A visit with WPIAL champion coach Tom Nola

Background Info: McKeesport native Tom Nola was a football and baseball lettermen for both the Tigers and Bethany College. Nola created a dynasty as Clairton High School's football coach. In 12 season, he led the Bears to six WPIAL Class 1A titles and four PIAA crowns. He is one of only eight coaches in WPIAL history to win six or more titles. Clairton's most impressive accomplishment during Nola's tenure was a 66-game winning streak, from 2009 through 2013, that broke the Pennsylvania record. Clairton is also the only team in state history to score 600 or more points in four consecutive seasons. Nola led Clairton to a 141-22 record. He also had coaching stints at Serra Catholic and Gateway and finished his 19-year career with a 165-64 record.

Tom Nola's thoughts on winning six WPIAL titles and four PIAA titles at Clairton.
We had such good players for a while there. Rochester was the dominant team before our run started. They won five WPIAL titles in seven years. We ended their run in 2006 when we beat them (16-13) in the WPIAL final. That started a run in which we played at Heinz Field six of seven years. That's amazing. But I can't take the credit. We had so many great players who were totally dedicated to the program.

Nola's memories of Clairton's 66-game winning, a Pennsylviania record.
There was a lot of pressure on me and the team during the streak. It kept building and got crazier every week. We had newspapers and TV stations following us every game. Everybody knew about the streak. Central Bucks West held the streak with 59 wins (from 1997-2000). We broke the record at Heinz Field. We won our 60th game in the WPIAL title game (in 2012).

Nola's most memorable game.
In 2010, we faced District 2's Riverside High School in the PIAA title game and they jumped out to a 24-0 lead. A lot of teams would give up in that situation. We didn't. Midway through the first half, one of our players put a giganic hit on their quarterback. That hit changed the whole momentum of the game. We scored 20 points and went into halftime trailing by only four points. In the second half, we scored two more times and beat them 36-30.

Nola's induction into the WPIAL Hall of Fame in June.
It was a great honor to be recognized in the WPIAL Hall of Fame. It was a very nice banquet. It was great to have the Killer T's (Tyler Boyd, Titus Howard, and Terrish Webb) with me to share the honor.