As head coach and a longtime member of Monsignor Edward Pace High School’s Football program, Coach Joe Zaccheo was named Coach of the Year in the fifth Annual Tournament of Champions South Florida High School Awards Sponsored by Warren Henry Automotive Group. Zaccheo, a legend in the high school sports arena, received the award during a breakfast and ceremony celebrated on Friday December 15 at the Warren Henry Range Rover Showroom in Miami Gardens.
Zaccheo has been Pace’s Athletic Director and head football coach since the late 1990s. In 2006, three years after winning a state title, he stepped away from the sidelines and left the role of head football coach. It was two years ago when Zaccheo decide to return to coaching the Spartans with hopes of once again obtaining a State title.
Last Spring however, Zaccheo and the Pace Spartan football team was faced with the challenge of seeing nine of their starters transfer out to other schools. Even with the obstacle presented, the team did not waiver and approached the 2017-2018 season with a winning spirit. That drive is what lead them to win seven of eight games and allowed the team to advance to the playoffs for the first time in seven years and the Class 4A regional finals.
As Zaccheo received the award, joined by the school’s principal Ana Garcia and Dean of Students Valarie Lloyd, he addressed the audience saying, “It’s a great honor to receive this, but I’m just the band director. The kids, my staff, my administration, they’re the ones that played the music.”
He went on to express that this type of recognition was “the best feeling ever, because it kind of vindicates what we were trying to do at this program. About not worrying about who ‘did not’ want to be here but who ‘did’ and was willing to buy in.”
Zaccheo and the Spartan Football team are looking forward to continued success as they prepare for the spring football season beginning in April.