With Pat Carey taking a sabbatical, Brody Zangaro set to lead North Hills football

By: Josh Rowntree
Saturday, July 19, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

Pat Carey could sense that something wasn’t right with his health throughout the 2024 football season.

The North Hills coach, who has been on the sidelines for the Indians for the past 12 years — and much longer as an assistant — knew it was time to get checked out.

“I had some episodes during the football season last year where I was a little bit lightheaded or short of breath,” said Carey, 55. “I was going to the doctor, and they ended up finding that I had a situation that they wanted to look into.”

North Hills, at the time, was in the midst of a strong season. The group went 8-3 in 2024 with a 3-2 mark in Class 5A’s Northeast Conference.

The Indians earned a home playoff game against Franklin Regional in the opening round of the Class 5A postseason. But, on Tuesday of that week, Carey’s plans were put on hold.

“I was on the field coaching before the playoff game and got a call from the doctors that they wanted to see me. I had to leave the field and get to the hospital,” said Carey, who watched from a hospital bed as the Indians fell to Franklin Regional, 17-16, in that playoff game.

“It was hard not being there. We had a good year, got a good seed and had a home playoff game. That was one of the more difficult things I had to do, being in the hospital watching us play on a Friday night. It was difficult. Not just for me, but the kids. They put a lot of time and effort into it and we had a strong senior class last year.”

Carey’s diagnosis was a rare autoimmune disorder called cardiac sarcoidosis. The condition causes inflammatory cells known as granulomas to form in the heart muscle, potentially causing heart failure, arrhythmias or even sudden cardiac death.

“It was weird to get that call,” Carey said. “They had a monitor on me for a 10-day period and you send it away. I just forgot about it. The company sent the results to the doctors and they immediately called me and said they wanted to see me. It was scary, weird, a lot of things.”

Since the diagnosis, Carey has been able to manage the symptoms with the help of medication and other techniques.

“I don’t feel bad,” he said. “I’m able to exercise and do yard work and all these different things. It’s just a matter of keeping the bad rhythms under control. So far, they’ve been able to do that. But we’re looking at a long-term plan so it doesn’t happen.”

Carey will return to his job at North Hills as a physical education teacher this fall after missing some time last year due to his health, but he will take the year off from coaching the football team.

“With the stress of coaching, to take that away for a year and get things settled down is what we’re looking at,” he said.

The North Hills administration and school board granted Carey a one-year sabbatical, while tabbing Brody Zangaro, the team’s defensive coordinator, to be the interim coach.

“I couldn’t be happier with our superintendent, administration and school board,” Carey added. “They understand where I am, health-wise, and they understand that I may not be done coaching, but that I need to take this time off to make sure that my health is OK and to spend time with my family. I appreciate the district’s stance on this. It puts my mind at ease.”

Zangaro is a former North Hills player who took the field while Carey coached under legendary Indians coach Jack McCurry.

“He’s a young, energetic guy who makes great relationships with kids,” Carey said. “He’s a great teacher and a great coach. He’s an intelligent guy who understands the X’s and O’s, but more importantly how to deal with kids.

“He’ll have a lot to learn going through this process. But he’s able to contact me and pick my brain on some things. I have a lot of faith that the program is in good hands.”

Carey plans to spend the fall watching his son, Ryan, play at Robert Morris in his freshman season following a nice career at North Hills while playing for his father.

“When you’re a football coach, you miss a lot of things,” Carey said. “It’ll be nice to make him the priority right now. Whether or not he plays as a freshman, we’ll see. But it’ll be nice to go over there and enjoy that part of being a dad. I’m looking forward to that.”

He hopes that, once his health is straightened out in a long-term fashion, he’ll once again be able to patrol the sidelines at Martorelli Stadium. But, until then, he’ll watch from a distance.

“With all the returners we have, it’s difficult,” Carey said. “It happens every year, you graduate kids and you move on. But this year is just a little different for me in that I know I won’t be there.

“I’ll be there to support in a minimal role, showing up and doing some things. But it won’t be a coaching role. After 30-something years of coaching, that will be a big change for me.”

Tags: North Hills