Rarefied Air

Then, over time, it intensified, and its message became crystal clear.

 

The time had come for Mark Palyo to retire as Collegiate’s head varsity football coach, a post to which he’s given heart and soul the past 16 years. No one had to tell him. He just knew. The decision to step away after the 2022 season was his and his alone, and he made it after much reflection and introspection.

 

He’d done all he could do, he reasoned, he’d done it the very best that he could, and he’d left it all on the field, just as he has from the moment he first suited up to play on the sandlots of McKeesport, his hometown in Western Pennsylvania steel country. The time had arrived, he told himself, to turn another page of life’s playbook, slow down a bit, and focus his professional attention on his duties as Upper School Dean of Students and teacher of driver’s ed, nutrition, and fitness.

 

He’d miss the camaraderie and day-to-day connections with his colleagues, that’s for sure, but he was confident that the next generation of coaches, his mentees, were prepared to carry the torch, and he’d be there, as always, to support and encourage them.

 

“Football has been part of the vast majority of my life both as a player and as a coach at a variety of levels,” Palyo said. “I didn’t go lightly into the decision [to retire]. What I love about coaching is this: it goes back to the kids. It’s always been about the young people I’ve been privileged to coach. That’s why I’ve done it for all these years.”

 

Palyo was an all-state and National High School Football Coaches Association All-American offensive lineman at South Allegheny High and a four-year starter at blind-side tackle for the University of Richmond, where he played an integral role on the squad that finished 8-4 and reached the NCAA Division I-AA quarterfinals in 1984, his senior season.

 

He signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles (now Las Vegas) Raiders, went through much of training camp, and returned to Richmond when the Raiders pared their roster to the 52-player limit.

 

Following stints as an assistant on Charlie McFall’s staff at Collegiate from 1985-1989 and 1999-2006, Palyo assumed the reins of the football program when McFall stepped back following the 2006 season.

 

With regular-season games against Norfolk Academy and St. Christopher’s remaining, Palyo’s ledger shows an 89-55 won-loss record, two Prep League (’07, ’17) and three VISAA (’08, ’09, ’16) championships, and multiple team Prep League and A.L. “Stretch” Gardner sportsmanship awards, the latter bestowed by the Central Virginia Football Officials Association. Palyo also played a role in five league (’85, ’87, ’03, ’05, ’06) and four state titles (’03-’06) while serving with McFall.

 

“When you look at his decades of service and the number of championships Mark’s been part of, he is in the absolute most rarefied air of Collegiate School coaches,” said Athletic Director Andrew Stanley. “His impact as a steadying presence in the hallways of the Upper School is noteworthy in a day and age when that dual role is becoming rarer in high school sports.

 

“His ability to continue to lead competitive football teams playing highly challenging schedules speaks to the quality and expertise of his coaching, his grace under pressure and ability to handle stress, and his ability to motivate and inspire young people.”

 

Palyo served as offensive coordinator when Russell Wilson played quarterback and head coach with Jake McGee, then Wilton Speight running the show. The fact that each ranks among the single-game, season, and career statistical leaders among quarterbacks from Central Virginia attests to his creative schemes and play-calling acumen.

 

It’s always been his feeling, though, that games are won not so much with a fast-paced spread attack but with solid play from the big guys in the trenches.

 

“You can’t have success on either side of the ball if you don’t have success up front,” he said some years ago when he spoke of his coaching philosophy. “Linemen don’t get their names in the paper very often, but your team can’t win if the line doesn’t protect, give the quarterback time, and move people out of the way.

 

“As a coach, having talent is important, but you also have to put your kids in situations that allow them to succeed. They have to perform as a unit and move in unison if you want to accomplish your goals.”

 

Coaching football at the high school level has become a time-consuming, year-round commitment, which includes much behind-the-scenes work from constant planning to studying film to directing off-season training to speaking with college coaches about recruiting prospects.

 

“If I expect the players to be there all summer long and do the work, as the head coach it’s my responsibility to be there as well,” Palyo said. “That goes back to that Western P-A blue-collar mindset I’ve always carried with me. My coaches were always there for me. I wanted to always be there for the young people I’m coaching.”

 

Palyo was the fourth head football coach in the 63 years of the program’s history. Grover Jones (1960-1982), Jim Hickey (1983-1985), and McFall (1986-2006), one of his mentors, preceded him.

 

“All the time that Charlie and I spent together was invaluable,” Palyo said. “The patience, the sense of calm that he brought, the consistent approach…those are things that definitely resonated with me.

 

“Certainly, Charlie was good at X’s and O’s. We would sit down many a time not at school and use whatever we had available to draw plays and talk football. We’d go out to eat and ask the waitress if she had an extra restaurant pad or a pen we could borrow, and we’d draw plays and have these fantastic conversations about football.”

 

While Palyo’s accomplishments are noteworthy, he chooses to focus on the present rather than the successes of the past. He led the program through the 2020 COVID fall when practices were socially distanced and no games were played, then guided them through a 5-5 season in 2021 when 42 of his 48 players were new to the varsity level.

 

“I was proud of those groups and how they handled adversity both physically and mentally,” he said. “That’s a highlight for me. The championships were great, but there’re a lot of other things I recall that I hope I’ve passed on to the young men I’ve had the privilege of coaching.

 

“What I’ve tried to do over all my years is instill the School’s core values. The football field is a classroom. What I believe you learn on that field both in practice and in competition is invaluable. Many of the lessons they learn out there they will carry with them the rest of their lives.”

~Weldon Bradshaw