43
Conklin, Cappuzzello to direct new league
By Greg Gulas
The newly formed NorthEast 8 Conference has tabbed former Austintown Fitch athletic director Rob Conklin as its inaugural commissioner while Dave Cappuzzello, superintendent of Girard City Schools, will serve as league president.
Charter member schools include Girard, Hubbard, Jefferson, Lakeview, Niles, Poland, South Range and Struthers.
Play for all interscholastic sports (boys and girls grades 7-12) will commence next fall with the exception of football, whose start is earmarked for fall, 2019
“As a retired athletic director with 42 years of public education experience, this was just a natural progression for me,” Conklin said. “When you think of most commissioners, and this is totally my opinion, they all go through this. Guys like Paul Andraso, former ITCL commissioner, and Rick King, current All-American Conference commissioner, took this same path. The one exception is John Mang, current Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference commissioner who came up through the ranks as an official.”
A native of Mentor, Conklin earned his undergraduate degree from Adrian College in 1974 and Master of Science in education degree from Youngstown State in 1981.
He spent 30 years in the classroom, is the former head football coach of the Struthers Wildcats (1993-94), has served as an assistant football coach at both Struthers and Cardinal Mooney and also served as head track, cross country and girls gymnastics coach for the Wildcats.
He spent two years (2004-06) as athletic director at Struthers, one year at Ashtabula Lakeside (2006-07) and from 2007-16, was the full-time director of athletics at Austintown Fitch.
He retired as Falcons’ athletic director after the 2015-16 academic year.
“I have a history with many of the NE8 schools and their representatives and look forward to working with several of my former coaches and students,” Conklin said. “I told the selection committee during my interview that this was a perfect match for both them and me because we share many common goals. This is an excellent eight-school league, has many great people and tremendous relationships among league members.”
Cappuzzello noted that Conklin stood out when interviewed by NorthEast 8 Conference member superintendents, principals and athletic directors.
“It did not take Rob long to shine during his interview, not only because of his work history and experience in athletics but because of his vision for the league and its members,” Cappuzzello said. “Rob’s organization and leadership skills were evident throughout the interview and the NorthEast 8 executive committee is happy with his selection to lead NE8 into the future.”
Girard athletic director Nick Cochran said Conklin does everything in a first-class manner.
“I am looking forward to working with Rob because he has so much knowledge. Everything that he has done as a teacher, coach and athletic director has been top notch,” Cochran said. “It’s a plus to have eight schools in a conference that are very competitive in all sports and have the camaraderie that the NE8 does. I am going to miss that camaraderie with the schools in the All-American Conference, but still look forward to having an excellent working relationship with them.”
Conklin already has priorities in mind.
“My goal is to sustain, maintain and enhance the cooperation that has brought these schools and administrators together, extending that ‘working together’ belief to our coaches and players as well. It’s all about the betterment of the league,” Conklin said. “From superintendents to principals to the athletic directors who have been so cooperative, I want to make sure that this league manages to withstand the test of time.”
The league will offer 22 total sports, 11 each for boys and girls.
Boys sports include baseball, basketball, bowling, cross country, football (beginning in 2019), golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and wrestling.
Girls sports include basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and volleyball.