Mike Giannone’s 10-year plan has filled in quite nicely.
The Macomb Dakota High School football coach not only has put the program on the map, but the two-time defending Division 1 champions also have blazed their own trail:
Since Giannone took over in 1998, the Cougars are 87-30.
During their back-to-back championship run, the team has a record of 27-1.
Going in the season opener Dakota has won 22 games in a row.
In their last 28 games the Cougars have outscored their opponents, 930-262, meaning the average margin of victory was 25 points.
“Wow, that’s not bad,"
Giannone said while his staff put his 2008 team through its first practice this morning. “I have never broken it down that way. We had a 10-year goal and we obviously reached that goal. When I first got the job our athletic director said ‘Give me a five-year goal and give me a 10-year goal."
“A lot of times you put stuff down and put it on paper because you’re going for a job. You look back at it and some of the thing we wanted to do in five years we’ve done. A lot of good guys have helped me meet that goal. It has been pretty gratifying in that respect; you can set those high goals and high standards. We’ve met most of them."
This year, the Cougars will try to win their third straight title with its third different starting quarterback — senior Mike Romanchik.
He follows in the footsteps of James Stallons, an all-state quarterback two years ago who is at the University of Wisconsin, and Mitch Lovett, who set a state finals record with more than 300 yards in beating Livonia Stevenson, 41-21.
“We’ve got a good group; we don’t have any spectacular athletes, but we’ve all been playing together since freshman year,”
said Romanchik. “Team chemistry is amazing. We all get along and we all come together to play as a team."
“It’s pretty hard to follow James and Mitch. I came up to the varsity freshman year thought the players. I got a chance to learn how James played and learning how Mitch played. I got good coaching from both of them so it should be interesting. Getting a chance to watch them play everyday was an honor. Mitch and I have been buddies forever and he taught me so much."
“We have multiple guys who can step in at running back. Our offensive line is coming back big; Jeff Fantuzzi and Joe Palm. I’ll be alright back there.”
He also has junior Greg Martin, a junior who stands 6-3 and 300 pounds.
“We’ve had some great ones here and he has a chance to be the best,”
said Giannone. “This team isn’t state champion; last year’s team was, so they have to go out there every day in practice and make it happen.”
