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Zmijanac eager to get started at Ringgold

By Bill Hughes for The 2 min read

Mike Zmijanac was getting ready to head out of town on a short trip with his wife.

That is when he saw it posted about Ringgold having an opening for its football head coaching position.

Next thing you know, Zmijanac showed interest to the school and was hired this past Wednesday as the new head football coach at Ringgold.

“We were getting ready to leave and I saw it on the WPIAL website,” he said of the job posting. “They were looking for someone with experience and I figured I would have a chance.”

Zmijanac is considered one of the top football coaches in WPIAL history, and his numbers at Aliquippa are nothing short of amazing.

The legendary coach led Aliquippa to six WPIAL championships and a PIAA crown over his 21 years as the head of its program.

Zmijanac’s contract was not renewed at Aliquippa after this past season and he was let go as coach in February.

Residing in Mount Lebanon, Zmijanac is looking forward to the challenge at Ringgold, although he admitted he is not familiar with what the team has coming back.

“Ringgold has an athletic tradition with success and it is not far from where I live,” he said. “I had some other offers as an assistant at other places, but I wasn’t going to not do something and was definitely going to coach.”

Zmijanac met with Ringgold Athletic Director Laura Grimm last week.

“We met for an hour or two and discussed things,” he said. “I am meeting with the kids on Wednesday.

“It is still too early to discuss assistants as I am sure the district will have a few they would like to help since they are familiar with the kids, and we will get it all figured out.”

Zmijanac was surprised the position was still open.

“This looked like a golden opportunity this late in the (off) season,” he said. “So I applied.”

Zmijanac replaces Nick Milchovich, who resigned after this past season.

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