LEAVITTSBURG - The game of football is one that takes a tremendous amount of preparation, planning and attention to detail. For John Armeni, he's been preparing for the opportunity to become a head coach since he graduated from Chaney in 2001.
Now, that preparation will have a sole purpose - to lead the LaBrae Vikings football program.
At the LaBrae Board of Education meeting on Monday night, Armeni was named the new football coach, replacing Bill Bohren who resigned from the position in November after nine seasons.
"This has been something I know I've wanted to do for a long time," Armeni said. "I've been preparing for the past 11 years, perfecting my trade. I'm pretty excited about this opportunity."
Armeni played for Ron Berdis during his years at Chaney. After graduation, he became an assistant to Mike Kopachy at Western Reserve, then followed Kopachy down to Salem. For the past two seasons, Armeni has served as an assistant with the Vikings. This past year, he headed up the junior high program for Bohren.
That experience is what made him stand out over the other five candidates according to LaBrae athletic director Todd Rowe. He also added that Armeni's preparation was second to none.
"Experience wise, he's been a part of numerous varsity programs, programs that have had experience at the state playoffs," Rowe said. "Some of the other interviews went well, but we felt that coach Armeni, his preparation was better. He already has game plans, practice plans, discipline plans and everything was laid out very well.
"We're excited to have him. We were really impressed with a couple of the applicants, but we felt that he was the best suited. He's been preparing for this for years and he had all the pieces in place."
Armeni has the task of taking over a Viking program that had a down year, going 1-9, in 2012. Though the season is months away, Armeni is already getting to work. He said he's already been watching film from this past season, evaluating players and preparing for the 2013 year.
"We're going to try and hit the ground running," Armeni said. "We're going to put in a new offense and defense, which the kids are going to have to learn. But I'm pretty confident we'll be ready come August.
"This community is filled with tough, hard working, blue-collar kids. My staff and I are going to coach them up and put a product on the field that this community can be proud of."
