Zmijanac firing marks decline of a coaching era
advocate at a time when too few adult males are willing to find time for them. Zmijanac had a positive influence on hundreds of lives in a small town that doesn’t provide much hope for its young people. That was much more important than all the games, WPIAL titles and PIAA titles that his football and basketball teams won.
Thisalso is about the futureof high school coaching andthe frightening direction it is heading. I fear it won’tjust be Aliquippa kids wholose. It will be kids everywhereif good coaches aredriven away or out of the business.
Parentalinterference and schoolboard meddling alwayshave been a part of coaching,but it is so much worsenow. Parents are so bold.It takes only one or two tobring down a coach. I can’t thinkof one reason why anyonewould want to coach thesedays other than a love forkids. God bless them for that.It’s not as if the money is significant.The headaches aren’tworth it. If a great man andgreat coach such as Zmijanaccan be terminated, whatcoach is safe?
I’mwondering if Upper St.Clair’s Jim Render might benext to go. He, too, is an amazingman and amazing coach,winning 398 games — mostin WPIAL history — evenas he had to fight off his shareof critics. West Allegheny’sBob Palko has said nextseason will be his final one, so it looks as if he’s gettingto go out his way. Will ThomasJefferson’s Bill Cherpakbe so fortunate? We’ll see.
Oncethose guys are gone, sadly,there will be no more coachinglegends here.
“There’snot going to be a generationlike this again,” Rendertold the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’sMike White lastseason. “Coaches don’t lastnowadays.”
Zmijanac is 74 but still young of mind, strong and vibrant. The upcoming season probably was going to be his final one, anyway. But all of us want to be appreciated for our dedication and hard work. It couldn’t have been easy for Zmijanic to sit at that school board meeting Wednesday night and see the board vote, 7-2, to open his job. If that weren’t bad enough, he then had to hear about a post on social media from board member Ezra Lowe accusing him of not supporting his players. “What about the kids that are on the corner now from the football team?” Lowe wrote. “You use them for your glory, for your self-edification. What about their future? When do they get rewarded?”
That’sthe type of nonsensethat Zmijanac had to dealwith. I’m thinking he’s better off without the job.
Theclueless Lowe is correctthat there are kids — includingfootball players — onthe street corners in Aliquippa.I’d love to blame poorleadership on the schoolboard from Lowe and theothers — that clearly seemsto be a problem — but theissue goes much deeper. Theschool district is in bad financialshape. It, the town ingeneral, never has recoveredfrom the loss of those steel jobs.
Zmijanacdid his best everyday to make a bad situationbetter. He and one of his predecessors,Don Yannessa,did incredible work bringingpride back to the communitywith their footballteams. Aliquippa might havea high crime rate 6½ daysa week, but on Friday nightsduring football seasonit might be the safest placein the state. Everybodyin town — black and white— is at Carl A. AschmanStadium — The Pit — supportingthe Quips, far andaway the town’s most powerfulunifier.
Lowetalks about the footballplayers Zmijanac couldn’tsave. How about themany more he helped to escapeAliquippa, get an educationand make a better lifefor themselves? I’m here tospeak for them, but I’m hardlyalone. There was this onTwitter from Beaver Countynative Archie Miller,the head basketball coachat Indiana University:
Tocoach Mike Zmijanac, youare a legend! You are a truewarrior of kids who havenothing. You never madean excuse for anyone andalways took your teams tothe finish line. You are amazing!To all Quips, this mandeserves it all! From a ⚪️ fan!Archie Miller
—Arch Miller (@Archie_Miller)February 22, 2018
I’mguessing that opinion meansa little more to Zmijanacthan Lowe’s foolish thoughts.
Sothe search begins for a newAliquippa football coachfor the first time in 21 years.The next man will inherita talented team, one thatwon’t surprise anyone ifit goes back to another WPIALchampionship next season.The Quips went to thetitle game in each of the past10 seasons under Zmijanac.
Goodluck to the new coachtrying to match that enduringsuccess.
Goodluck to him trying totouch the countless lives thatZmijanac did.
And,yes, good luck to himtrying to keep every playeroff the Aliquippa street corners.