Longtime Mentor High School football coach Steve Trivisonno to make 2019 his last season

MENTOR, Ohio — Longtime Mentor High School football head coach Steve Trivisonno announced Wednesday that the 2019 football season will be his last, ending a highly succesful 23-year coaching career.

“This is not an easy decision to find the ‘right time’ to go-- I’ve spent a lot of time saying I don't want to stay too long and I don’t want to leave too early,” Trivisonno said in a news release. “Throughout the years, I’ve worked with such great kids and parents and the coaching staff-- it has been an honor to watch our players grow and to see what they are able to accomplish as they venture out into the real-world. We’ll finish strong and then it’s time for me to move on-- but I will always be a supporter of Mentor Football and the students we’ve helped shape along the way.”

Trivisonno started in Mentor as an assistant coach in 1988 and moved into the head coaching role in 1997. From there, he built the Mentor football team into what it is today, leading the Mentor Cardinals to 196 wins and 18 playoff appearances since 1997. He has won numerous Coach of the Year Awards.

Under his leadership, he coached Mitch Trubisky, who is a quarterback for the Chicago Bears.

“We’ve always been able to count on Coach Trivisonno to run the football program in a way which makes you feel proud - and he has been able to make a tremendous impact on the lives of hundreds of student-athletes during his coaching career,” said Bill Porter, Mentor Schools Superintendent. “While Coach Triv will certainly be missed, the many lessons-- about attitude, gratitude, hard work, dedication, determination and more-- he’s shared with not only his athletes, but all of us, will last a lifetime.”

The process of naming a head coach replacement will commence following the 2019 season, according to the school.