News and Announcements
Most Consecutive Shutouts
| 6 | 1953 (1) - 1954 (5) |
Least Yards Allowed Passing
| 404 (44.9 Game) | 1971 |
| 477 (43.7 Game) | 1979 |
| 480 (48.0 Game) | 1975 |
| 505 (56.1 Game) | 1969 |
| 514 (51.4 Game) | 1976 |
| 544 (54.4 Game) | 1974 |
| 548 (54.8 Game) | 1973 |
| 563 (62.6 Game) | 1972 |
| 567 (56.7 Game) | 2006 |
| 569 (51.7 Game) | 2005 |
Most Games Won
| 10 | 2018, 2017, 2015, 2005 & 1979 |
| 9 | 2016, 2002, 1983 |
| 8 | 10 Different Seasons |
From the GAZETTE: By Steve King, Staff Writer
YORK TWP. — One is the loneliest number, and energetic new Buckeye football coach Chris Medaglia is out to do something about it.
The 30-year-old Medaglia, who has coached in the Bucks program since 1995 and currently is a physical education teacher at the high school, was hired Tuesday night at the Buckeye Board of Education meeting.
He will replace Jeff Ladner, who stepped down recently as coach but is expected to stay on as defensive coordinator.
"I remember in preseason camp last year when he had a night practice," Medaglia said from his Middleburg Heights home, where he lives with his wife of nearly seven years, Kimberly, and their two children, Nicholas, 5, and Alyssa, 3.
"I asked the kids, ‘How many of you guys would walk down to Medina with your jersey on and be proud enough of it to tell everyone you saw that you played football for Buckeye High School?' Only one kid raised his hand. I told them, ‘I can understand how you feel. I wouldn't do it, either.'"
That's because the Bucks have struggled for most of the last decade. In 2001, when the Bucks finished 6-4 overall and 3-2 in the Mohican Area Conference, it marked their first winning season since 1995 and only their second since '91.
The Bucks also seriously challenged for a playoff spot for the first time in school history, as they just missed in Division III. Buckeye is one of just three Medina County public schools (there are seven) to have never qualified for the postseason.
"I'm not worried about the playoffs or anything like that at this point," Medaglia said. "We're just focusing on Wellington (Buckeye's opponent in the 2002 season opener) and trying to get better one kid at a time. If we do that, then everything else will fall into order."
If Medaglia can channel some of his energy, optimism and determination into his players, good things may come for the Bucks sooner rather than later.
"We want excited kids," Medaglia said. "We will have energy. We will be excited. We're already talking about our motto, ‘One team, one goal.' We're going to do this together."
Medaglia said that attitude is already starting to develop in the weight room, which he has directed since last year.
"We're getting 40, 50, 60 kids in there every day," he said. "Other teachers in the building hear all the yelling and screaming and they ask us what's going on. It's just that these kids are excited."
Buckeye athletic director Ken Woodruff, a former football coach at the school, took notice of that. It is why he didn't open up the job to the outside.
"We thought we had qualified applicants inside," Woodruff said.
Of those three inside candidates, Woodruff chose Medaglia to recommend to the school board for a variety of reasons.
"Chris is youthful and enthusiastic," the AD said. "He has been in our program for a while and has coached all aspects of the game. He's been our special teams coach (1997-2000), defensive coordinator (1998-99) and offensive coordinator (2001). So he knows the game.
"Plus he has shown to be a real strong leader who has great camaraderie with the kids."
However, it is that boyish enthusiasm and vigor that really stood out in Wood-ruff's eyes.
"Chris is the kind of guy we need right now," Woodruff said. "We have decent kids who are working hard in the weight room, and when you watch us play, you see that schematically, we're pretty sound.
"But what we have to change more than the physical side is the mental aspect of things. We're not playing with enough energy and emotion."
Medaglia, a former tight end and linebacker at Parma Heights Holy Name High in the late 1980s, has never been a high school coach. But Woodruff thinks that by surrounding him on the staff with ex-head coaches such as Ladner, Rich Dotson and Bob Jenne, they'll be able to help Medaglia for the first year or so with the organizational things that go with the job.
Medaglia will supply the rest of the pre-requisites for the position, such as getting the kids to buy into his system and beliefs.
"You can talk about pride all you want, but you've got to feel it," He said. "I think you do that — you build pride — by putting the kids in charge and making sure they understand this is their team. They're responsible for it."
