Coach Q&A: Lakeview's Tom Pavlansky

When the Pavlansky family gets together for the holidays or other special events, there are hundreds of coaching victories in the room and years of experience working with youth in the Valley.

But just because they happen to share a passion for sports and for impacting young athletes, that doesn’t mean that the family gatherings turn into one big coaching clinic. In fact, sometimes the word doesn’t even come up.

“We talk about a lot of things,” said Lakeview coach Tom Pavlansky. “We talk about situations that we each encounter as educators. And we all have families, so we’ll see how all the kids are doing and what’s going on in each other’s lives.

“Our spouses are there, of course, so they are involved in the conversations, too. It’s definitely not all sports, all the time. It’s a pretty special thing though — there’s really no other way to describe it.”

Tom is the youngest of six children and one of four brothers who are coaching in the Valley. Dave is the boys track coach at Boardman, Mike is the football coach at Canfield and Pat is the girls basketball coach at Canfield.

While sports isn’t always the topic of dinner conversation, it might come up through phone calls or other meetings. The Pavlanskys have their own coaching support group in a lot of ways.

“It’s special and I don’t use that term lightly,” said Pavlansky, whose team will compete in the Division IV playoffs. “Knowing that I have people close to me that I can go to if I have questions about something is great. I know I’ll get a straight answer and I feel fortunate to have resources like that — I really treasure them.”

Q. How does it feel to know that you team will be in the playoffs?

A. I’m really happy for the kids. At the start of the season, we had a lot of first-year players and only returned about three starters on each side of the ball. I’m proud of the effort they’ve given starting back in December and up until now. But the coaches and the players aren’t satisfied yet. We are looking to finish the regular season strong by winning Friday night against our rival Champion and then get ready for Week 11. We’re excited about the opportunity to reach the postseason.

This will be the fifth time in school history making the playoffs [1995, ’96, 2000, ’07 and ’09] and we’re hoping to make this an expectation for the program every year.

Q. Who is the best team in Trumbull County right now?

A. There are a lot of good football teams in Trumbull County — maybe some don’t appreciate them as much as they should. I definitely don’t think we should take a back seat to anyone.

I think you have to look at the teams that are undefeated — Girard and McDonald for sure. They are great programs over there and have gotten some big wins this season. Hubbard is on a nice run right now and is always good. Howland only has one loss and they are a good program, too.

Q. Do you like the current high school overtime rules or do they need changes?

A. I think the overtime rules are fine the way they are and I haven’t seen another option. Both teams have a chance to win the game with an overtime series. Your offense gets an opportunity and your defense has a chance to makes plays as well. I think it really gives each team a chance to come out as the winner that night.

Q. What do you do in the off-season?

A. I just spend time with my family. I coached track for 11 years, but gave that up last year. I was able to coach my son’s 6-year-old team and my daughter’s softball team, which was a lot of fun. I just want to spend time with my kids. We try to get away to recharge our batteries and have a good time.

Q. What’s your favorite pregame meal?

A. I usually don’t eat — maybe I’ll grab a sandwich here at home around 3 [p.m.], but otherwise, I don’t eat. On Thursday nights. I try to catch a chicken parm dinner, maybe over at Brother’s in Cortland and that hits the spot.

Q. Who will be in the BCS title game and the Super Bowl and who are the champions?

A. Well, if I picked with my heart, I’d say Ohio State, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I’m going to say Florida and Texas. The safe pick to win would be Florida, but for some reason, I like Texas. It would be a good game though.

For the Super Bowl, I’m a Browns fan, so I’ll say the Steelers, just to try to jinx them. In the NFC, I’ll say the Giants. To win, I’ll take the Steelers, again to jinx them.

XInterview conducted by Vindicator correspondent Eric Hamilton.