Jan 24, 2022 3 min read

The last thing Ed Zelich thought he would be doing Monday was organizing his thoughts to find a new athletic director and football coach at Charleroi High School.

But that was the task laid at the superintendent’s feet after meeting with Brady Barbero. The popular football coach and athletic director resigned both positions yesterday so he could spend more time with his family.

Barbero has two sons, ages 10 and 12, and he rues not being able to be around them more.

“It was just getting that time when my children were getting older,” said Barbero, who also teaches math at Charleroi. “My oldest one is in eighth grade and youngest is in fifth. They’re so involved and it’s been really tough missing their stuff. They go to a different school (California) so it might have been different if they went here.”

Barbero plans to stay in his athletic director’s job until the end of this school term. He said he considered moving the family into the Charleroi school district but decided against it.

“We like where we live and our kids have friends there,” Barbero said. “It was something we thought about but it wasn’t in the cards.”

Barbero informed Zelich, who was the boys basketball coach at Waynesburg in the 1990s, of his decision at an early meeting Monday.

“He comes in and if he has questions we try to work together to problem solve,” said Zelich. “He caught me by surprise. I went through something similar and I know all the hours you go through. If I had to do it all over again, I’d say one of my biggest regrets I had was not being home as much as I should have been.”

Zelich said he worried about Barbero feeling overwhelmed by his jobs.

“He made a decision that was best for he and his family and I respect that,” said Zelich. “He’s first class. Mention Brady Barbero’s name and they’ll tell you he’s first class.”

Barbero spent two years as football coach for Charleroi and went 9-10. In his first season, Barbero led the Cougars to a 7-3 record and a spot in the WPIAL playoffs. He went 2-7 last season.

“We have some good kids coming back,” said Barbero, “and they are going to make some noise.”

Barbero worked seven seasons as an assistant at California High School before being promoted to head coach prior to the 2009 season. In four seasons at California, Barbero went 19-19, including a 7-3 season in 2011. He resigned as the Trojans’ coach in January 2013.

He then spent three years as an assistant for Nick Milchovich at Ringgold.

Barbero took over for Lance Getsy, who resigned after going 17-5 in two seasons at Charleroi. Getsy led the Cougars to back-to-back playoff appearances, including a conference championship and a WPIAL Class 2A semifinal appearance in 2018.

Barbero is a 1997 graduate of California High School and a 2002 graduate of California University after starting at Penn State’s main campus.