MENTOR, Ohio — 2019 will be the final season for Steve Trivisonno as head coach of the Mentor High School football program.
Trivisonno, 55, has coached the Cardinals for 22 seasons, 2019 being his last, and is certainly in the conversation as one of the area’s best high school football coaches. The veteran coach posted this tweet Wednesday morning:
Trivisonno spoke with WKYC's Dave Chudowsky and said he'd been thinking about his departure for the last few years. He added that he wanted to leave the program in a good place and he feels the time is right.
"This is not an easy decision to find the ‘right time’ to go -- I’ve spent a lot of time saying I don't want to stay too long and I don’t want to leave too early,” Trivisonno added in a news release issued by the school district. “Throughout the years, I’ve worked with such great kids and parents and the coaching staff -- it has been an honor to watch our players grow and to see what they are able to accomplish as they venture out into the real-world. We’ll finish strong and then it’s time for me to move on -- but I will always be a supporter of Mentor Football and the students we’ve helped shape along the way.”
Trivisonno also told his players his decision Wednesday morning.
"To be honest, that was very difficult," he said.
Trivisonno has led the Cardinals to the Division I state title game four times (2006, 2007, 2013, 2017) and each time, his team was the state runner-up. Trivisonno’s teams are known best for their high-powered offenses and elite quarterbacks, including Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
“We’ve always been able to count on Coach Trivisonno to run the football program in a way which makes you feel proud - and he has been able to make a tremendous impact on the lives of hundreds of student-athletes during his coaching career,” Mentor Superintendent Bill Porter said in a statement. “While Coach Triv will certainly be missed, the many lessons-- about attitude, gratitude, hard work, dedication, determination and more-- he’s shared with not only his athletes, but all of us, will last a lifetime.”
A Mentor alumnus himself, Trivisonno also taught for the district for more than 30 years. He is 196-69 as head coach of the Cardinals.
In the future, Trivisonno said he would still like to coach, possibly as an assistant at the collegiate level.