Burrell hires former Highlands coach to lead football program

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Thursday, January 23, 2025 | 8:57 PM


Burrell’s new football playbook might borrow some ideas from the Kansas City Chiefs.

Newly hired football coach Dom Girardi already has cheered on the Chiefs at two Super Bowls and is headed to Arrowhead Stadium for the AFC Championship Game on Sunday. He comes from a football family, and his brother is Kansas City’s quarterbacks coach.

As brothers, they do talk football.

“I have gone to that well before and have gotten some good advice and some good coaching points,” Girardi said. “I’ve always told him, ‘If you ever think of something and you want me to try it out, I’d be more than happy to be the guinea pig.”

Burrell hired Girardi on Tuesday.

Formerly the head coach at Highlands for five seasons, Girardi also served as an assistant at Deer Lakes, Knoch and Geneva College. He went 21-26 in five seasons at Highlands and led the Golden Rams to the WPIAL playoffs in 2021, his final year there.

Girardi, 42, graduated from Valley in 2000 and later attended Duquesne and Jacksonville, where he played quarterback.

“He brings in a lot of experience,” Burrell athletic director Brian Ferra said. “From being a player at the college level to being a former head coach in high school, he brings a lot to the table.”

Girardi replaces coach Shawn Liotta, who resigned in December after seven seasons at Burrell. Liotta’s teams went 26-45 with three playoff appearances. The Bucs finished 2-8 last fall, including a 2-4 record in the Class 3A Allegheny Conference.

Burrell football players met Girardi on Thursday.

“He hit the ground running,” Ferra said. “He’s a local guy and is invested in the program.”

Girardi and his wife, Tamara, already reside in the school district with their four children: Frank, Clara, Gabriella and Domenick. Their oldest is an eighth grader. After a few years off, Girardi said he felt a growing desire to coach again.

“If you coach, you always have that inside of you,” said Girardi, whose father also coached. “It’s always wanting to get out. Personally, the timing felt right to get back into it.”

He met with football players in grades nine through 11 around lunchtime Thursday and with eighth graders at the end of the school day. Those four classes will compose next season’s roster.

“We don’t want to develop them as solely football players but also as athletes and people,” he said. “We talked about that when we met. I want them to be the best version of themselves that they can. We use football to help accomplish that.”

Girardi said he might be labeled as an offensive-minded coach since he was the one calling plays at Highlands, a responsibility he may assume again at Burrell. But he summed up his coaching philosophy as “tough, physical football and good defense.”

“In many ways, I see myself as defensive-minded,” he said, “because that’s among the things I think about the most.”

Girardi has followed the Kansas City Chiefs since younger brother David was hired there as an assistant coach seven years ago. Girardi attended the 2020 Super Bowl in Miami and last year’s title game in Nevada. A win at home Sunday over the Buffalo Bills would send the Chiefs to their fifth Super Bowl in six years.

“When you pull into Arrowhead, it’s the best-smelling parking lot in the NFL,” Girardi said. “Everybody is barbecuing.”

He said there are some constants in football, whether the game is played by high school athletes or professionals. But don’t expect Burrell to be running Kansas City’s offense on Friday nights in the fall.

“I learned a long time ago that while many aspects of the game carry over, some just don’t,” Girardi said. “David will be telling me about a 40-yard, across-the-field route. I’m thinking, ‘Well, I don’t have Tyreek Hill to cover that kind of ground that fast.’ ”

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.

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