Sports

Dlugosz Retiring: Share Your Thoughts

After 21 years, Shoremen coach Dave Dlugosz will step down as head coach. Share your well wishes below.

Avon Lake football coach and Hall of Famer Dave Dlugosz is retiring.

Dlugosz, who earned his 200th coaching victory this past season against Amherst, has collected a host of awards and accomplishments during his career.

In 2003, his Shoremen won the Div. II state championship. He accumulated a record of 200-44, and earned won 18 Southwestern Conference championships, including 15 of the last 16 years.

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“Twenty-two years as a head coach is a long time, and that’s essentially what it came down to,” Dlugosz told the Chronicle-Telegram.  “We still have some very qualified guys on our coaching staff to carry on what has happened at Avon Lake, year after year.

His 2004 team was the Div. II State runner-up.  Dlugosz was has been inducted into the Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Fame, told the Chronicle he would not rule out returning as an assistant.

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Supporters took to forums to laud Dlugosz.

There so many great games during those years in conference and playoff games and playing against some good coaches too like Jeff Riesen (who Dlugosz replaced and coached against him when Riesen was at Amherst),… SWC_Fan posted on JJHuddle.com . ‘He will be missed at Avon Lake. He was the best coach ever.”

Dlugosz, 61, was previously an assistant coach at St. Edward before joining the Shoremen staff in 1991 as a defensive coordinator.

"When I retired from teaching last year, I had it in the back of my mind to [coach] one or two more years," Dlugosz, a 1970 Avon Lake High School graduate told The Plain Dealer. "It has not been the easiest one. With 18 lettermen and 12 starters coming back, the cupboard is definitely not bare. But I wanted to make sure the successor started off strong."

Dlugosz, 61, was an assistant coach at St. Edward for five seasons before becoming defensive coordinator at Avon Lake in 1991.

The Avon Lake School District has posted an opening for the position.

Share your thoughts below in the comments section.


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