Tom Pavlansky is new Poland head football coach

CaptainPolandPride

CaptainPolandPride

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Pavlansky heading to Poland as head football coach
Tom Pavlansky is a graduate of Poland and has been at Lakeview for more than 20 years.
1 hr 14 mins ago
Updated:
1 hr 3 mins ago
By Dana Balash

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Poland has found their new head football coach, and his namesake is already on the stadium.

Tom Pavlansky is leaving the blue and white of Lakeview for the blue and white of Poland. He's expected to be approved at the next Poland school board meeting later this month, per Poland Athletic Director Brian Banfield.

The Poland graduate is the son of Dave Pavlansky, who the field in Poland is named after.

Tom was 131-98 in 22 seasons at Lakeview with several playoff appearances.

Tom's first game in Poland will come against his brother Mike, the head coach at Canfield in the Battle of Route 224.

The two have never played against each other in a regular-season game.

The coaching opening at Lakeview is the 11th since the 2020 season ended.
 
 
Since the Captain only has the time and wherewithal to weigh in these days when something monumental happens at Poland, and this certainly qualifies, I only have one thing to say...GO DOGS!!! PS: I wonder what Paladin thinks of this big hire?
 
POLAND, OH- Pending School Board approval on Monday, February 22nd, the Poland Athletic Department would like to welcome HOME Tom Pavlansky as the 15th Head Football coach at Poland Seminary High School. Tom takes over a Poland football program previously led by Ryan Williams from 2015-2020. Coach Williams resigned in mid-December. “Coach Pavlansky brings enthusiasm, dedication, and a true passion for the game to our Poland football program,” “As a former Poland Bulldog student-athlete, to have Tom come home and coach on a field named after his father gets me extremely excited for our community, our fans, and most importantly our student-athletes,” said Brian Banfield, Athletic Administrator for the Poland Local Schools.

Tom has served the past 22 years as the head coach for the Lakeview Bulldogs. During his tenure at Lakeview, his teams have won four conference titles and have been to the OHSAA playoffs seven times. Coach Pavlansky has also coached in the North/ South All-Star Game and was also the head coach for Ohio in the 2010 Big 33 Classic played in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Tom served as the 2019-2020 President of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association.

Tom graduated from Poland Seminary High School in 1987 and The Ohio State University in 1991. He and his wife, Kate, of 27 years currently reside in Cortland with their four children, Annie (21), Stephen (18), Maggie (16), and Tommy (14).
 
Talent is down in a huge way in Cortland. He plays his son at qb for 3 years who honestly shouldn’t have played (program struggles immensely). He then leaves as soon as his kid is done. In his last 3 years he was 4-6 2-8 1-7 (one win from grand valley). Really really unfortunate for Lakeview as I feel like this stinks. For Poland they get a pretty good coach, that has won games in the past. Granted most of his success was in the old tac against the champion and Newton Falls, he still wins games.
 
Are Poland people very excited by this hire? I get that he's a legacy and he has a decent record but not making the playoff in 15 of his 22 years of coaching might give some a pause. Lakeview on has 5 total playoff wins so there were a lot of 1 and dones too.
 
Spread All Day said:
Talent is down in a huge way in Cortland. He plays his son at qb for 3 years who honestly shouldn’t have played (program struggles immensely). He then leaves as soon as his kid is done. In his last 3 years he was 4-6 2-8 1-7 (one win from grand valley). Really really unfortunate for Lakeview as I feel like this stinks. For Poland they get a pretty good coach, that has won games in the past. Granted most of his success was in the old tac against the champion and Newton Falls, he still wins games.
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Pav was starting to feel the pressure at Lakeview from everyone in general. Last year he lost 3 good players to Mathews. That tells you how bad things were getting. Who knows? Now that he's gone, they might come back. It was time for him to move on to a established program. I wonder if Jeff Daltorio would be interested in the Lakeview job. Teaches in the school system, and a former Head Coach at Lowellville.
 
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He better keep that system that’s already in place. Any clue on how many assistants he will bring or keep
 
footballforever said:
Pav was starting to feel the pressure at Lakeview from everyone in general. Last year he lost 3 good players to Mathews. That tells you how bad things were getting. Who knows? Now that he's gone, they might come back. It was time for him to move on to a established program. I wonder if Jeff Daltorio would be interested in the Lakeview job. Teaches in the school system, and a former Head Coach at Lowellville.
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That tells me those kids weren’t that good if they want to Matthews and not JFK or Harding or Niles or Mcdonald or Hubbard or Brookefield. Pav did a good job at Lakeview for a long time. Will that success be replicated in Poland that’s the question who knows.
 
Got to give him credit for turning his fortune around...7-21 with the prospect of being 1-9 again...to being named head coach of a better program that certainly won’t be 1-9.
 
Spread All Day said:
That tells me those kids weren’t that good if they want to Matthews and not JFK or Harding or Niles or Mcdonald or Hubbard or Brookefield. Pav did a good job at Lakeview for a long time. Will that success be replicated in Poland that’s the question who knows.
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Actually one of them was a QB that should of been starting and one would have started at LB. Also lost a good TE DL to JFK, they be lost many pretty darn good players over the years to JFK over Pav’s stubborn ways.
 
CaptainPolandPride said:
Since the Captain only has the time and wherewithal to weigh in these days when something monumental happens at Poland, and this certainly qualifies, I only have one thing to say...GO DOGS!!! PS: I wonder what Paladin thinks of this big hire?
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Big question Mark. Tom is a neighbor of mine and always wondered if he wanted to go back home. While he won at Lakeview, I questioned his lack of a run game on O and was never a fan of his D system. I had other sons who won championships at Lakeview with other coaches and the last grandson who played for Tom lead them to their last league title. Lots of skill players over the years at Lakeview but Tom never got serious about the run game. Poland has always taken that more serious. It will be interesting to see what he uses at Poland. And what system he uses for D with Poland’s schedule usually tougher than Lakeviews. Tom is very meticulous about the kicking game.

Not close to the program now, but there were lots of grumbling about playing his son at QB the last couple of years. Not much of an athlete and not much of a QB either. Lots of kids transferred out or didn’t come out the last couple of years. I see this as starting over with a clean slate. I knew Ryan too and thought he did a good job with both the run game and the D. Poland was successful. I just don’t see Tom’s systems from Lakeview being a good fit with Poland kids. Throwing the ball all over the field might be exciting, but I’d see Ryan’s systems being superior over Tom’s Lakeview systems. The exception was the grandson leading Lakeview over Poland at Poland in 35-31 shoot out.

Time will tell. What does Poland have coming back ?
 
Paladin said:
Big question Mark. Tom is a neighbor of mine and always wondered if he wanted to go back home. While he won at Lakeview, I questioned his lack of a run game on O and was never a fan of his D system. I had other sons who won championships at Lakeview with other coaches and the last grandson who played for Tom lead them to their last league title. Lots of skill players over the years at Lakeview but Tom never got serious about the run game. Poland has always taken that more serious. It will be interesting to see what he uses at Poland. And what system he uses for D with Poland’s schedule usually tougher than Lakeviews. Tom is very meticulous about the kicking game.

Not close to the program now, but there were lots of grumbling about playing his son at QB the last couple of years. Not much of an athlete and not much of a QB either. Lots of kids transferred out or didn’t come out the last couple of years. I see this as starting over with a clean slate. I knew Ryan too and thought he did a good job with both the run game and the D. Poland was successful. I just don’t see Tom’s systems from Lakeview being a good fit with Poland kids. Throwing the ball all over the field might be exciting, but I’d see Ryan’s systems being superior over Tom’s Lakeview systems. The exception was the grandson leading Lakeview over Poland at Poland in 35-31 shoot out.

Time will tell. What does Poland have coming back ?
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Poland returns a lot. His system will be fine for the class they have coming back this year but after that it’ll be interesting. If he is smart he will keep most of the staff, and put as much work in the weight room as they normally do. He will do fine at Poland but I see it being a small drop from Williams, if I were to choose a pavlansky to coach it would be the one from Canfield
 
Plus I think Columbiana only have like 25 kids on their entire team... that’s probably the most damning part of losing that game.

On a more optimistic note, it’s worth mentioning that the talent at Poland is far superior than the talent at Lakeview... at least this year it is.
Poland will be mostly Seniors this year.
 
BTrev said:
Plus I think Columbiana only have like 25 kids on their entire team... that’s probably the most damning part of losing that game.

On a more optimistic note, it’s worth mentioning that the talent at Poland is far superior than the talent at Lakeview... at least this year it is.
Poland will be mostly Seniors this year.
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How long was he at Lakeview? Was he to blame for the lack of developed talent? I have no idea who he is....
 
guyinahoodie said:
How long was he at Lakeview? Was he to blame for the lack of developed talent? I have no idea who he is....
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22 years as head coach. He insisted on playing his son, who shouldn't have been the starter, at QB the last 3 years and that turned a lot of families and kids away. 7 playoff appearances in 22 years and the school has a total of 5 playoff wins. Poland could of hired better but his Dad's name is on the scoreboard. He will struggle in the long run at Poland.
 
guyinahoodie said:
How long was he at Lakeview? Was he to blame for the lack of developed talent? I have no idea who he is....
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He's been the HC there since 1999 and had a 131-98 record. The master of going 6-4 with 3 wins over Champion, Newton Falls, and Campbell almost every year it seemed. His teams are 35-80 vs. teams with a winning record while at Lakeview. Always seemed like an OK guy, decent coach, very predictable, a bit of a cry baby. He had some very talented teams in the late 2000s that I believe underachieved a bit. Some would say his 2017 team underachieved from their full potential as well with the 1st round loss to Girard. As others have pointed out, it helps when you're a graduate of the school and your Dad's name is on the scoreboard.
 
Lazzari? Really? No way. He never gone it done anywhere he was at. Ask Cuyahiga Falls...............
 
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