Melosky leads Nazareth to new heights

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Rob Melosky saw a potential challenge when a struggling Nazareth football program opened up its coaching position before the 2008 season.

Four seasons after landing the job, he has the Blue Eagles winning big.

Nazareth hasn't yet collected a state title, as Parkland did with Melosky at the helm in 2002. The Blue Eagles this season did end the three-team stranglehold Parkland, Liberty and Easton held on the District 11 Class 4A title since the Lehigh Valley Conference's formation in 2002, breaking through for Nazareth's first district title since 1989.


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Nazareth also won its first LVC title this season despite losing 2,000-yard rusher Chuck Dibilio to graduation. Credit Melosky, The Morning Call's 2011 football coach of the year, for pushing Nazareth to the point where the players expect to win no matter who comes and goes.


The Blue Eagles won more games — 12 — than anyone in the LVC this season. They finished 12-2 overall and 9-1 in the league, ending their year by taking La Salle College High School deep into the fourth quarter before losing 41-33 in a PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal.

"I don't know if I necessarily had a time frame [for winning]," Melosky said this week. "In the sports world we live in, everyone wants a quick fix. I kind of knew Nazareth had the chance to be good in football. They had a great tradition here in the 1980s. We wanted to get back to that.

"As a coach, you want to win right away. I think that drive and that passion that this staff put forth onto the kids, the kids bought into it. Maybe that's why we saw success as early as we did, because this coaching staff grinded away and put in a lot of time and hours."

Nazareth's win totals over the last four seasons provide the evidence of the work Melosky and his staff have poured into the program. After winning three games in his first season, the Blue Eagles have improved their record each season since. They won six games and qualified for districts in 2009, then jumped to nine wins and reached the district semifinals in 2010 before this year's championship campaign.

Melosky praised the players for doing their part, from arriving in the weight room at 5:30 a.m. to participating in the offseason speed and agility training needed to make Nazareth's spread offense soar. He also credited his coaching staff for staying together even if one side of the ball might outshine the other, as Nazareth's offense did to the defense this season.

"I was able to bring in a whole new staff and have a say in who I could hire [when I took over]," Melosky said. "Everyone from the top to bottom, from the middle school coaches to the freshman coaches to the varsity coaches, is on the same page here as far as what our objective is here, and that's to win together."

That objective isn't changing, even though Nazareth will lose standouts including quarterback Daniel Harding, wide receivers Adam and Andrew Bridgeforth and linebacker/wide receiver Dan Shepherd before preseason practice starts next season. The Blue Eagles will still have returning talents such as running back Jordan Gray, wide receiver Alex Tonnies and two-way lineman Aaron Bradley.

They also will have a coach pushing them to play their way into perennial contender status.

"We don't want to get into a situation where we say it's a down year for us," Melosky said. "We want to keep this thing going. We're not going to be satisfied. From that standpoint, we have to keep working and can't be satisfied with where we're at right now."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-football-melosky-coy-20111217,0,1967373.story