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Wooster’s Colaprete treasures Mooney roots
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Cardinal Mooney High graduate Frank Colaprete, center, is the head coach for the College of Wooster. This season, the Fighting Scots went 7-3.
By TIM CLEVELAND
WOOSTER
At every stop of his football career, as a player or coach, Frank Colaprete has been a winner.
In his first season as a head coach at the College of Wooster, he helped turn around the Fighting Scots from 2-8 in 2012 to a 7-3 record. It was Wooster’s first winning season since going 8-2 in 2008.
“I just came in; I don’t know how they did things before,” Colaprete said. “I just put an emphasis on the team and winning.”
The foundation for Colaprete’s coaching success was forged at Cardinal Mooney High School, where he played football under Don Bucci and basketball for Nick Bellino.
“I took a lot of things from everyone I played for and coached with,” Colaprete said.
In his high school football career from 1988-91, Colaprete played tight end and outside linebacker and helped lead the Cardinals to a 30-14 record, including to state playoff appearances.
“Going to that school kind of formed the man I am today,” Colaprete said. “The discipline, the values; understanding the importance of establishing a tradition.”
One game that stands out to Colaprete is a 14-13, last-second victory over perennial state power Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary as a senior.
“We beat Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary on a Hail Mary to win the game with no time left in Akron,” Colaprete said.
Bellino said that Colaprete displayed the leadership skills on the basketball court that he would use to great effect in his coaching career.
“Coach Colaprete was the captain of the Cardinal Mooney basketball team my first year at Mooney [in 1991-92],” Bellino said. “He played point guard and always played man-to-man on our opponents’ best guard.
“Frankie played with enthusiasm, determination and had that look in his eye that set him apart from other players. I knew then that no matter what career he would choose, he would be successful.”
After graduating in 1992, Colaprete attended John Carroll University, earning a bachelor’s degree and majoring in psychology, then a master’s degree in sports administration from Kent State.
Colaprete played safety for John Carroll.
He began his coaching career at Allegheny College in 1999 and 2000 before being named defensive backs coach and later defensive coordinator at Johns Hopkins from 2001-06. During that stretch, the Blue Jays went 47-16, the best six-season record in school history.
From 2007-09, Colaprete was defensive line coach at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
He returned to Johns Hopkins as defensive coordinator from 2010-12. The Blue Jays went 28-6 in those three seasons and made the Division III playoffs twice.
Colaprete said the main thing he has learned in his coaching career is to be genuine.
“As I’ve progressed as a coach — from an assistant to a position coach to a coordinator — I’ve realized I needed to be me,” he said. “When I got the opportunity to be a head coach, I needed to be me and instill my values, my thoughts.
“I wasn’t going to try and be someone else.”
Colaprete said he referred back to his Mooney roots in establishing his schemes at Wooster.
“We wanted to get the kids to reach their full potential on and off the field,” Colaprete said. “On offense, I consider us a spread offense, but we’re definitely run first. It’s the old Youngstown mentality to run the ball. We wanted to set the tone with the run.”
That was bore out in the statistics from the 2013 season. The Fighting Scots ended the campaign with four consecutive wins. They averaged 443.6 yards per game, including 207.1 rushing, and scored 30.6 points per game.
With season one a success, Colaprete said the goals for season two and beyond are obvious.
“We’ve just got to keep on improving,” he said. “Our goals are to win all the games we can and hopefully win the [North Coast Athletic] conference championship.”