There are seven high schools within the coverage area for Suburban News and the Hamlin Clarkson Herald – Holley, Byron-Bergen, Kendall, Hilton, Churchville-Chili, Spencerport and Brockport.
Over the past two-plus decades at all seven high schools combined, only four varsity coaches have remained in the same role throughout – Hilton football coach Rich Lipani, Spencerport boys soccer coach Tom Etsler, Holley wrestling and tennis coach John Grillo and Holley boys soccer coach Dan Orbaker.
The number was six until the last few years as longtime Hilton wrestling coach Chuck Partridge retired after 22 years as head coach and part of the program from 1980-2011 and the only football coach Churchville-Chili ever had, Paul Dick, stepped down this past fall.
Seven schools and dozens of teams and only four coaches left standing accounting for a combined 102 years in their current role.
With the demands now placed on coaches by players and parents plus the evolving year-round nature of many sports today, how have these four maintained their drive and desire?
“Every game, every season, every group of kids is a new beginning – a fresh start,” Etsler said. “You get to learn from past mistakes and get to try new ideas.”
“I believe the PASSION for coaching and students after 30 years comes from the fear to fail and the thrill to win,” Orbaker said. “The environment at the Woodlands on game days is intoxicating. It makes me get excited and fired up! My student athletes latch on to these emotions and carry the tradition onto the field.”
“Keeping the passion to coach student athletes is easy for me,” Grillo commented. “I love what I do and I love to see young adults grow and achieve. I put a lot of pressure on myself to continue to have a successful program. I love to build and see confidence in my athletes.”
“We have great kids at Hilton,” Lipani said. “They are dedicated and enthusiastic about football. And I have had basically the same staff from modified through varsity for the last 26 years, which has a great effect also.”
Etsler came from Churchville-Chili to take over the Spencerport varsity program in 1995 from Jeff Farnsworth and has 219 career wins over his 20 years. He will tie the school record for most seasons as boys soccer coach this coming fall – a record held by National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee Ron Broadbent and is just seven wins shy of tying Broadbent’s school record of 226 victories.
“You have to realize that kids have other things in their lives and your sport isn’t always going to be the most important, number one thing in their lives all the time,” Etsler said.
“Also as the game changes you must also adjust. You need to attend workshops, the annual convention and some coaches’ courses. Kids will figure out fast if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Personally I have become more compassionate in my coaching style – many kids have greater issues off the field than in the past.
“You would like to think you have had a positive impact on all the kids that have played for you. I think any kid who plays sports learns a lot of things they use in their day-to-day lives – many of them don’t know it until they get much older.
Orbaker will enter his 30th season as varsity boys soccer coach at Holley after his college playing days at SUNY Brockport where he was an All-SUNYAC selection on defense. He has accumulated nine sectional championships with the Hawks, 15 league titles and two state crowns while mentoring 117 All-League players and seeing 109 go on to play college soccer.
“I have really tried to still show the student athlete the great benefits of soccer in their lives,” Orbaker said. “I really believe the role of sportsmanship, team bonding, competitive moments and the leadership training it provides are great tools for all students to learn and benefit from.
“The greatest difference in society is the role that sports plays in the lives of students and parents – I believe there is a decline in the importance to them as a whole. The other issue is the cost. For a player to truly excel in the sport they usually have to pay to play in a premier club. This results in the player participating three or more times per week. As a result, the days of three-sport athletes is declining.”
Grillo has coached at the high school level for 40 years total and returned to Holley in 1989 to coach wrestling and tennis after spending 1977-1989 at Pavilion. Before that he was at Holley for three years (1975-77). One of eight finalists for National Coach of the Year in wrestling in 2004-05, the Albion High School, Monroe Community College and SUNY Brockport grad has been named the Genesee Region Coach of the Year 15 times and Section V Coach of the Year six times in wrestling.
The Hawks won eight consecutive wrestling titles from 2001-2008 and 11 in total. Grillo had 645 career dual meet wins through the 2013-14 season and was closing in on the state mark for all-time wins of 675 held by Joe Bena of Section II.
“There have been changes in the sport of wrestling which makes it much harder to stay in coaching for a long time,” Grillo said. “There is a ton of paperwork and charting. Wrestling is losing the marginal athlete. It is becoming an elite sport where individuals are becoming tremendously skilled. The average wrestler finds himself battling against the highly skilled ones and then gets turned off to the sport because they are losing. Wrestling needs the marginal wrestlers to stay in order to fill all the weight classes. Many students cannot afford to travel in the off-season to go to skill camps, tournaments, clubs and other activities.
“I have not, though, seen many changes in tennis – it had been the same since I started. I go from being a maniac in wrestling to being calm and cool in tennis. They are two different sports – wrestling is hype and tennis is concentration.
“I have tried hard to adapt to those changes (broken homes, social media use, cell phones in school), but it has not been easy. My former student athletes tell me I am not as hard on my current athletes and that I have mellowed. Maybe so because that ‘in your face’ attitude only works for a few now. I still try my hardest to get every ounce of energy out of each athlete.”
Lipani has been the head football coach at Hilton since 1989 and Greece Arcadia from 1986-88 after playing football and graduating from Brockport State. He earned his 150th career coaching win in 2012 and is now at 161 with three Section V titles – in 1988 with Arcadia and 1992 and 1994 with the Cadets.
“I believe, unlike most coaches, kids are the same now as they were when I started. They want to work, compete and learn.
“I have implemented more components of the spread offense little by little over the years. We still believe in power football, but have continued to add some wrinkles each year.”
With a combined 102 years, there isn’t room to share all, but there are some favorite stories about their contribution and their respective sport’s ultimate impact on high school students.
“We have had many kids go into military service over the years and the common theme is they credit the football program for their dedication and discipline,” Lipani shared.
Etsler wrote: “It would be hard to pick one memory. I have been fortunate to have a lot of talented teams and players. Winning Sectional Championships is always nice, but it would be hard to pick out a favorite one. Each team had great memories along the way.
“One of the best things now is seeing kids that I coached being successful with their careers and lives. I have coached kids who are now doctors, lawyers, business owners, college coaches, engineers, teachers, plumbers, just about everything. Running into them and hearing what they are up to and reliving old times is great.”
“One of my most rewarding moments was when I got a call a couple of years ago from a kid I had coached in the late 1980’s at Churchville-Chili. He said he was living in Colorado now and wanted to let me know the impact I had on his life. He was coaching and had three kids of his own. I hadn’t seen him in 20 years, but I remembered everything about him. I’ll always remember that call.”
“When you have been coaching as long as I have you have seen it all,” Grillo added.
“In my first year as a coach I had a young man who had nothing but trouble in his life. He took to my hard-nosed style and became a two-time League Champion. Several years later his son came up to me and said he wanted to be on the 20-win plaque like his dad and he wanted me to help him get his life straightened out as well. He finished his senior year with 19 wins and one year later he was killed in an accident. Holley now has a yearly award given to a graduating senior in his name called “Most Heart-Most Determined.”
“I had a wrestler fall out of a tree stand early in the season and severely cut his body and had to miss 80 percent of the season. He struggled to get back in the lineup through the pain, but was determined to get himself back to full strength. He went on to place fourth in the New York State Tournament that year.
There are a lot of other stories and I’m in the process of writing a book that will be titled “From the Heart: A True Wrestling Story.” Having coached all three of my sons and seeing them excel as All-Americans, State place finishers and Academic All-Americans is and always will also be special for me.”
Orbaker: “favorite moments include coaching my two sons in sectional winning seasons and having them play roles in the program’s success. Then watching them benefit from memories and playing at the next level in college at Roberts Wesleyan. Really fond memories of the State title games, now a long time ago.
“We have had many, many, many great players in Holley. And, believe it or not, every time I go to the field and fire up to a high school season and having a game. The mental chess game in getting your team to click just right is really a strong motivation for me. I love to coach these kids.”
