The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Family fuels Mental’s passion
New NDC football coach’s lineage filled with athletes, coaches
Mickey Mental and his family gather every Christmas at their Aunt Barb’s house in Chester Township.
There will be hugs, laughs, good cheer and presents. This year’s celebration will have an added bonus. That’s because Christmas has come early for the soon-to-be 35-year-old from Olmsted Falls.
On Dec. 22, Mental was named head coach of the Notre Dame College football program following the departure of Mike Jacobs to Lenoir-Rhyne. Mental will turn 35 this summer. He’s spent more than a decade with the Falcons in various roles.
But now it’s his time to be the head man in charge, and it all happened during the holidays — which should make the family gathering at Aunt Barb’s all the more sweeter.
“This is a dream come true,” said Mental two days before Christmas at his NDC office. “Early Christmas present. Couldn’t be more excited.”
Sports has always been a huge part of the Mental family. The family sports lineage goes from the east side to the west side of
Cleveland and spans more than four decades.
It started with Mental’s father, Mick and his brothers Tom and Jack. All grew up in Newbury, played various sports at the high school and in football all played quarterback. Jack might have been the best of the bunch after starring at Baldwin Wallace in the 1960s and earning a tryout with the Browns. He was also a standout basketball player and pitcher for the Yellow Jackets.
Tom Mental was a successful football coach at Shaw, and Mick spent many years at Cloverleaf High School as baseball coach.
Mick was also on legendary football coach Lee Tressel’s staff at BW.
Mickey Mental and his three sisters, plus his cousin, followed.
“Huge coaching family,” said Mick. “We love what we do, impacting young people’s lives.”
Like his uncles and father, Mickey played QB at BW — he was a three-year starter — and like Jack Mental had a tryout with the Browns.
“Being a (Division III) guy, that was huge,” said Mickey.
Mickey’s sister Meghan is the head volleyball coach at Westlake High School, and his sister Abby is Meghan’s assistant. His youngest sister Bridget is an eighthgrade volleyball coach in the Midview school system. Cousin Joni Prots is the volleyball coach at Berkshire.
Last by not least is Aunt Barb.
“In high school, she scored 56 points in a game,” said Mick.
It’s only fitting when Mickey finished his BW playing career and then gave the Arena league a shot, he stayed in football.
His first go-round in coaching began at Brookside High School, where he was the QB coach. Then, he got his opportunity in college when NDC head coach Adam Howard — who was the defensive coordinator at BW when Mickey played there — hired him as a graduate assistant.
Two years later, Mickey was the recruiting coordinator and assistant coach.
“For me to make my mark here, I had to do well in recruiting,” said Mickey.
A competitive fire to be great also helped, and his coach at Olmsted Falls High School in the early 2000s can attest to that.
Jim Ryan guided Mickey and his teammates to great success, especially in 2002. That season, Mickey was the QB for the Bulldogs during their 11-2 season in which they advanced to a state seminal and lost, 12-10, to Nordonia in a snow storm.
Mickey wasn’t just a standout in football. He was a point guard in basketball and a pitcher and center fielder in baseball. But it was in football that Ryan saw a future coach.
“He had great passion for the game,” said Ryan, now the offensive coordinator at North Olmsted. “He always studied the game, and was a sponge going over concepts.”
Mickey’s father credits the coaching his son received in high school as a key for his pathway into coaching. But the seeds for the love of sports were planted early in and around the Mental homes in Olmsted Falls and Newbury.
“Mickey’s a hard worker — all my kids are,” said Mick Mental. “I think he has the type of demeanor you need to be a head coach. He tries to keep everything in perspective. Doesn’t get too high or too low.”
Mickey will inherit a program that will play its 12th season of college football next fall, and is one on the rise. NDC went 25-3 the past two seasons, won two straight conference championships and made deep runs in the last two NCAA Division II playoffs. Now it’s Mickey’s turn to lead the Falcons.
“You’re always going to hear me say trust the process,” he said. “There’s a process here to be great. Our kids have bought into that. Mike (Jacobs) has done a great job getting our program to an elite level in a short amount of time. Just continue that by putting my own touch on that. What he’s done here, you’re not going to change it.”