Strongsville's Lou Cirino is Out

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VilleBooster

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On Friday, December 1st, Strongsville City Schools informed Lou Cirino that the District would be going in a different direction with the SHS football program and that he would not return as head coach of the Strongsville High School Varsity Football team for the 2024 season.

Strongsville City Schools would like to thank Coach Cirino for his commitment to the Mustangs football program and for his hard work and dedication over the past seven seasons. He was instrumental in building a strong connection between the school-age and youth programs, as well as developing meaningful relationships with the football parents and student-athletes. The District is appreciative of the drive and passion he brought to the football program on and off the field during his tenure.

The search for a new head coach will begin immediately. Strongsville City Schools and the SHS Athletic Department are committed to finding the best coach to continue to guide the Mustangs high school football program. Interested applicants can find the job posting at www.strongnet.org, under the Human Resources section of the website.
 
 
The board took it upon themselves to take this action prior to the upcoming public board meeting to avoid, most likely, a contentious outcry. The current board, according to many, are making numerous unfavorable decisions not just with respect to the sports programs.

Cirino was a hard working quality person in a difficult situation. Strongsville has always struggled in football. Like many suburbs, particularly westside suburbs, the amount of talent lost to the parochials cannot be overstated. We wish him the best of luck
 
pm12100 said:
The board took it upon themselves to take this action prior to the upcoming public board meeting to avoid, most likely, a contentious outcry. The current board, according to many, are making numerous unfavorable decisions not just with respect to the sports programs.

Cirino was a hard working quality person in a difficult situation. Strongsville has always struggled in football. Like many suburbs, particularly westside suburbs, the amount of talent lost to the parochials cannot be overstated. We wish him the best of luck
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It's true on privates raiding that area a ton. The mini colleges recruit hard in those areas.

But Strongsville is bad. They shouldn't be this bad. He didn't get the job done. Nor did the Brunswick coach. It's good for the GCC that both are trying to correct it
 
It is a shame though. Both guys are quality people. Both Pinzone and Cirino had success in other situations. I wish both of them good luck!
 
They could have the guy on staff. QB coach, Scott Miller. Rose up the ranks at Padua, moved to Strongsville and joined the staff.

Plus, as PDC said- Strongsville is a dead end now. Maybe his Private background helps in keeping talent?
 
PDC said:
Strongsville is a dead end for football now.
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I disagree that Strongsville is a dead-end program. Strongsville boomed in population from the 70s-90s and was essentially built out by 2000. It then was stuck in a cycle of being a city filled with thousands of empty nesters when those homes that had 2-3-4 children in them turned to parents of graduates riding it out until retirement. The student population then was one of the fastest declining in Ohio for several years (think it lost 30 percent between 2005 and 2015).

But it now appears to be back on the upswing as homes are opening back up due to retirees and with Strongsville still being a desirable city, it is now one of the few public districts in NEO that is seeing a pretty sizable uptick in enrollment growth. Looking at total enrollment and it has been growing again at a decent pace the last 5 years (it could repass both Brunswick and Medina in the next 5 or so years since both of them were about 10 years behind in their growth boom).

From a football aspect, most of that growth is due to Asian and Hispanic students, which generally aren't a big football demographic. But the school is seeing a solid growth in black students (football demo) and the white student decline has stabilized from like 2-3 percent loss per year to getting closer to 0.

I think 7 years where the district started seeing its enrollment stabilized was plenty of time for Cirino to rebuild the program. This years team also had a lot more talent than what the 4-6 record showed (though I know there was some significant injuries). The situation at the HOF was obviously a huge black eye and probably made this change imminent.

We'll see but if they can bring in a quality coach, this still should be a top 25 type program in NEO instead of one stuck in 2-8 to 4-6 quicksand.
 
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SVillegrad said:
I disagree that Strongsville is a dead-end program. Strongsville boomed in population from the 70s-90s and was essentially built out by 2000. It then was stuck in a cycle of being a city filled with thousands of empty nesters when those homes that had 2-3-4 children in them turned to parents of graduates riding it out until retirement. The student population then was one of the fastest declining in Ohio for several years (think it lost 30 percent between 2005 and 2015).

But it now appears to be back on the upswing as homes are opening back up due to retirees and with Strongsville still being a desirable city, it is now one of the few public districts in NEO that is seeing a pretty sizable uptick in enrollment growth. Looking at total enrollment and it has been growing again at a decent pace the last 5 years (it could repass both Brunswick and Medina in the next 5 or so years since both of them were about 10 years behind in their growth boom).

From a football aspect, most of that growth is due to Asian and Hispanic students, which generally aren't a big football demographic. But the school is seeing a solid growth in black students (football demo) and the white student decline has stabilized from like 2-3 percent loss per year to getting closer to 0.

I think 7 years where the district started seeing its enrollment stabilized was plenty of time for Cirino to rebuild the program. This years team also had a lot more talent than what the 4-6 record showed (though I know there was some significant injuries). The situation at the HOF was obviously a huge black eye and probably made this change imminent.

We'll see but if they can bring in a quality coach, this still should be a top 25 type program in NEO instead of one stuck in 2-8 to 4-6 quicksand.
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Great post. If anything they gave him a few years too long. Hopefully Strongsville and Brunswick rebound.
 
SVillegrad said:
I disagree that Strongsville is a dead-end program. Strongsville boomed in population from the 70s-90s and was essentially built out by 2000. It then was stuck in a cycle of being a city filled with thousands of empty nesters when those homes that had 2-3-4 children in them turned to parents of graduates riding it out until retirement. The student population then was one of the fastest declining in Ohio for several years (think it lost 30 percent between 2005 and 2015).

But it now appears to be back on the upswing as homes are opening back up due to retirees and with Strongsville still being a desirable city, it is now one of the few public districts in NEO that is seeing a pretty sizable uptick in enrollment growth. Looking at total enrollment and it has been growing again at a decent pace the last 5 years (it could repass both Brunswick and Medina in the next 5 or so years since both of them were about 10 years behind in their growth boom).

From a football aspect, most of that growth is due to Asian and Hispanic students, which generally aren't a big football demographic. But the school is seeing a solid growth in black students (football demo) and the white student decline has stabilized from like 2-3 percent loss per year to getting closer to 0.

I think 7 years where the district started seeing its enrollment stabilized was plenty of time for Cirino to rebuild the program. This years team also had a lot more talent than what the 4-6 record showed (though I know there was some significant injuries). The situation at the HOF was obviously a huge black eye and probably made this change imminent.

We'll see but if they can bring in a quality coach, this still should be a top 25 type program in NEO instead of one stuck in 2-8 to 4-6 quicksand.
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Yeah. I was going to echo a lot of the growth is from demographics that historically don’t move the needle in football. North Olmsted is similar in that regard. Still, there is still enough to draw from to have a high quality program. The right hire can do wonders. I would be reaching out to Perry’s coach, to be honest. Actually, if I was Mentor I would be reaching out to Perry’s coach.
 
Being a resident of S'ville - to characterize the parochial schools as “raiding” to the detriment of Strongsville HS is a misrepresentation of the reality. I would argue that the kids at St. Joseph & John in Strongsville and in its CYO program are not destined to be Strongsville HS students. They do not ‘belong’ to Strongsville HS. For many decades, Sts. J&J has been the feeder for Padua, Holy Name, St. Ignatius, St. Ed’s (and SJA and Magnificat on the girls’ side). Many of those kids from Sts. J&J are legacies at those parochial high schools and never would consider SHS. I know that in St. Ignatius’ case, there was only 1 student from Strongsville on its varsity FB roster. Can’t speak for the other schools, but I just don’t buy into the conventional wisdom that many from Strongsville MS are being “recruited” into the parochial high schools and that is causing Strongsville to be what it is.

The reality is Strongsville’s school population is declining. Check the numbers – 20 years ago, the HS enrollment was ~2300 (for 3 grades) and for ’23-’24, the latest number published (12/1/23) for the HS is 1807 (for 4 grades). It is all about demographics (aging population in the city, young adults living elsewhere instead of returning to their ‘home' city, a birth rate decline triggered by the Great Recession of 2007-2009 - which is impacting HS enrollment now ). The housing in cities like Strongsville and Solon is saturated (no new builds) and there is no influx of new families like in Avon and some of the other exurbs. So, their school populations are declining.
There is home building taking place in Medina and Brunswick and those schools could benefit. For Brunswick though, St. Ambrose parish is the largest in the Cleveland diocese and that school's kids are likely to go to the above mentioned parochial schools + Walsh.

For Strongsville - it is what is .. and it is not "recruiting".
 
cjb5656 said:
Yeah. I was going to echo a lot of the growth is from demographics that historically don’t move the needle in football. North Olmsted is similar in that regard. Still, there is still enough to draw from to have a high quality program. The right hire can do wonders. I would be reaching out to Perry’s coach, to be honest. Actually, if I was Mentor I would be reaching out to Perry’s coach.
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Perry or Kirtland yep. But I fear Mentor is on the same path on keeping a coach who is taking the program down gradually for too long

I got bashed plenty last year for seeing his shortcomings. Others started to see it this year
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
Perry or Kirtland yep. But I fear Mentor is on the same path on keeping a coach who is taking the program down gradually for too long

I got bashed plenty last year for seeing his shortcomings. Others started to see it this year
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I agree about Gray. Tiger isn’t going anywhere, but you have a nearby coach that developed his skills at Marion Local, used them as a head coach at Perry extremely successfully and I believe can do the same at Mentor.
 
cjb5656 said:
I agree about Gray. Tiger isn’t going anywhere, but you have a nearby coach that developed his skills at Marion Local, used them as a head coach at Perry extremely successfully and I believe can do the same at Mentor.
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Not so sure about that. Could have ambition to do it at the highest level down the road. But it would take waiting 2 more years untill his kid graduates
 
Here's the Strongsville HS enrollment history (per its own website)

6/7/17 - 1981
5/3/18 - 1918
5/6/19 - 1960
4/14/20 - 1911
4/8/21 - 1913
5/6/22 - 1871
5/5/23 - 1795
12/1/23 - 1807

I don't see growth, unless this school year is being compared to the end of last school year
I would call this stable to declining
Maybe there is growth at the lower grades. Will have to check
 
bluengold said:
Being a resident of S'ville - to characterize the parochial schools as “raiding” to the detriment of Strongsville HS is a misrepresentation of the reality. I would argue that the kids at St. Joseph & John in Strongsville and in its CYO program are not destined to be Strongsville HS students. They do not ‘belong’ to Strongsville HS. For many decades, Sts. J&J has been the feeder for Padua, Holy Name, St. Ignatius, St. Ed’s (and SJA and Magnificat on the girls’ side). Many of those kids from Sts. J&J are legacies at those parochial high schools and never would consider SHS. I know that in St. Ignatius’ case, there was only 1 student from Strongsville on its varsity FB roster. Can’t speak for the other schools, but I just don’t buy into the conventional wisdom that many from Strongsville MS are being “recruited” into the parochial high schools and that is causing Strongsville to be what it is.

The reality is Strongsville’s school population is declining. Check the numbers – 20 years ago, the HS enrollment was ~2300 (for 3 grades) and for ’23-’24, the latest number published (12/1/23) for the HS is 1807 (for 4 grades). It is all about demographics (aging population in the city, young adults living elsewhere instead of returning to their ‘home' city, a birth rate decline triggered by the Great Recession of 2007-2009 - which is impacting HS enrollment now ). The housing in cities like Strongsville and Solon is saturated (no new builds) and there is no influx of new families like in Avon and some of the other exurbs. So, their school populations are declining.
There is home building taking place in Medina and Brunswick and those schools could benefit. For Brunswick though, St. Ambrose parish is the largest in the Cleveland diocese and that school's kids are likely to go to the above mentioned parochial schools + Walsh.

For Strongsville - it is what is .. and it is not "recruiting".
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I don’t disagree with a good portion of kids in Strongsville never being "Strongsville City Schools" kids. But you are wrong on on enrollment. It has been up in both Strongsville and Solon the past couple of years.

Of course, compared to 2003 (when both were at the highest ever) it is still down. But Strongsville and Solon both are growing again in overall enrollment (even despite no where to build) due to each still being desired areas to live and homes opening back up (why I also think Solon isn't a dead program either despite their recent struggles).
 
Medina is still building and will be the second biggest school in the area behind Parma (whenever they decide what to do there).
I live in Brunswick and have always felt that they are land locked much like Strongsville. Brunswick still has 700+ kids in their graduating classes.....Crazy! Kids around here don't seem to care about football....
 
bluengold said:
Here's the Strongsville HS enrollment history (per its own website)

6/7/17 - 1981
5/3/18 - 1918
5/6/19 - 1960
4/14/20 - 1911
4/8/21 - 1913
5/6/22 - 1871
5/5/23 - 1795
12/1/23 - 1807

I don't see growth, unless this school year is being compared to the end of last school year
I would call this stable to declining
Maybe there is growth at the lower grades. Will have to check
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I will have to re-look but I always look at the district trends when the ODE releases its yearly report cards (that was a couple months ago for last school year). Maybe 5 years is a stretch but I know it has gone up in each of the last 2-3.

The losses have also been way lower in the past decade than they were from roughly 2005-15 when every year, the district was reporting something like 200-300 less students (K-12) each year.

Now, if there is a loss, it's negligible at best (outside the shutdown year where everyone saw big drops).
 
SVillegrad said:
I don’t disagree with a good portion of kids in Strongsville never being "Strongsville City Schools" kids. But you are wrong on on enrollment. It has been up in both Strongsville and Solon the past couple of years.

Of course, compared to 2003 (when both were at the highest ever) it is still down. But Strongsville and Solon both are growing again in overall enrollment (even despite no where to build) due to each still being desired areas to live and homes opening back up (why I also think Solon isn't a dead program either despite their recent struggles).
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I agree that Strongsville is not a dead program. I just disagreed with the parochial school "recruiting" conventional wisdom (not espoused by you)

I posted the high school enrollment figures above (per the school district's website). Those are the numbers for the high school. It does not exhibit an increase, but rather stable at best for the past 2 years and certainly a decline from pre-covid times. The elementary and middle school district numbers could be increasing - these are also available and I'll take a look at those.

The school district did have a "Subdivision Yield Analysis" study done by Cooperative Strategies in July 2022. It forecasted the addition of only 63 [K-12] students (including 12 [gr. 9-12] students) from 'developing single family/condo' areas, of which there are only 4 in process or planned,. We know the city is built out and there is not the new home builds like in Brunswick, Medina, Avon. An increase in school population has to be driven by move-ins and increased birth rates (quite possible if younger people are moving in from elsewhere - Parma?). The housing market right now is pretty dead because of interest rates - I certainly see that in my subdivision. So, this possible enrollment increase is going to take time
 
SVillegrad said:
I will have to re-look but I always look at the district trends when the ODE releases its yearly report cards (that was a couple months ago for last school year). Maybe 5 years is a stretch but I know it has gone up in each of the last 2-3.

The losses have also been way lower in the past decade than they were from roughly 2005-15 when every year, the district was reporting something like 200-300 less students (K-12) each year.

Now, if there is a loss, it's negligible at best (outside the shutdown year where everyone saw big drops).
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Strongsville school enrollment figures

District Enrollment - Strongsville City School District

District Enrollment - Strongsville City School District
www.strongnet.org www.strongnet.org
 
pm12100 said:
The board took it upon themselves to take this action prior to the upcoming public board meeting to avoid, most likely, a contentious outcry. The current board, according to many, are making numerous unfavorable decisions not just with respect to the sports programs.

Cirino was a hard working quality person in a difficult situation. Strongsville has always struggled in football. Like many suburbs, particularly westside suburbs, the amount of talent lost to the parochials cannot be overstated. We wish him the best of luck
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Ok let's quit the Jacques-esque talk. We all know there are many ongoing issues and our city that go far far beyond the football program and private schools.

Being honest with yourself on this fact would be a good start. And whomever you are a burner for, cool.
 
allworld said:
Medina is still building and will be the second biggest school in the area behind Parma (whenever they decide what to do there).
I live in Brunswick and have always felt that they are land locked much like Strongsville. Brunswick still has 700+ kids in their graduating classes.....Crazy! Kids around here don't seem to care about football....
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Neither Brunswick or Medina have 700 plus. Medina's highest ever was 650 in 2018 and its been going down since.

Brunswick may have had a couple over 700 but they are starting to trend down too.

Medina is (or will be) shutting down schools and redistricting at the elementary/MS levels. Brunswick has also done the same in the past couple years.

Both Brunswick (which also includes Brunswick Hills/Valley City) and Medina (which is a gigantic school district in land area) aren't nearly as land locked as Strongsville, so they probably won't suffer the same size losses that Strongsville did from about 05-15, but both are seeing significant drops themselves.
 
cjb5656 said:
I agree about Gray. Tiger isn’t going anywhere, but you have a nearby coach that developed his skills at Marion Local, used them as a head coach at Perry extremely successfully and I believe can do the same at Mentor.
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There is no benefit for him to leave perry, unless mentor gives him an admin job with a fat pay raise...

also why deal with the mentor drama when the guy is now a living legend at his current job
 
buno67 said:
There is no benefit for him to leave perry, unless mentor gives him an admin job with a fat pay raise...

also why deal with the mentor drama when the guy is now a living legend at his current job
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What drama ? Every school wants to win. And if you don't get it done, every school with ambition should want a change .
 
buno67 said:
There is no benefit for him to leave perry, unless mentor gives him an admin job with a fat pay raise...

also why deal with the mentor drama when the guy is now a living legend at his current job
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Mentor isn't open so won't have to worry about it now.

But depending on his ambitions. Strongsville is not a bad spot. They gave Cirino 7 years so I would think that the next coach will also have a long leash.

If someone can come in and bring Strongsville back to at least Medina level respectability, it will open up a lot of doors.

Of course, he has a great thing going at Perry so I wouldn't blame him sticking around there. Either way, though, Gecewich has to be way at the top of the "put feelers" out to list if you are a Strongsville admin.
 
Perry just won the state title. HC is not going anywhere. This is not college or pro football. Cirino had a strong in house staff that they should pull from. Many qualified replacements in house. Many who played high level HS and college ball. For the players returning in particular the QB who was hurt all year it would be nice to keep continuity and just hire within. With all the returning players they have coming back, keeping it in house can lead to huge, deep playoff run in 2024.
 
SVillegrad said:
Neither Brunswick or Medina have 700 plus. Medina's highest ever was 650 in 2018 and its been going down since.

Brunswick may have had a couple over 700 but they are starting to trend down too.

Medina is (or will be) shutting down schools and redistricting at the elementary/MS levels. Brunswick has also done the same in the past couple years.

Both Brunswick (which also includes Brunswick Hills/Valley City) and Medina (which is a gigantic school district in land area) aren't nearly as land locked as Strongsville, so they probably won't suffer the same size losses that Strongsville did from about 05-15, but both are seeing significant drops themselves.
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Valley City is part of the Medina Buckeye district. Buckeye is a district that will be seeing a large uptick in enrollment in the near future with all of the home building taking place in the area.
 
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