, vision is required first. A clear idea of why one exists and what one wants to achieve is mandatory.
At Grove City, DiDonato established a faith-based ideal. It would glorify God in the pursuit of earning a degree, building lasting relationships and competing for PAC championships. Because the Lord instructed ‘love your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength’, DiDonato interpreted that in his vision for the Wolverines to mean: “Spiritually, glorify God. Mentally earn a degree. Socially, build lasting relationships. Physically, compete for PAC championships.”
DiDonato emphasized a vision’s vitality. He said it does three important things. It keeps one focused. It keeps one fueled. It enables one to finish.
When he wishes to stress his point with his players, he brings up legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden’s four-second phrases
“Focus on your vision, not your circumstances,” he said. “Live in the why, not the what.”
He used a story of three builders to make his point regarding circumstances. All three worked under the same conditions, extreme heat and excessive sun. When asked what they were doing, the first replied, “what’s it look like I’m doing? I’m laying brick.” The second one answered, “I’m building a wall.” The third said enthusiastically, “I’m building a cathedral.”
DiDonato also pointed to the foresight at the Disney Corporation. Their employees live in the why, he said, noting that when an accountant was asked what she related to with the company’s slogan, she said she was going to change the world through animation.
“It’s not about what you are doing,” DiDonato said. “It’s about why are you doing it. Most people live in the what. If I’ve learned anything, it’s to live in the why. So I tell my football team that when someone asks you why you are going to lift weights at 6:15 in the morning and they laugh at you because you are 0-20, you say, ‘I’m going to compete for PAC championships.’
“Same with studying for finals for five hours. You don’t say ‘I’m just going to study for a test’ you say, ‘I’m going to earn a degree.’ Live in the why, not the what,” he reminded his listeners.
The process
If one makes a statement aspiring to excellence, then one must understand the process. This is the second essential element to success.
DiDonato used another catchphrase to stress this point. See a little; see a lot. See a lot; see nothing. If one looks at the big picture, one is going to get overwhelmed.
He sited the Rocky movies, lumberjacks and Moses in his explanation. For example, a good trainer doesn’t train his boxer to go for the knockout punch in the first round. He wants him to get a cut in his opponent and spend the rest of the fight working that cut. Ditto for Paul Bunyan. With his ax, he kept working the initial cut he made in the tree. As for Moses, it took him 10 visits and plagues before the pharaoh freed the Israelites.
“It’s a process,” DiDonato said. “It doesn’t happen over night. See a little; see a lot.”
The method made an impression at Grove City. For one year after DiDonato made his pitch, the Wolverines went from last to fifth out of 10 teams in the conference.
“When you look at all we have had to do – recruiting, practice, strength and conditioning – all I asked my men to do is see a little. Just lay a brick. Tomorrow, put down another one and the next day, still another one. That’s a lot of bricks that had been laid so far,” he said.
Love
What holds everything together involves the third principal for success. Whether constructing buildings, relationships or corporations, DiDonato dubs the mortar love. He noted Disney didn’t succeed without Roy. Moses needed Aaron and Hur. And, David had Jonathan.
“Each of us needs all of us,” he stressed.
DiDonato uses his own life as an example of final four-second axiom. “Be where your feet are,” he said.
On any given day, DiDonato is husband to his wife, Andrea, father to his 3-year-old daughter, Gabriella, head football coach, recruiter and professor. He can’t be thinking about what play he is going to call during Saturday’s football game when he is out to dinner with his wife. He can’t be focused on his lecture when he is playing with the same castle he has played with for months with his child. When he does get on the football field and when the lights go on, he must give his men everything he has.
“Be present,” DiDonato advised. “Your mind and your heart are where your feet are. It’s all part of the process.”