The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lake Catholic names Gibbons new coach
Another Gibbons is in charge of the Lake Catholic football program.
Marty Gibbons was named the Cougars’ head coach Nov. 21, succeeding former coach Scott O’Donnell, who stepped down following this past season.
Gibbons is the youngest of nine children born to former Lake Catholic head coach John Gibbons, who led the Cougars to state championships in 1991 and 1992.
“I was born in the August of ‘92, right smack-dab in the middle of the state titles,” said Gibbons, a 2011 graduate of Lake Catholic. “My brother-in-law Tom (Lombardo) was the head coach in 2001 when we won state, and my brother Mike was a captain on that team.
“Lake Catholic is a huge part of who I am.”
And now he is the head coach of that program.
Gibbons, 26, has a few years of coaching under his belt. He was a graduate assistant at Notre Dame College, coached a year with his brother Mike Gibbons at Medina Highland, then spent a year as the defensive coordinator at Villa Angela-St. Joseph.
He did not coach this past season, but rather served as Lake Catholic’s director of admissions.
“I love this place,” Gibbons said. “I want to make it the best I can.”
Gibbons met with players after being introduced as the new head coach.
He said in coming weeks, he will meet with each player in the program individually so he can get to know them and they can get to know him.
Then the weight-lifting program will kick in.
“We’ll grow the program from there,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons said he liked what he saw in the final games of the season, which saw Lake Catholic finish with a 7-3 record including a win over Padua.
“They have an incredible enthusiasm for the game,” he said. “That’s a good starting point.”
Gibbons said he will also meet with current members of the Lake Catholic staff before formulating next year’s staff. The only “hire” made so far was retaining Mark Baniewicz as the offensive coordinator.
“Mark is the one hire we’ve made,” Gibbons said. “I played with him at Lake and John Carroll. We’ve known each other a long time. He’s an unbelievable asset to the program.”
Gibbons said his father “will be part of the picture,” but didn’t know yet about any other staff positions.
Sam Colacarro, athletic director at Lake Catholic, said he remembers not only Gibbons’ playing days at Lake Catholic, but also the day he was born.
There were a large number of applicants for the job, Colacarro said, but Gibbons’ knowledge of the game, his enthusiasm and his rapport with the students set him apart.
“All things pointed to Marty,” Colacarro said. “We are looking forward to moving forward. If I didn’t think he was capable, I wouldn’t have pursued this, but Marty is more than capable.”
The Gibbons family tree is chock full of coaches.
Aside from his father’s accolades at Lake Catholic and at St. Edward and his brother Mike’s work at Medina Highland, brother Tom Gibbons was the longtime head coach at Euclid and was an assistant at South last year. Lombardo is the head coach at Division I state final four participant St. Edward, and brother-inlaw Matt Moran is the head boys basketball coach at Lake Catholic.
Is he the next in the family tree to lead Lake to a state title?
“We know what our vision is,” Gibbons said. “(State titles) are our vision, but at the end of the day, we have to commit ourselves to the process of being a champion every day, being a champion day-today in everything we do. That’s the standard we’re going to set for these guys.”