By: Engagement Insider
BOSTON, MA October 25, 2013 – Former Cleveland Brown Paul Zukauskas is not afraid of taking over a team in turmoil.
And like fellow New England native Bill O’Brien at Penn State, Coach Zukauskas has turned around a private Massachusetts high school football team in a hurry.
Lawrence Academy was reeling from charges of academic/recruiting violations by the previous regime, which resulted in stiff sanctions including a three-year ban on postseason play.
But in the spring of 2011, this challenge did not dissuade the then-assistant coach at Boston College, where he had starred before being drafted by the NFL.
“You could say there are some parallels with Coach O’Brien in trying to bring back a program under stress,” observed the former offensive lineman.
Stress indeed, where players were leaving the program, top school administrators were gone, and the future was in flux.
“I was well aware of the situation there, and people told me not to take the job,” said Zukauskas, “but I saw it as a leadership opportunity.”
But when the Weymouth, Mass. native arrived, it was worse than expected.
“It was a school divided,” he recalled of the early days, “with emotions running higher than I thought they would be and with kids looking to leave, leading to us ultimately losing six players, including four co-captains.”
A bad way to begin, but one that left Zukauskas with an obvious path.
“I just went back to basics, with a concentration around football and the things I believed in,” he stated firmly.
Zukauskas’ New England work ethic and BC background, combined with four years playing for the Browns from 2001 though 2004, as well as a fifth year with the San Francisco 49ers when he was out with an injury, served him well as he stabilized the program.
The team managed to go 3-5 his first year, and then soared to 6-2 in year two. Then after a 1-3 start this year, the Spartans may have turned the corner by shutting out the undefeated league leader 28-0, and following that up with a second straight win to wrap up October.
Speaking on the field before that victory, Zukauskas had good reason to like this team.
“This is a great group who is very focused, and our losses so far have been to the top teams, and we are playing another one today,” he noted, adding, “This team is fun to coach.”
Fun that is long-awaited and much-deserved after resurrecting a troubled program that still this year remains on probation and is not eligible for a championship or postseason play.
“We are starting to build an excellent program with very talented football players that we are very proud of,” said Zukauskas, closing with, “The program is where we hoped it would be.”