“Every year the crowd gets a little bigger” said PSFCA Executive Manager Garry Cathell. This year the Coaching clinic was held at the Penn State Hotel complex in State College, PA, home of the the Nittany Lions and Head Coach James Franklin. The main hall was lined with exhibition tables from all different vendors including Shutt, Riddell, The Funding Zone, HUDL and many more featuring the latest equipment and techniques available to everyone.
But it wasn’t just the PSU staff that was in attendance, coaching staff members from Villanova, West Chester, Shippensburg, Seton Hill, Mercyhurst, Temple, Bucknell, Thiel, Princeton, St. Vincent and Pitt all gave live demonstrations, power point presentations and classroom type lessons to nearly 600 high school football coaches from every district in the PIAA.
Assistant coach Roger Nunkester of Southern Columbia was in attendance. “I’m never too proud and always willing to learn something new. I’m going in here to this session, we don’t use that type of offense but you can pick out one or two things to use.
In addition to the lessons being given in the conference rooms, coaches also shared styles and tips in the hallways. “It’s a good time here, you get to see a lot of coaches you normally wouldn’t see throughout the season” said one coach in passing.
The weekend got started with a bang when James Franklin took the podium and didn’t disappoint with his high energy presentation. “We are very excited and recruiting the heck out of Pennsylvania. We believe in what you do and we want you here at PSU,” he told the coaches in attendance, followed by an open invite to attend any PSU practice, camp or even just show up to watch some film with the PSU staff. Franklin and staff kept themselves visible and openly available to all for much of the weekend as did all the other coaching staffs in attendance.
“We do these clinics because it gives us a chance to get to know the coaches of the players we are recruiting,” said Villanova AC Mark Ferrante.
Day one was short but Day two of the clinic went from 8 am to 9 pm and it was a busy one. “Ok, you’re going here, I’m going to go in here and so on,” said District 6 Bellefonte Head coach Shannon Manning as he and his staff scrambled to utilize the lessons to be learned in the six hall spaces being used.
Day two was capped by not one but two big speakers, Pitt’s new head coach, Pat Narduzzi, gave his “we love this state and the football being played here,” speech. He broke down plays from his past coaching seasons for all to analyze and see. Narduzzi said he was “very happy to come to Pennsylvania because they have some of the greatest football in the country being played on Friday nights.” He also gave an open door invite to all coaches in attendance.
It wasn’t just the clinics but also the camaraderie that the coaches in attendance shared. In between presentations the halls were crowded with coaches talking about a variety of topics like the proposed six classification going through the PIAA, travel budgets, and scheduling logistics as well as some good old-fashioned back slapping fun and joking.
Current Cleveland Browns head coach and Keynote Speaker Mike Pettine Jr. (son of PA Coaching great Mike Pettine Sr. who coached the great CBW teams of the 90s) concluded the clinics in the halls with pro-style lesson. “I’m extremely humbled to be standing here in front of you all tonight. When I learned of the opportunity to speak here it was the easiest answer I’ve ever had to give in my life. These are my roots, this is my home and from where I came,” he said. Throughout his presentation he made one thing very clear, he was “proud of where he came from” and was never humble. “There are many high school coaches that are better than pro coaches, just never let yourself think you can’t learn any more as a head coach. I admit I stole a picture from a presentation earlier that I’m going to use in the future.”
Frank Boda of District 7 power Franklin Regional would like to see even more attend the clinic. “I sure would like to see more coaches attend. It’s a great time,” he said while standing in the hallway just outside the room that contained nearly every coach that attended the clinic while they chowed down on buffalo wings, meatballs and yes, there was also free beer for all. “What other incentive can you give a coach?” said someone jokingly.
The clinic will be held again next year through at least 2019 at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. “Eventually we’d like to encompass this entire floor. We want to get bigger and better every year,” said Cathell.
This year’s top award winners were:
Class A coach of the year: Justin Wheeler, Bishop Guilfoyle
Class AA coach of the year: Joe Rossi, South Fayette
Class AAA coach of the year: Steve Devlin, Archbishop Wood
Class AAAA coach of the year: Gabe Infante, St. Josephs Prep
For more information on the PSFCA visit their site: psfca.org/
