Poland, YSU graduate Guerriero replaces Springfield's Smith

The Girard assistant played for Jim Tressel and Jon Heacock.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NEW MIDDLETOWN -- As a three-sport standout at Poland High School, Sean Guerriero was always impressed with the athletes at Springfield High.
Now he's going to coach them.
Guerriero, an assistant coach at Girard the past four years, was hired as Springfield's new football coach on Friday.
"The kids there are always tough," Guerriero said. "They're raised to get after it and they have a lot of character and heart."
Guerriero was a tight end at Youngstown State under Jim Tressel (1998-2000) and Jon Heacock (2001). He was an assistant coach for one season at Gilmour Academy before getting hired at Girard.
He said he'll combine the run-first mentality he learned at YSU with the spread offense attack at Girard.
"We're going to have a little bit of everything," said Guerriero, who takes over a team that ran out of the spread under Smith. "We're going to spread it out at times and at other times we'll go double tights and run up the middle.
"So it'll be a little bit of both."
22 applied
Twenty-two coaches applied for the position and Guerriero was told he was the school's choice on Wednesday, although he had to wait for board approval. He met with the team on Friday.
"The kids seemed excited and I'm even more excited to get in and get started," said Guerriero, who will continue to teach at Girard. "It's a football-backing community and a football town with a great tradition.
"We're competing in a really good conference and our first goal is to be win the conference. After that, we want to make the playoffs and compete for a state championship."
Smith, who opted not to return after last season, went 35-26 in six years with the Tigers, including a 5-5 mark last fall. The Tigers made their only playoff appearance under Smith in 2002.
scalzo@vindy.com