First Posted: 2/3/2015

DALLAS — Time didn’t resolve the problem for Rich Mannello. The former King’s college football coach continued to long for a return to the sideline.

The Dallas School Board made that a reality Monday night, hiring Mannello to take the reins.

“(We’ll) be in the weightroom tomorrow at 3 o’clock,” Mannello said. “I just missed working with the kids. I thought every year that went by it would get easier. It got harder. I’m just grateful for such a tremendous opportunity. It’s a great community. It’s all about the kids. That’s why we’re all in this. It’s why everybody puts in all the time they put in.”

The board voted 6-3 to hire Mannello, who will replace Bob Zaruta. He will be paid $7,312. Zaruta held the position for three seasons before the board voted to open the job in December. Dallas was 14-18 under Zaruta with two appearances in the District 2 Class 3A playoffs.

Board members James Gattuso, Ronald Matusiak, Larry Schuler, Colleen Slocum, Jeff Thomas and Catherine Wega voted for Mannello. Dr. Bruce Goeringer, Sherri Newell and Charles Preece voted against his hiring.

Goeringer spoke before the voting, casting his support for former coach Ted Jackson. Jackson held the job for 27 years before the board opened it after the 2011 season. The program was on probation by the District 2 athletic committee for Jackson’s final four years.

“He’s remorseful about what’s happened in the past and feels he deserves a second chance,” Goeringer said. “I feel that we even made a mistake a few years ago when we let him go. I thought this was an opportunity to correct that mistake.”

Mannello spent 19 years as head coach at King’s before stepping down after the 2009 season. He came to the area in 1990 to building a King’s program from the ground up after a 30-year absence. He finished with a 70-104-1 record.

Since then, Mannello hasn’t been in football. He joked about his only involvement in the Dallas program.

“Except for being out here collecting for parking, that was it,” Mannello said. “I tried to stay away from it. You can’t. There are a lot of people who would tell you that your profession shouldn’t define you, but when you’re a football coach it does.”

Mannello did view the Dallas program from afar this year watching his son Stone play his sophomore season. He didn’t want to speculate on what needs fixing, but he has a reputation for being a fanatic for strength training.

“I didn’t break down film, but I will,” Mannello said. “As soon as I get to that film I’ll know. But I’ll say this. When it comes down to the physical part of football you have to train from the top of your knees to the bottom of your chest, which means you got to power clean, you got to deadlift, you got to squat. And if you’re not doing that stuff, you’re not going to be explosive.

“When it comes down to that part of things, I think we’re behind in the weightroom and we’ll get that straightened out starting tomorrow.”

Mannello has no experience at the high school level except for one spring with a high school program while at Springfield College as part of his undergraduate work. However, he had extensive exposure to high school athletes while recruiting at King’s.

“There were times in the year we spent more time with high school kids than our own actually with recruiting and so on,” Mannello said. “I’m looking forward to that.”

As for the support still in the community for Jackson, Mannello understands where it’s coming from.

“He did great things here and there’s tremendous tradition here. That’s just doesn’t happen,” Mannello said. “I respect that. I respected it as a college coach recruiting here. I respect it being a part of this community. And we’re going to build on that positive and move forward.

“I’m hoping over time we can bring the community together in that regard.”