Sacco poised to lead Hazleton Area program – Hazleton Standard Speaker

HAZLETON — Scott Sacco remembers the “good, old days” of Hazleton Area football.

As a standout two-way lineman for the Cougars from 2002-2004, he helped jump start coach Rocco Petrone’s program into one of the best in Northeast Pennsylvania.

And, as an assistant coach under former teammate Dennis Buchman, Sacco had a big hand in Hazleton Area enjoying similar success on the gridiron in recent years.

Now, as the newly appointed head coach at his alma mater, the 39-year-old Sacco relishes the task of molding the Cougars into a consistent Wyoming Valley Conference and District 2 big-school power and ultimately a force on the state stage.

“I think the program’s in a good place, but there’s always room for improvement,” Sacco said during an interview Friday, less than one day after the Hazleton Area School Board voted to hire him as Buchman’s replacement. “We had some seasons (recently) when we did some things that we haven’t done in at least 10 years, like winning Wyoming Valley Conference and winning District 2 (championships.

“But I think we need to keep improving on that and making it a little bit further in the playoffs and becoming a team that other teams start to fear again because right now we’ve kind of lost that fear (factor). People do not look at Hazleton football the way that they used to. They used to see us on their schedule and fear our program. … They look at us as just a (Class) 6A program. They think, ‘We could go out and get a win over them and get more (district rating) points.’”

Sacco wants those same opponents to have their chinstraps buckled when they face his Hazleton Area teams moving forward.

“They should know that they’re going to get a physical football game and get a little bit of that fear put back in them,” he said.

The Cougars finished 5-6 last season, losing 15-6 to Williamsport in the District 2/4 Class 6A semifinals. Buchman surprisingly stepped down in January, giving Sacco the chance step into his head coaching shoes. After getting input from Buchman and the blessings from his wife, Lauren, Sacco applied for the same job once held by Petrone, his mentor.

Thursday, Sacco became the eighth head coach in Hazleton Area’s 33-year history and the first non-educator to hold the position. He runs a successful chiropractic practice in Hazleton and is deeply involved in several community ventures.

“The coaches who laid the foundation for me taught me the value of being deeply connected to the community. In turn, they gave me the wings to soar,” said Sacco, who also played football at Shippensburg University for four years. “My passion for football, my commitment to leadership and my responsibility to shape the young men of tomorrow have now come full circle.”

Life has a way of bringing folks back to their roots, Sacco wrote in an essay as part of his application process.

“After spending a few years away from Hazleton, I realized that my true foundation is here,” said Sacco, the son of Jane and the late Bobby Sacco, the latter a star running back at the former Hazleton High School in the late 1950s. In doing so, I brought life back to Hazleton for my family. … The grass is not always greener on the other side – it is greener where you water it.

“Growing up in the is community and being able to represent it on the football field was a lifelong privilege,” he added. Many aspects of life are related to my experiences on the football field, where I learned leadership, discipline, responsibility, communication, gained my work ethic and learned how to inspire others. These will be the pillars of my coaching philosophy as the head coach for the Hazleton Area Cougars.”

Sacco plans to review his mantras for his players when they meet for the first time as a unit under his watch some time next week. He will instill his commitment to their player development, physically, mentally and personally. He will encourage his players to participate in other sports, like he did back in his day. That will further aid in building their character, discipline and responsibility and foster teamwork. He will insist upon academic success above all else.

Sacco also plans to use his extensive experience in sports medicine and as a chiropractor and his success operating a successful business to the program’s benefit.

“I am well-equipped to create a comprehensive program focused on the health and safety of our players both and off the field,” he said. “The mental aspect of the game will be emphasized through communication workshops and leadership development, which will be delivered through classroom sessions, guest speakers and team-building exercises… So when they things go wrong in a game, they’ll know how to handle that.”

Sacco will have plenty of familiar faces available to help with his transition into his new role. Jim Drumheller, Dan Diehl and Mike Starrick, all fellow assistants under Buchman, have committed to joining Sacco’s staff. Starrick, Sacco’s linemate with the Cougars in their playing days, worked with the junior high program in recent years. He’s ll be moving up to the varsity.

In addition, Dr. TJ Stepanski and Dr. Brandon Augustine, both chiropractors in Sacco’s practice, also will be part of Sacco’s coaching staff. Stepanski was an all-star football player at Lake-Lehman and went on to play baseball at West Virginia. Augustine was a multiple-sport athlete at Hazleton Area.

“We bring our sports medicine background to how to develop these kids… how to bring nutrition into our program and how to bring in different movements and mechanics and function,” Sacco said. “We’re bringing a lot more than just the Xs and O’s of football.”

Offseason workouts for the Cougars will get under way on March 3.

Sacco, for one, will be especially anxious to get started, as his father looks down on him with pride and his mother spent all day Friday beaming from ear to ear about the next step in their son’s football journey, one that now also includes Scott and Lauren’s two children: Avery and Ethan, soon turning 6 and 3, respectively.

“There’s a lot of history here with the Sacco family,” Scott said. “My father was the first MVP of the UNICO All-Star Game. He played at Potomac State (in Maryland) and he even played at (the University of) Maryland for a year, but then my grandmother got sick and he had to come home.”

Scott, though, picked up where his dad left off and took his football career to another whole level.

“He never wanted me to play football,” Scott laughed. “He wanted me to play other sports because he thought football was too rough.”

If only Bobby Sacco could see his son now.

“I definitely wouldn’t be here without the support of my wife, my family, my friends … and Coach Buchman,” Scott said. “I definitely want to make sure they know that. … Coach Buchman did not want to see the program go backwards, so I spoke with him before I even put in for this (job) to see where he was on things and how we could move the program forward.”