(Publisher’s Note: Reno Saccoccia wins. The steel mills have closed. The population has drastically declined. There are more athletic options than ever. And yet, Saccoccia still wins, and that is only one of a plethora of reasons why he will join Wheeling Central’s Mike Young tomorrow in Canton to be inducted into the National High School Football Hall of Fame. This article was initially published in January, and it appears again today because tomorrow is the BIG day. Congratulations, again, Coach Saccoccia. Roll Red Roll!)
His on-field achievements made his induction into the National High School Football Hall of Fame an absolute no-brainer.
- He’s recorded more victories than any other head coach in Ohio’s high school football history.
- He possesses 423 career wins as Steubenville’s head football coach.
- He’s guided them to 32 postseasons in 39 years.
- He’s captured four state championships and five runner-up finishes.
That’s Reno Saccoccia’s coaching career on stat sheet, and it’s impressive, but one of his long-time colleagues insists the Steubenville native has had just as important an impact off the field as he has on it.
Saccoccia will be one of several inductees come the first weekend in June in Canton, Ohio, and while a few others will include Joe Namath, Eric Dickerson, and Deion Sanders, another will be legendary Wheeling Central Catholic head coach Mike Young.
“Reno Saccoccia is a great guy. A terrific man. Just super,” he said. “Reno and I have been friends for a very long time, and I’ve always enjoyed our football conversations because we think a lot alike when it comes to the games and to our players.
“I know Reno comes across being all gruff and rough and things like that, and he is a very stern type of individual, but the man has a lot of love and compassion for his players and for this community,” Young revealed. “He cares about them so much, and that may be something people don’t see. He has relationships with each of them no matter where they come from and who their parents are. Reno is a very giving person and I have a feeling a lot of people don’t know that about him.”
Young and Saccoccia have been friends for decades, meeting soon after each began their respective coaching careers close to 55 years ago, and Young has compiled impressive stats, too. The Hall of Famer’s career mark at CCHS and St. Clairsville is 232-96, and 17 of his Maroon Knights teams have appeared in the West Virginia postseason with eight winning Class A state titles.
“Our friendship goes back a long ways, and I’m proud to be getting inducted in the same class as him,” Young said. “I proud of Reno for all of the success he’s has had on and off the field, too. A lot of people – most people – only care about the wins on the field, but when you’re a high school coach, you deal with so much more than just designing offenses and defenses. These young men bring their lives to you every day.
“But Reno has been there for his players and his community every time and that’s one of many reasons why I’m proud to be going into the Hall of Fame with him. He is so very deserving,” Young said. “He’s always stood tall for his community and his family, and he’s consistently put a quality football team on the field every single year. That’s a Hall of Famer right there.”
“Hold your strength till the barriers fly,
then close with the leaders eye to eye.
Thundering hooves and the mad jammed race,
blood in the nostrils, sweat in the face.
And Big Red, remember wherever you are,
you carry the blood of Man o’ War. “
There’s not a seat to be found in Harding Stadium when a Steubenville football game is taking place because, in this old, former steel city that’s lost 8,000 residents over the past 40 years, “Roll Red Roll” is more than a crowd chant.
“Roll Red Roll” is a way of life, and it begins at the youth football level.
“I have had parents come to me and tell me their sons want to play for me, and Reno has that happen to him probably every day. That’s how much that Big Red program means to his community and the people in it. Big Red football is something very special, and he’s made it that way since he became the head coach back in the mid-1980s,” Young said. “There are kids at their games who want the players’ chin straps and their towels and gloves because that’s what they want to do when they grow up. It’s the best compliment, it really is.
“Those kids hear ‘Roll Red Roll’ and they want to be a part of it. They want to be winners like Coach Reno and his teams are year in and year out. That’s how a program works,” he added. “It’s the same thing we hear here – ‘Once a Knight, Always a Knight’ – and it’s special, and it’s because that’s what Reno has built.”
Young doubts many people know how much off-field contributions Saccoccia makes to the Upper Ohio Valley community, including the annual recruiting fair held each winter by members of the local Football Coaches Association.
“A lot of our coaches in the OVAC participate so we can bring in coaches from college programs in the region, and Reno does a lot of work to get the valley’s players looked at so they have a chance for scholarship dollars to continue their education,” the Central Catholic coach said. “We see a lot of Division I scouts come into the valley, but the smaller colleges don’t have the budgets for that, so we work to get their attention.
“Reno and his program are two big reasons for those coaches return his phone calls,” he said. “And that’s just one of many examples I could give you. He’s a good man.”
https://ledenews.com/a-hall-of-famer-family-before-football-a-constant-with-mike-young
