First-year football coaches all face very different situations
On the list of camp priorities for many football coaches is making sure players have their name on a piece of tape across their helmet.
The temporary ID, especially for first-year head coaches, gets rid of one less worry of not knowing who is who.
For Mike Zmijanac and Lance Getsy, who are in their first seasons at Ringgold and Charleroi, or Chad Coss, who changed titles from interim to head coach at Waynesburg, the smallest details make the biggest difference.
Even if it’s also from keeping the players from wearing someone else’s helmet.
But learning names — something every coach is tasked with doing no matter how long they are tenured — is a part of the job.
For the three new local head coaches, the similarities don’t go much further than that.
“Any time you are taking over a new program you are trying to change the culture,” said Getsy. “Sometimes, it’s a little bit easier when you are taking over a program that hasn’t been successful. You can make those changes and don’t have to cater to anybody.”
That isn’t the situation Getsy walked into after being hired in late February to replace Donnie Militzer, who resigned amidst speculation his position would be opened. Charleroi went 9-1 in the regular season — the only loss coming against WPIAL Class 2A champion Washington — but continued its streak of 20 years without a playoff victory.
That’s a position not many first-year coaches walk into.
“When you have returning starters, changing the culture and getting the kids to believe in the new system can be challenging at times,” Getsy said. “I don’t know if it’s more or less challenging (than taking over a struggling program). It’s just a different type of challenge.”
The challenge for Zmijanac is something he’s never faced since becoming a head coach at Aliquippa 21 years ago, taking a team to the postseason that missed it the year before.
Replacing Nick Milchovich, who resigned from Ringgold after the final game last season, Zmijanac takes over a team with very little experience. Less than a handful of seniors have been at workouts and the team lost six Observer-Reporter all-district players from last season.
Coss’ challenge at Waynesburg is having the Raiders bounce back from a 1-8 record that got longtime coach Russ Moore fired, and being able to do that in a difficult Tri-County West Conference. Five of the seven other teams in the newly formed conference, which is made up of Aliquippa, Beaver Falls, Central Valley, Hopewell, Keystone Oaks, Quaker Valley and South Park, had a winning record last season.
For the Radiers’ four away games, they will have an average round-trip distance of 124.5 miles. The approximated total mileage for all four trips is 498.
“Obviously, travel is going to be tough on us,” Coss said. “We basically have to leave for an away game by 3 p.m. But right now, our biggest challenge is keeping everybody healthy. We have 32 upbeat kids. I know what they have. They can be winners.”