Former Jeannette player expected to be named Jayhawks’ new head coach

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Friday, December 17, 2021 | 3:50 PM

Jeannette will recommend a former Jayhawks quarterback to be its next head football coach.

The school board will vote Monday, according to the agenda, to approve Thomas Paulone Jr. to replace Roy Hall, who stepped down after 37 years on the sidelines, including 13 as head coach.

Paulone, 29, is a 2010 Jeannette graduate. He has been a quarterbacks coach at Chartiers Valley since 2017.

He played collegiately at Waynesburg, where he was a running back. He also played golf for the Yellow Jackets.

Paulone stayed on as an offensive quality control and running backs coach at Waynesburg in 2014.

He also has worked the College Gridiron Showcase for three years, coaching receivers and quarterbacks.

He would follow in a tradition of Jeannette hiring graduates. Art Tragesser, Ray Reitz and Hall, three of the last four head coaches, are alums.

Another tradition looks like it will end, though. The last four head coaches were assistants to their predecessors.

Tragesser worked on Joe Mucci’s staff, Bob Murphy on Tragesser’s, Reitz on Murphy’s and Hall on Reitz’s.

Hall had 116 wins, two WPIAL titles and a PIAA championship at the Class A level.

Jeannette has won 10 WPIAL titles and has 767 wins, the most in WPIAL history.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Jeannette