Limongi finds winning formula in Nebraska

By John Kovach

The coach’s priorities are school and community, and then football.

If Youngstown native Paul Limongi could guide the once-faltering Omaha (Neb.) Burke High School football team to a 100 percent academic eligibility rating this season, including all 22 seniors with a 3.4 grade-point average, so can all of the other high school football coaches in America.

Limongi, a Chaney High and Youngstown State graduate in his third season at the Omaha Burke helm, also has developed as program that encourages football players to become responsible gentlemen and models of behavior, and involved in school- and community-minded projects to help others.

“It takes a tremendous amount of hard work and patience,” Limongi said. “I don’t know if everyone is willing to do that.”

To discover how Omaha Burke did it, coaches and other interested persons across the nation are welcome to contact Limongi.

The coach says football is not the first priority — it is the last.

“We emphasize school, community and football program — in that order,” Limongi said. “If we do that all first, then winning is byproduct of doing the first two things.

“It takes hard work, planning and patience and you have to have a staff that believes in that,” said Limongi, who played football at Chaney under coach Ron Berdis.

Limongi then served as Berdis’ assistant from 1989 to 1996, including while attending Youngstown State. He graduated from YSU in 1994.

“Number one, it took a lot of hard work from a lot of very good coaches,” Limongi said. “When we took over, we wanted to make sure we focused on school work first because the school had a lot of academic troubles, and we knew that had to be our No. 1 priority and also how they behaved in school.”

The byproduct: After going 1-8 in Limongi’s first season and 3-7 last year, Omaha Burke responded with a 7-2 record this past season.

The team achieved a No. 8 ranking in the state in Class A (Division I), won a share of the Omaha District 5 championship and made the playoffs before losing in the first game to Bellevue West, 30-28.

It was a planned, long, deliberate and persistent project, but it worked.

“We started team study tables and I personally assigned an assistant coach to monitor the study table four days a week for an hour each day,” said Limongi, who has a master’s degree in educational administration from Nebraska-Omaha.

“We produced weekly and bi-weekly progess reports in and out of the season, and I communicated with teachers and asked them to let me know of any student having trouble and to contact me so that we can get it fixed,” he said.

Unwavering persistence over time paid off and created believers among players.

“It took a lot to establish this but eventually [the players] started to believe in the program, and then once we did that, we began to focus on football,” Limongi said. ”Every year, the kids began to believe more and more, and winning has become a byproduct of our program.

“The reason we got better is that people started to believe,” said Limongi, who moved to Nebraska in 1996 and got out of coaching.

“I met my wife [Aimee] on a cruise in 1997 and thought I’d never coach again,” Limongi said. “For two years, I did landscape work and then I got the itch to coach and called around, and got hired at Millard West High.

“I was there for seven years. We won the state title in 2001 and I was defensive coordinator the last three years. Then in 2006, I got the head job at Omaha Burke.”

He and Aimee have two daughters, Cecilia and Sophia.

Limongi also encouraged his players to expand their horizons and to grow intellectually and socially.

“We believe in involvement in the community,” Limongi said. “We get our kids involved in Special Olympics, the Salvation Army, we visit nursing homes, help handicapped kids at our school, are involved in the Open Door Mission — wherever the community needs help, we get involved.

“The team also goes camping together, we have a movie night, attend community events, eat together — whatever we can to become more unified outside of football.”

One of Limongi’s assistants is Bruce Palmer, a former Youngstown Golden Gloves boxer and Youngstown policeman who was shot in the line of duty. Palmer, an Air Force veteran and area football coach, has been with Limongi all three seasons.

“He coached with me at Chaney. That’s how we became friends,” said Limongi, the son of Paul and Kathy Limongi of Boardman, who credits a lot of his success to Berdis.

“He is a great teacher,” Limongi said.

kovach@vindy.com