Kiski Area football coach Sam Albert hangs up head coach’s whistle after 3 decades

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 | 8:33 PM

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Thirty-four years after landing his first head coaching job, Kiski Area football coach Sam Albert has decided those days are over.

But he’s not ready to retire.

Albert resigned Wednesday at Kiski Area after eight seasons as coach with plans to serve elsewhere next fall as an assistant. A former head coach at Valley, Butler, Freeport and Highlands, Albert is one of only four coaches in WPIAL history to lead four schools to the playoffs.

His career record is 160-153-1 in 31 seasons.

“I’m ready to just be an assistant somewhere,” Albert said. “I’ll always be grateful to Kiski for giving me an opportunity. I still enjoy the kids. I still enjoy the bonding with them. Scheming for games. But everything else that goes along with being a head coach, I figure it’s somebody else’s turn.”

Kiski Area went 27-52 in his eight seasons with three playoff appearances. This year’s team went 4-6.

Albert joked that, as an assistant, he’ll still get “the fun parts” of coaching. But he was quick to add that his head coaching career was overall an enjoyable one.

The Apollo-Ridge graduate first became a head coach at Valley in 1991.

“I’ve really been blessed in my career,” Albert said. “You read stories about parents, and I’ve never really had that. After a while — 34 years — you say, ‘OK, let somebody else have a turn.’ ”

Albert said his wife, Jodi, can retire after one more year as a teacher at Seneca Valley. That timeline also influenced his decision to scale back as a coach.

Kiski Area, Freeport, Highlands and Valley reached the WPIAL playoffs with Albert in charge. Valley reached the WPIAL finals in his first season.

The other WPIAL coaches to reach the playoffs with four schools were Joe Naunchik (Fox Chapel, Hempfield, Plum and Valley), Dan Bradley (Ambridge, Ellwood City, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Sto-Rox), Nick Milchovich (California, Charleroi, Peters Township and Ringgold) and the late Rich Bowen (Elizabeth Forward, Hempfield, Serra Catholic and Yough).

“To me, it’s how you relate to the players,” Albert said. “If they believe in you and they know that you love and care for them, then they’ll do anything for you.”

Albert said he once was asked to reflect on his decades as a coach and list his top 10 players.

He declined to answer.

“I said no because they all felt they were in my top 10,” Albert said. “That’s why we were successful everywhere. They believed in the program and each other. That’s the key, I believe.”

Albert said Kiski Area returns 10 starters on defense, so the program has potential next season. The Cavaliers reached the playoffs under Albert in 2023, ’19 and ’18.

“I know they’ll get a good guy in there and have success,” Albert said.

Known for not sharing his true age, Albert said coaching has kept him young. Even if one of his Highlands players had his classmates wrongly thinking Albert was already a septuagenarian a decade ago.

The prankster was linebacker Allan Cratsenberg, who later starred at VMI.

“He said at a pep assembly, ‘I would like everybody to wish Coach Albert a happy 70th birthday,’ ” Albert recalled with a laugh. “I had kids coming up to me in the hall saying, ‘Hey coach, happy 70th. You look great!’ ”

Albert said he intends to stay young by coaching, just now as an assistant.

“I think I still have a lot of offer,” he said. “I still love coaching. But there’s a lot to being a head coach nowadays. I really believe somebody else should give that a try at Kiski.”

A coaching career

Here is a look at Sam Albert’s record as a head coach:

1991-93 (Valley): 26-6-1

1994-95 (Butler): 6-14

1999-2003 (Freeport): 26-24

2004-16 (Highlands): 75-57

2017-24 (Kiski Area): 27-52

Total (31 seasons): 160-153-1

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Kiski Area