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Zmijanac focused on building a program at Ringgold

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Noah Stillwagon

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Ringgold

Holly Tonini

Jeremy Wagner runs the drill with Alex Grossi looking on

Holly Tonini

Jason Walsh

The night in mid-April when Mike Zmijanac was hired as the new high school football coach at Ringgold, a school board member approached him moments after the meeting with a short, succinct question.

“When do you think we will have a winner here?”

Zmijanac’s answer mimicked the question. It was short, succinct and simple. It embodied the entire career of one of the most successful coaches in WPIAL history.

“My answer was, ‘I’m more impatient than you are,'” Zmijanac said.

Simple has worked for Zmijanac.

He has a 237-36 record, six WPIAL championships and a PIAA title, all at Aliquippa. He guided the Quips to the WPIAL finals in each of the past 10 seasons and ranks 13th on the WPIAL’s all-time coaching wins list.

“I’m a simple person,” Zmijanac laughed. “I’m as down to earth as you can be. I take the garbage out. I cut the grass. I say ‘Yes, ma’am’ to my wife. I babysit on Tuesdays. And I use three words when I call a play.”

Keeping it simple might be the best way to go for Zmijanac, who is doing something he’s never had to do in his head-coaching career – guide a team that didn’t make the WPIAL playoffs in the previous season. Ringgold lost four of its last five regular-season games to finish 3-6 overall and missed the playoffs.

But the goal for Zmijanac, who accepted the Ringgold job after being fired as Aliquippa’s coach by a 7-2 vote in late February, doesn’t have anything to do with what happened last year.

Holly Tonini

John Polefko

“I haven’t even turned (last season’s game tapes) on,” Zmijanac said during a rain-soaked practice that drove players inside the locker room in late July.

“I have no clue about this year’s team. I’m not sure I know all these kids names. I don’t want to judge them by something else. The short- and long-term goal is the same. It’s to build a program. It’s about getting good assistant coaches with the same vision, coaching all the kids, giving everyone an equal opportunity and the best players will play.”

Zmijanac is taking over a young team after the graduation of 17 seniors. The six players named to the Observer-Reporter All-District Football Team – C.J. Franks, Bo Haines, Max Maciejewski, Brenden Small, Darius Tyree and Tyrese Youngblood – have all moved on. The Rams had less than a handful of juniors last year.

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Mike Zmijanac resigned after a 0-10 season.

No underclassmen rushed for more than three yards, had more than three receptions or completed a pass for the Rams last season.

“We are working really hard,” Zmijanac said. “They are enthusiastic but inexperienced.”

Building a positive culture – Ringgold has been marred by incidents that have tainted the program’s reputation over the past few years – was one of the reasons finding a replacement for Nick Milchovich, who resigned following the 2017 regular-season finale against Trinity, lasted longer than five months.

“Look right, act right and play right,” Zmijanac said of a phrase he’s used throughout his career. “You build a culture of doing the things the way you think is right to do them. Kids are kids. They are no different than they used to be. They all want someone around them who cares about them.”

As for turning Ringgold back into a winner, Zmijanac admits there is no definite answer, yet.

“I’ve lost before. I know how to do it. It sucks. Losing absolutely sucks,” he said. “I remember every single loss of every game I’ve coached. I don’t remember all of the wins, but I remember all of the losses, for sure.”

“Is (winning) going to be instantaneous? I doubt it. But you never know.” 

Holly Tonini

Jeremiah White

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