When Mario Smith stepped down as Pace High’s football head coach three weeks ago, the school’s athletic director, Joe Zaccheo, and the school’s administration knew who they had in mind to replace him – the former coach himself.
Zaccheo coached the Spartans for 11 seasons and led them to the state championship in 2003.
He stepped down in 2006 to become the athletic director.
Nine years later, he’s back pacing the sidelines with the same passion and excitement he had when he coached the Spartans from 1996 to 2006.
“When I said yes, I had mixed emotions,” Zaccheo said when the administration asked him to come out of retirement and lead the program back to prominence. “When I got back into it, it was more than the old excitement starting all over again. It’s exciting and I’m pumped!”
Zaccheo, who coached for 40 years, is tackling an arduous task of turning around a football program that has been struggling since he retired.
The Spartans finished last season at 2-8 and haven’t played postseason football since 2010.
Smith, who resigned to start his own all-boys academy school, registered a 13-17 record in his three seasons as the Spartans’ coach.
Zaccheo said he started assembling a plan to get the team back on the winning track the day he came out of retirement.
He said his plan includes weight training, strength and condition, speed and agility workouts.
Spring practice starts in May.
“I am ready and I know the players are ready,” he said. “We are going to learn how to win again.”
Zaccheo said he had no intention of coaching again, but he couldn’t reject the administration entreaties to return to his true calling.
“When your family asks you something, you don’t turn your back on them,” Zaccheo said. “And that’s what we are at Pace, a family.”