Nick Barbieri coached Pittston Area for the past seven seasons, highlighted by a WVC Division 2 title in 2022.
Tony Callaio file photo | For Times Leader
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Nick Barbieri rebuilt his alma mater into a contender on the football field, ending a 20-year championship drought, but he will leave ending a playoff victory dry spell to someone else.
Barbieri informed his team last weekend that, after coaching high school football in some capacity for 27 of the past 31 years, he has resigned from the position he held for seven years.
The Patriots won the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 title in 2022 and made their second straight District 2 Class 5A playoff appearance despite having sophomores in more than half the positions for a large share of the season.
“There was nothing in particular,” Barbieri said of his decision. “ … My son (Rob) is playing in college now. I thought with the group that we have coming back, a nice group of returners – eight guys on offense, nine guys on defense – it’s a good time to pass the torch to someone where the cupboard is not empty.
“They have a good nucleus coming back. That was pretty much it as far as my decision.”
Rob Barbieri played for his father at Pittston Area just as Nick played for his father, Bob, the winningest coach in school history. Rob just completed his freshman season at Wilkes. The defensive back had 16 tackles, 16 assists, a tackle for a loss and three broken-up passes.
Nick Barbieri’s teams went 29-42, leaving him ranked third in wins out of the 10 coaches in program history. Bob Barbieri went 146-91-5 as the first Patriots coach, holding the position from 1966 to 1988.
Before coming to Pittston Area, Nick Barbieri spent four seasons as an assistant at Bishop Hoban, then had a long run as a teacher and assistant football coach at Delaware Valley.
It was Delaware Valley, with many of his former coaching colleagues that ended Pittston Area’s season in the district semifinals the past two seasons.
“You’d always like to be more successful,” Barbieri said. “One of the things I wanted to accomplish was a playoff victory, maybe get to a district championship. The last two years were great – I was surprised with how well the guys did this year with only one player back on each side of the ball – but when you run into Delaware Valley, that’s not the easiest chore.
“Nobody in District 2 has beaten them in the (playoffs in the) last eight years. That’s a tough draw.”
Pittston Area is moving back to Division 1 of the WVC next season.