Pettine honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
Former Browns coach and four others inducted into Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame
WHITPAIN » Mike Pettine Jr. received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame 16th annual induction banquet at Normandy Farms Tuesday evening.
“We really see it as a family honor given the circumstances of my dad’s passing this year,” Pettine said. “I was very flattered when they called. It’s something to recognize what he did for Montgomery County — he was inducted in the second class in 2003. For us it really helps cement the legacy because I view myself as an extension of that. It’s a great honor to have what he did and what he was able to help me do be recognized again, especially at home. I’ve been a lot of places, but I’ve always been drawn back to the Philadelphia area.”
Pettine had a long coaching journey with many stops.
Before coaching, however, the Doylestown native starred at Central Bucks West. He played under his legendary dad, the late Mike Pettine Sr., and earned all state honors as a quarterback and defensive back. He went on to play college ball as a free safety at the University of Virginia. He graduated in 1988 and shortly after started his coaching career.
The 51-year old served as an assistant to his father at CB West and a graduate assistant at the University of Pittsburgh before getting his first head coaching job.
“I learned so much about football from (my dad), but when you coach for him or when you play for him, unknowingly you’re being imprinted with such a great set of life skills,” Pettine said. “There are a lot of players that will never play another down after they played for him and still what they were left with — the successful habits that they had — it’s a life skills thing. That’s one of the things that makes him most proud. Obviously he had a lot of records and the numbers were great, but nothing made him more proud than when a former player came back into town and they had become a judge or a lawyer or a doctor and became a success in whatever field they chose to pursue.”
Pettine took over as head coach at William Tennent High School in 1995 and North Penn in 1997.
He got his first NFL job as an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens
in 2001 under Rex Ryan. He was promoted to assistant defensive line coach in 2004 and outside linebackers coach in 2005.
He followed Ryan to the Jets in 2009 to be his defensive coordinator. In his first season, the Jets had the number one defense in the NFL.
After one year as the Bills defensive coordinator in 2013, Pettine was hired as the Browns head coach. Pettine led the Browns to a 7-9 record in 2014 and 3-13 record in 2015. The sevenwin season was the best the Browns have had since 2007.
Pettine is currently working for the Seattle Seahawks as a consultant and hopes to fully get back into the NFL next year.
In addition to Pettine, four others were inducted into the Hall of Fame — Jim Donofrio, Will Lapp, Tom Lonergan and Cathy Miller.
Jim Donofrio
Donofrio is about to begin his 20th season as head coach of the Plymouth Whitemarsh boys basketball team. He’s led the Colonials to 13 Suburban One League American Conference championships, a District
1 title in 2016 and a state crown in 2010. He won his 400th game as a head coach last season.
“When Tony (Leodora) called me in March or April at that time it’s a great compliment and you hang up the phone and think, ‘Well isn’t that nice,’” Donofrio said. “Then when you go to write your speech, it forced me to think about 1991 until now. That’s when putting a speech together that doesn’t go five hours long or bore anybody to tears, you start to write out so much and you start eliminating. It literally makes you go, ‘Wow, this has been a while.’ It’s not what I ever planned when I got in it. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t get fired. To take over for Hank Stofco and Al Angelos, I was just so scared of losing because you had to win. That’s the great motivator.”
Will Lapp
Lapp built a volleyball dynasty at Souderton High School. He won 13 Suburban One championships in 16 years. His teams went 299-38 in match play and their overall game record was 1146-304. He coached Souderton to a state championship in 1998 and was inducted into the Pennsylvania Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the North Penn/ Souderton Hall of Fame in
2006. He is the founder/director of the Souderton Community Education Volleyball Program and supervises a 140-team summer league.
“It’s really an honor to be recognized for a lot of years and a lot of hard work,” Lapp said. “It’s something that you’ll always remember because it encompasses a large area. It’s nice to be recognized for something you worked hard for and enjoyed so much.”
Tom Lonergan
Lonergan coached girls basketball at Bishop McDevitt, Central Bucks East and Gwynedd Mercy Academy. He was the Catholic League Coach of the Year six times at McDevitt and led East to nine straight 20-win seasons. He took over at GMA in 2013 and won more games in four years than the team had in the previous 11 seasons. The Monarchs have had three consecutive 20win seasons and won the Academies League championship in 2016.
“When you get honors like this you’re humbled,” Lonergan said. “At the same time you appreciate the respect that the honor brings. I’ve been fortunately blessed to have some very talented players, terrific coaching staff from year-to-year and I wouldn’t be here without them. They should be at
the forefront. I’ve just been lucky.”
Cathy Miller
Miller has been the Methacton softball coach for 36 seasons. She’s won 16 Suburban One championships, a PAC-10 championship and a District 1 championship. In 2009, Miller took over the Methacton girls tennis team, which has won six PAC titles and one district title. Her softball teams have a combined record of 485-211 and girls tennis 107-21.
“It means a lot,” Miller said. “It’s a testament to the kids who have gone through the program and make me as a coach want to come back. When I hear from them later they always say, ‘We had a good time, it was fun.’ Some of them played in college, a lot didn’t. It’s just been a fun time and I think if they walk out and say, ‘I had a good time, I had fun playing Methacton softball,’ that’s what it is for me.”
Honor Roll
Youth coaches Ralph Panullo (legion baseball and St. Francis/Visitation football), Sam Gallen (youth hockey), Rob Bond (Springfield Township ice hockey and baseball) and Rod Vaughan (West Norriton Little League) were honored as members of the Community Coaches Honor Roll.