Change at the top: Maczko takes over as new Connellsville football coach
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Connellsville quarterback Gage Gillott (18) runs the ball against Kiski Area during a game last season at Falcon Stadium. The Falcons featured a potent offense anchored by a strong offensive line which was under the guidance of assistant coach Bill Maczko. Connellsville recently named Maczko its new head coach following the departure of Marko Thomas.
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Bill Maczko was recently named Connellsville football head coach after the departure of Marko Thomas.
Connellsville featured a potent, balanced offensive attack last football season that was anchored by a strong offensive line.
That unit in the trenches was under the guidance of assistant coach Bill Maczko.
When Falcons head football coach Marko Thomas left to take over Greensburg Central Catholic’s program recently, Connellsville’s search for a successor ended with Maczko.
This will be Maczko’s third head coaching job at the high school level. He guided Southern Lee in North Carolina in 2008 and Brownsville in 2017.
Maczko is a Uniontown graduate who was born in Brownsville, where he lived part of his childhood. He has worked as an assistant football coach at Pinecrest High School in North Carolina as well as on the college level at Waynesburg, Delaware Valley College and West Virginia Institute of Technology.
“I was lucky in that I started coaching at the age of 19 and that was in college,” Maczko said. “One thing I’ve learned, not just coaching but anywhere else I worked, is I try to adapt to the things that are working there and try to use that at the next place I go.
“I use every place as a learning experience.”
Maczko was an assistant with the Falcons for the past two years so he doesn’t foresee any full-scale changes, just modifications.
“Our base will be similar to what we’ve done,” Maczko said. “We’ll build off what we were successful with and alter some things where we weren’t quite as successful.”
Connellsville went 0-7 last year but was competitive in most games and averaged 23.7 points per game which placed the Falcons 10th out of 18 Class 5A teams.
“Of our seven games we were in and had chances to win five of them,” Maczko said. “So there are things to build off of.
“I’ll still be working with the offensive line some but obviously the head coaching duties will prevent me from spending as much time there as before, so we’ll bring in another assistant to help out in that area. There may be a few other coaching changes.”
Maczko has touched base with the players in the program since taking over as head coach.
“We had a Zoom meeting with the players and also met with some of the middle school kids,” Maczko said. “The advantage of being on staff for two years is the kids do know me and some of the things that I’m about.”
Maczko’s first game as head coach of the Falcons will be a non-conference clash with Laurel Highlands.
“It’s a nice game to open up with, two schools who share borders, we’re 15 minutes apart,” Maczko said. “We were supposed to open with them last year then we rescheduled it for the end of the season. Then after we’d gone the whole year with no issues, we got hit with COVID that very last week and had to cancel.”
Maczko has a simple coaching philosophy.
“We’re just looking to get better each day,” he said. “That’s what we focus on, one day at a time.”