Coaching change and high-tech helmets lead the way
New TCC football coach Giovanni Ionno, center, with assistant coaches Frank Alesiano, left, Ed Korns, Josh Taylor and George Clore.
It’s back to the future for the 2024 Tuscarawas Central Catholic High School football team. When Giovanni Ionno graduated from the school in 2003, his football coach Ed Korns invited him to rejoin the team as an assistant coach. This year it’s the new TCC football coach Ionno who has invited Korns to serve as an assistant coach for the team.
Some other familiar names are on the assistant coaching staff list including Josh Taylor, Frank Alesiano and former TCC football player George Clore.
They hope to guide the team and herald a return to the glory days of TCC football when the former late coach Art Teynor led the team. After many successful seasons, Teynor was inducted into the Ohio High School Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
The new coaching team has the drive and years of experience, but their biggest problem will be replacing the 10 seniors who graduated this spring. Though the Catholic grade schools are seeing an increase in students, it hasn’t gotten to the high school level just yet.
“I have a good group of coaches assembled around me, and we know how programs should be run. What we’re doing now is reaching out to the student body,” Ionno said.
The school is still accepting new students for the 2024-25 year, and Ionno is hopeful Ohio’s EdChoice Scholarship program may bring in a few more student-athletes. For example, in the EdChoice program, a family of four earning less than $140,000 each year would be able to send their children to the private school for free. Students do not have to be Catholic to attend. Currently, 39% of the students are not Catholic, according to TCC Principal Jennifer Calvo.
“I just think that there’s the right spot for every single kid in our area, and Central might be the right spot for some kids who don’t realize it,” Calvo said. “There’s a lot of opportunity here for academic excellence, opportunity for religious growth, and opportunity for athletics and extracurriculars.”
The EdChoice Scholarship program now allows parents a true choice of where they can send their children for school. More information is available at www.tccsaints.com.
No matter what, the coaches have a plan.
“I’m trying to put the proper work in to have the kids go through a good and enjoyable football experience and get the program back on the map because the program’s kind of faded away over the last several years,” Ionno said.
Workouts have been held, and team practices officially start Aug. 1. The football team will take on opponents in the IVC.
Safety is the top priority of the coaching staff, and to that end, the team will be outfitted with the latest in helmet safety this year.
“We are going to equip the players with a new Ridell Axiom helmet,” Ionno said. “Players have a head scan, and they make the insides of the helmet to perfectly fit.”
Currently, the helmets the team has been using are similar to having air bags inside the helmet. They are inflated to make a tighter fit on the player.
“With the Axiom helmet, they customize it, so that helmet is your helmet. The inside is made to perfectly slip on. You don’t have any problems with the air letting out,” Ionno said.
The helmet also has a chip in it that will record when the helmet takes an impact and where that impact was made.
“We will get a weekly readout of how many impacts the helmet took and where on the helmet it was,” Ionno said. “So it helps you teach the kids to keep their head up. The big thing about safety is you’d never want to hit with your head down because that’s where you jar your neck. You want your head up.”
The information the helmets can provide is invaluable and allows the coaches to use the feedback to help their players. They will be able to compare the impacts of their players to players on other teams in Ohio who also have the Axiom helmets. The helmets also are said to provide the players with clearer vision, more eye protection and a surround flex system that improves helmet impact response.
Ionno wants to emphasize the sports opportunities at Central. The smaller size allows for students to play more in a variety of sports, not just football.
“(At larger schools) you almost have to commit yourself to one sport to crack a starting lineup. That’s just the way it is. If you’re not a baseball player 24/7, you may never be a baseball starter,” Ionno said. “Whereas here you can play football, basketball and baseball.”
The school recently announced it was restarting its wrestling program with coach Bo Gilmore. Other sports available at Central include basketball, cheer, golf, cross country, track, baseball, softball and volleyball.
Anyone in ninth grade through 12th grade interested in playing football at TCC can contact Ionno through Messenger on the TCC Saints Football page or text 330-401-8350. They also are welcome to attend a workout to see if the program is a good fit for them.