Charleroi names athletic director Brady Barbero as new football coach

By: Jeremy Sellew
Wednesday, April 22, 2020 | 10:34 AM

Charleroi didn’t have to search far and wide to find its new football coach after Lance Getsy tendered his resignation near the end of February.

Current Charleroi athletic director and former California head coach Brady Barbero was hired Tuesday with a unanimous vote of the school board.

“This is something that has been in the works for the past couple of weeks,” Superintendent Dr. Ed Zelich said. “Brady said he wanted to take some time to think about it and discuss it with his family, so we gave him that. We’re ecstatic to have him on our sidelines.”

Barbero, 41, was the Trojans head coach from 2009-12, guiding them to an overall mark of 19-19 in his four seasons. After taking 2013 off, he joined the Ringgold staff under coach Nick Milchovich for the next three seasons. He coached the wide receivers for the first two seasons and was named offensive coordinator in 2016 when the Rams advanced to the WPIAL semifinals.

Barbero said he wanted to make sure family came first before making the decision to commit to another head coaching job. He and his wife, Katie, have two children Quinn (11) and Rocco (8).

“It’s a struggle at times so I talked with the family, and it’s something that we thought we could make it work,” Barbero said. “Coaching here is something that was always on my mind. When Lance left, it became more of a reality.”

Barbero, being the athletic director, went to Zelich and the school board.

“It came up in conversation with me and Dr. Zelich. I talked to the board in passing and they said they’d support me if I chose to do it,” he said. “There were a few concerns about being able to do both jobs, especially on game nights. The board was very supportive and I couldn’t ask for more support from them. I’m ready to take this job on.”

During the coronavirus pandemic, the biggest challenge for Barbero will be meeting with the team and getting things rolling.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge, but being a teacher in the school and using Google Classroom, I’m going to be utilizing that to get in touch with everyone and get things started,” he said.

Barbero said he has some pieces of a staff in place, with a few more pieces out there that may fall into place.

Former athletic director Bill Wiltz will be on staff.

“He’s coached at Charleroi for years, coaching the line and was at one time the defensive coordinator,” Barbero said.

PJ Ross, who coached at California with Barbero, will be joined by Jimmy Kline, a holdover from Getsy’s staff.

“Dave Dillon coached with me at Cal and Nathan Harris, who I coached there, will be our strength and conditioning guy,” Barbero said. “There are some more guys out there who we’re waiting on that I think would be great additions.”

Barbero said he’s learned a lot from working under coaches like current Beth-Center coach and former California coach Joe Kuhns and Milchovich.

“Those guys really taught me a lot. Especially how to be a positive role model. Both of those guys are,” Barbero said of the pair. “It’s not just them, though. All the coaches I’ve coached with and under. I’ve learned so much from them all. You learn how to handle different situations, not even just in coaching. I’ve learned a lot of things from guys like Coach (Jim) Dumm and Coach (TJ) Plack at Peters Township.

“When it comes to the game, I’ve learned different ways of looking at schemes offensively and defensively and taking different strategies and molding them in with my own.”

Barbero said the perception he wants of Cougars football is simple.

“Tough, hard-nosed football,” he said.

He added that he’ll tailor his offensive and defensive schemes around the players he has.

“I know we had a lot of skill guys graduate, but a lot of the line returns, which is a good foundation,” he said. “There’s a lot of young skill there with guys waiting to step into positions. I think we can be successful with that.”

Barbero said he wants to spread the ball around but won’t run a scheme just because he likes it.

“I want to run the ball as much as we can and use the play-action pass to throw off of.”

Now the waiting game begins for Barbero and his Cougars. The PIAA said no in-person offseason activities can take place until at least July 1.

“Becoming the AD over the past two years and becoming more involved in the athletics program, along with being a teacher and knowing all the kids, I think this is a great fit,” Barbero said. “I’ve seen what the kids have done the last few years, and I’m excited to be out there with them and see what we can do.”

Tags: Charleroi