Let’s catch up on the new head coaches for 2019
Tagged under: Coaches Corner, District 11, District 2, District 3, District 5, District 6, District 7, District 9, News
Billy Splain | January 15, 2019
Several area teams have made moves to fill vacancies left behind at the head coaching position.
District 2:
The Hanover Hawkeyes hired a familiar name as Rick Hummer will take the reigns. Rick takes over for Mike McCree. His brother Ron was Hanovers coach from2006-2014.
Back in December, the Wilkes-Barre school board voted Ciro Cinti to lead the newly formed Wolfpack. Cinti was the head coach for the Coughlin Crusaders.
Lakeland: David Piwowarczyk was hired to take the place of long time head coach Jeff Wasilchak. Piwowarczyk coached the freshman team and served as quarterbacks and defensive line coach. He previously spent time with Western Wayne
District 3:
(per Eric Epler, Pennlive) Lower Merion made a familiar hire, bringing back Rob Klock who served as the head coach of the Falcons for 14 years until taking some time off after the 2015 season.
(also per Epler) Hershey HS The Derry Township School Board on Monday voted unanimously to hire Mark Painter as the Trojans’ next head football coach. Painter, who skippered five successful seasons at Hershey (2009-14) before his controversial dismissal, replaces Frank Isenberg following a three-year run.
District 5:
Everett lost Winston Redman stepped away and the Warriors replaced him with assistant Dave Lightner.
District 6:
Perennial contender Juniata had some big shoes to fill when long time head coach Gary Kingensmith stepped away to enjoy retirement. The Indians stayed within and hired 17 year assistant Kurt Condo, who says “it was the longest job interview ever”. “They told me there was an old hen coach that was going to retire soon so….” Kurt has indicated it will be business as usual for the Indians.
District 7:
Upper St Clair hired asst coach Mike Junko to be the first new head coach there since Render took the job 40 years ago. Junko has been with the Panthers for 2 years. Junko played for Render in the late 80s.
The Freedom Bulldogs lost their coach twice in 2018, and have name assistant Greg Toney as their head coach.
Hopewell has named Rochester assistant coach Matt Weiss to lead their program. Weiss replaces Mark Washington.
Seton LaSalle had a hole to fill when Rob Carter left after three years. It didn’t take long as former Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac, who had recently resigned from Ringgold, stepped up and accepted the position.
Greensburg Central Catholic lost Aaron Smetanka when he accepted a position with St Vincent College. GCC Wide Receivers coach Bret Colbert will replace him as Head Coach. Colbert is the son of former St Vincent coach Bob Colbert.
Western Beaver has hired former Penn State WR Derek Moye as their Head Coach Moye has been serving as WR coach at Aliquippa
District 9:
Redbank Valley hired assistant coach Blane Gold to replace long time head coach Ed Wasilowski. Gold in a 2007 Franklin area grad and has been with the Bulldogs since 2014. He also coached at Oil City and Franklin.
St. Marys hired former Brookville head coach Chris Dworek on Monday. Chris was the Brookville head coach for 19 seasons, stepping away after the 2014 season.
District 11:
The Whitehall Zephyrs replaced Brian Gilbert with former Central Catholic and Penn State quarterback Matt Senneca. Gilbert resigned to become the Athletic Director at Palisades high school. Senneca was serving as the offensive coordinator at Emmaus high school. He also served as head coach for Wilson for 2 years.
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