Jan 18, 2008 By Jonathan Guth For The 3 min read

After 33 years in football as an assistant, Ron Marciante was recently named head coach of Geibel Catholic. Former coach Jeff Barlock, who Marciante assisted last season as the defensive coordinator, recommended Marciante.

“I thought we made some strides last season,” Marciante said. “We were in enough ball games, but didn’t have enough kids. Jeff actually called me, and told me he was resigning due to his work schedule. I was glad enough to take the job. I am retired from teaching now, and it seemed like the right time.”

Marciante will look to recruit from within, with some of his players currently on the basketball team. He also has some of his players working in the weight room with assistant coach George Morrell.

“He has been terrific with these kids in the weight room,” Marciante said. “The kids are on task, and we had a fair amount that showed up in the summer last season.”

Tom Dolde Sr., who has been friends with Marciante since his start at Connellsville more than 30 years ago, will be on staff as the Gators’ defensive coordinator.

“Tommy has been my friend and mentor for many years,” Marciante said. “He really helped me get into this line of work. I may be the head coach, but we will work together on this. I am a defensive guy, but we will have to work on the offense. I will have to look and see what we have after basketball season in terms of the offense we will run.”

One of the main problems for Geibel in recent years has been numbers and lack of depth. Last season, the Gators only had 20 players, and were not able to go 11 on 11 in practice.

Marciante will look to have around 25-30 players next year as he sees the numbers improving, and was impressed with the way his team never gave up last season, especially against teams like California and Serra Catholic.

“We played hard against California and Serra Catholic,” Marciante said. “California and Serra’s coaches personally told me that our kids improved from the year before.

“No matter who we played, the kids would not back down and they wanted to keep playing.”

Marciante has great admiration for the parents of his players who have been very much involved in the operations at Geibel and who have shown great interest in their kids.

Geibel will again compete in the Tri-County South this upcoming season, and Marciante sees hope in building the program.

“Most guys would talk about winning a conference championship, but I want to see this team make the playoffs first,” Marciante said. “I am very excited to have the job, and will look to make an impact here. My assistants and I have been in football for a long time, so we have enough experience to get the job done.”