The Packers have announced that Tony DiSalvo of St. Croix Central High School in Hammond, Wis., has been named the Green Bay Packers High School Coach of the Week.
DiSalvo, in his 17th year as the varsity head coach of St. Croix Central, led the Panthers to a 41-20 victory over Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau High School in the third round of the WIAA Division 4 Tournament on Friday, Nov. 4. The win over the No. 2 seed Red Hawks comes just one week after the Panthers knocked off the top seed in their region, Osceola High School. After Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, St. Croix Central responded with 34 unanswered points. The Panthers will now attempt to defeat a second No. 1 seed in the tournament, as they travel to the neutral site of Stanley-Boyd High School to take on Little Chute High School in the state semifinals on Friday, Nov. 11.
"It was a combination of hard work, dedication, kids listening to their coaches and trusting what the coaches had to say and executing the game plan," DiSalvo said. "We played very well on offense and I thought we played even better on defense. We had to play extremely physical and we knew that coming in. It was big for us to stop their running game and I thought our kids did a really nice job of that."
DiSalvo grew up in River Falls, Wis., until his family moved to Cumberland, Wis., where he attended high school. While at Cumberland, DiSalvo played football and basketball and participated in track. He played running back for the Beavers under head coach Roger Wistricill. Following his graduation from Cumberland in 1980, DiSalvo attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where he played football for one year under Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame member Link Walker. He would then go on to play football at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls for another Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame member, Mike Farley. DiSalvo graduated from UW-River Falls in 1985.
DiSalvo began his football coaching career at Spring Valley High School as the head varsity coach in 1986. After three years at Spring Valley, DiSalvo accepted an assistant coaching position at St. Croix Central. In 2000, he was promoted to the varsity head coaching position for the Panthers.
DiSalvo and his staff oversee a program of 71 players, 45 of which play at the varsity level. His assistant staff includes Ryan Berg, John Tackmann, Zach Turpin, Jake Knapton and Pat Hook.
In addition to coaching football, DiSalvo is also a math teacher, basketball coach and track coach at St. Croix Central Middle School.
DiSalvo and his wife, Ann, have one daughter, Arinn.
About the Green Bay Packers High School Coach of the Week Program:
The Packers will recognize one outstanding high school coach as their 'Coach of the Week' winner during the 2016 high school football season. Winners are awarded several items and privileges, including a $1,000 donation to the school's football program from the Green Bay Packers and the NFL Foundation, as well as recognition of the award on Packers.com, Wissports.net and Wifca.org.
Front row: Pat Hook, Tony DiSalvo, Ryan Berg
Back row: John Tackmann, Zach Turpin, Jake Knapton
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