Rood out to put growl back in Leopards
Last season, winless Belle Vernon scored 35 points – in 10 games. Exit Jesse Cramer and enter Lou Rood, who’s spent 23 years in coaching but only one as a head coach.
That one season was with the Pittsburgh Passion, a women’s professional team that finished 6-2 under Rood, its best season to date.
“We went from 2-6 to 6-2,” said Rood. “I thought the program was headed in the right direction but they changed ownership and the owners brought their own people in.
“It was a good experience. It allowed me to run my own program, oversee 10 assistants and 70 players and deal with a general manager and owners. In its own way it’s similar to the high school level with the AD and school board and principal and working with the media. It was a valuable experience to be responsible for everything involved in the day-to-day operation. That’s why coming in this year I’m very comfortable with the position. It doesn’t bother me or scare me. It’s something I’ve been building toward my whole career. I’m confident I’m sufficiently prepared for the challenge.”
Rood graduated from Belle Vernon and began coaching at the school under Jeff Petrucci in 1979. He moved on to coach Rostraver Middle School two years later and then moved up to the varsity staff. Rood spent two years at Yough under John Ivanac; came back to Belle Vernon for five years under Bill Connors; moved to Elizabeth-Forward for two years; came back to Belle Vernon for seven years under Gary Dongilli; and then went to Hempfield for a year with Dongilli.
Rood also covered high-school football for MSA before taking over as the Passion head coach. He was hired Feb. 2 to replace Cramer at Belle Vernon, although Rood has been teaching at Belle Vernon for 27 years.
“I’m a Belle Vernon grad,” said the 1971 all-conference center. “One of my goals has always been to be head coach at my alma mater and it’s a challenge to turn the program back around and get it back to where we were. When you have a chance to come home and can fix things, it’s something you don’t want to turn down. You want to go after it and that’s what I did. I felt confident I could put together a good staff and get this headed in the right direction.”
Joining Rood on the Belle Vernon staff are George Stevenson, Tim Keefer, Greg Steeber, Van Braddock, former players Adam Santero, Todd Vaccaro and Craig Petrus, and Joe Kroskic, who was the defensive coordinator on the 1995 championship team at Belle Vernon.
Any progress yet?
“Yes. I’m very pleased,” Rood said. “The kids have been working extremely hard. We understand Rome wasn’t built in day. It’ll take a lot of work and effort, and we’ll have our ups and downs, but the key is to keep a nice, even keel; not get too high on the highs or too low on the lows. We want to work every practice to get better and that’s the attitude we’ve taken.”
Rood was hired Feb. 2 and the team was in the weight room Feb. 8. The winter conditioning brought in an average of 40 players per day, and the number increased to 50 in the summer.
“They have worked extremely hard,” he said. “We ran the exact same program this summer as we did in the 90s. The kids worked hard. They’ve responded well. They’re very coachable, want to learn, and want to get better.
“Hey, they want to change things around as well. It’s not fun for them going through difficult times when just a few years back we were regularly playing for the title. They want to get things headed back the same way. Everybody’s been on the same page: We’re going to do what it takes. We know we won’t have stuff handed to us and we know we have to go out and earn respect back from everybody. That’s the approach we’ve taken.”