Salvino aims to revive Monessen
Monessen’s Alan Duncan tries to intercept a pass during practice.
Monessen’s Alan Duncan tackles Jaron Youngblood during football camp.
Cory Fleming, Nate Simms and Jaden Altomore run to make a tackle during an agilitiy and speed training drill.
MONESSEN – Clouds rolled past Memorial Stadium as Joe Salvino stood watch over his players, tucking his right hand under his left elbow and holding a whistle close to his lips.
Salvino, who is in his first year as head football coach at Monessen, observed his assistant coaches breaking down the basic offensive system the Greyhounds will be running this fall, making sure personnel is correctly aligned and nodding in agreement with their words.
It’s a different sport for him, but coaching is coaching and molding a program into a winner is nothing new to Salvino.
The 64-year-old Salvino’s latest building project is much different than the one he undertook 31 years ago when he became the school’s boys basketball coach. Salvino has won five WPIAL basketball championships, two state titles and has almost 600 career wins.
Unlike basketball, which limits rosters to 15 players, participation is a concern in football. Players need to be conditioned differently and the responsibilities of a head coach range from organizing team meals to filing paperwork.
“There is a lot more responsibility,” Salvino joked. “I have to worry about kids eating and you need quite a few kids to field a football team.”
Salvino’s journey to this spot on the brown-spotted field he once played on as a teenager was one that required some convincing to make it happen. After Andy Pacak’s head coaching job was opened, Salvino was approached twice by district administration to gauge his interest.
Both times, he said no. However, when former Belle Vernon head coach Gary Dongilli and former Monessen assistant coach Tom Thompson agreed to join the coaching staff, it changed everything.
Monessen struggled in 2014 with only four wins, each of which were vacated for using ineligible players, and the Greyhounds have not won a WPIAL title since 1961. Salvino remembers the excitement that once filled the bleachers on Friday nights at a school that has produced almost a dozen professional football players.
He feared the program would fall into the wrong hands and he has always embraced a challenge.
“I’m probably harder on myself than anyone else could be and that’s why I’m still here,” Salvino said. “I’m so darn competitive and that’s why I want to meet this challenge. I want everything to go well for the team, the city and the school.
“There is a lot of tradition on this football field. I don’t know many other small schools like Monessen that have sent so many players to the professional ranks. I’m going to try to keep that going.”
Now, Salvino will lead a roster of 27 players into the Eastern Conference that features three of the top teams in Class A – Clairton, Jeannette and Greensburg Central Catholic. To succeed, the Greyhounds will rely heavily on team speed and experienced starters along the offensive line.
Junior Marc Gibson, a 6-5 mauler, leads a group that includes Nate Cieply, Zach Baker, Hunter Talegraphs and Damian Tineri. They’ll pave the way for senior running back Demond Jordan and senior fullback Justin Bolden in the Greyhounds’ pro-style offense, which will likely go as far as its two quarterbacks take it.
Senior Lavalle Rush and junior Jaden Altomore – two of Salvino’s top players on the basketball court – will split time between quarterback and wide receiver to keep opponents guessing. While Altomore is taller than Rush at 6-2, both are extremely athletic and will stretch defenses with their ability to escape the pocket.
“I was actually kind of excited,” Rush said of Salvino being hired. “He’s a great coach and I love having him in basketball. The coaches have been working us harder than we used to. It’s going to make us all way better.”
The defense is filled with playmakers. Rush returns at cornerback, Altomore at safety, Bolden at linebacker, Jordan at outside linebacker and Salvino has been impressed with junior Jaron Youngblood at linebacker in the Greyhounds’ 3-5 defense.
But, like the offense, the Greyhounds will have to win football games at the line of scrimmage. That means finding depth behind the five starting linemen. Salvino is concerned with numbers – a new problem for a coach who had 40 players at basketball tryouts last winter.
Monessen will be counted out against top competition, but Salvino knows the athletes the district has and vows to bring football glory and pride to the city.
That’s what brought Salvino back. And like the stadium’s white walls that are fading to gray, the Monessen’s football program was in need of a major facelift.
“It’s not like I never coached football,” Salvino said. “I coached as an assistant for 26 years, but to be honest with you, this is something I never thought I’d do again. I never thought I’d walk down that ramp to the field again. A lot of people don’t believe that, but that’s the truth. This conference is a challenge and hopefully we meet that challenge.”