La Salle hires Audino, upgrading facilities
After 24 seasons as head coach of Union College, coaching against “that other school” [RPI] and two years away as an assistant coach at Columbia University, John Audino crosses the river and returns home. La Salle Institute named Audino head coach of its football program and also unveiled plans for a $1.7 million dollar upgrade to its athletic facilities.
Following a 1-6 campaign last season, the need for a culture change and subsequent facelift was apparent.
The upgrades encompass a new state-of-the-art turf field, track and strength and conditioning equipment. The turf is similar to that used by the NFL’s New England Patriots. Fittingly, the esteemed Audino will be tasked with changing the culture and trajectory much like Bill Parcells once did with the Pats.
“We want to flip the culture. We want to have fun. We want to have respect. We want to gain respect. And we obviously want to win,” coach Audino said. “I have a little acronym I learned at Columbia, it’s called “EAT,” and it stands for effort, it stands for accountability and it stands for team. I think that’s something that we all understand is very important.”
Along with emphasizing the importance of “we,” Audino stressed individual accountability.
“The effort that you give, the accountability that you have for each other and the school you represent, along with the team atmosphere that athletics and a school like this creates,” coach Audino said. “It’s something that I carry with me all the time and the reason why I think it’s important to be an athlete and to be a member of an institution like this is that your faith, both in God and yourself, are really going to carry you a long way and that’s going to be something that we talk about all the time.”
As with any goal, one must have an effective plan toward achieving an objective. While Audino didn’t make any bold proclamations on how the team would finish in 2018, he mapped out a course of where he expects his Cadets to build to.
“Some of the goals that I have for the program, obviously we want to improve from last year to this year, what that is and how that’s evaluated, we’ll let you know at the end of the season and it doesn’t necessarily mean that wins need to be more and that we have to win a championship, although that will be the goal,” Audino said. “A .500 season or better, we’d like to win our division, we’d like to make the playoffs, we’d like to win our first playoff game, we’d like to win the section, we’d like to win the state playoff game and we’d like to win a state championship.”
In preparing for a rebuilding, Audino leaned on his two-year stint at Columbia University as a track record of proven results.
“I really, really learned a lot and I think what I learned at Columbia is going to help me here at La Salle, because we had taken over a program that had lost 20 straight games and we were 8-2 last year,” coach Audino said. “I think besides myself and the rest of the staff, the kids bought in and that’s what we’re going to try to create here.”
A longtime recruiter in the college ranks, Audino also emphasized the importance of fostering strong relationships in the community.
“Recruiting is about developing relationships and I think I’m a good relationship builder. I don’t think the transition from college to high school is going to be very difficult because I’ve run high school camps throughout my coaching career and I coached at high school camps, I recruited high school young men, I deal with parents, so I don’t think that transition will be hard at all,” coach Audino said. “I think it’ll be pretty seamless and coaching is coaching whether you’re coaching a third grader or a professional and I think it’s very, very important to understand that my job is not just to get wins on the field but it’s to make sure that the guys understand what it is to be a very functioning member of their community but I think that everything will flow pretty seamlessly and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to create a culture here that’s going to be a long lasting one.”