Tsilimos on his way to Wellsville
Trending
By RON FIRTH
Sports Editor
WELLSVILLE -- Jim Tsilimos was facing a fall without football after stepping down as Lowellville's head coach on Feb. 19.
"My wife said, 'Are you all right with not coaching?' I said, 'When one door closes, another one opens.' The next day Wellsville came open."
The 71-year-old Tsilimos was picked from 13 applicants as Wellsville's new head football coach, pending board of education approval on March 17.
"I had talked to them back in November," he said. "They had talked to a few people and put a hold on things. I understood and didn't have a problem with what the board decided. It opened back up and I was available. The athletic director contacted me and one thing led to another."
Tsilimos has a career record of 205-178 in 35 seasons as a head coach. He is Lisbon's winningest football coach at 147-115 in 25 seasons leading the Blue Devils -- including 110-79 from 1990-2007 and 37-36 from 2011-2017.
He guided the Blue Devils to six league titles and eight state playoff appearances, including the 1995 Division V state championship -- the only one in Columbiana County history.
Then Tsilimos went 30-24 in five seasons as Carrollton's head coach.
He will replace Camden Douglas at Wellsville. Douglas' two-year supplemental contract was up and he was among the applicants for the position.
The Tigers have gone 1-9 the past two seasons under Douglas. The only victories were against winless Leetonia.
"We are appreciative of everything Coach Douglas and his staff has done for our student-athletes," Wellsville athletic director Kyle Exline said in a release. "We wish him nothing but the best and appreciate his professionalism throughout this process."
Tsilimos said he is going to be at the school today to talk to Exline about the coaching staff. He isn't sure if he will be meeting the players then.
"You know me. I'm not going to change," Tsilimos said. "They have the starting quarterback back (Clayten Kersey), that's a good thing, and we'll go from there."
Kersey passed for 1,217 yards and 11 touchdowns last fall.
Tsilimos saw Wellsville's last game. He was Lisbon's offensive coordinator in the fall when the Blue Devils won at Wellsville, 35-28, in the regular-season finale on Oct. 25.
"It was a good learning experience," he said about assisting Lisbon head coach Bill Meek. "I realized I still wanted to be a head coach."
He appreciated getting a different perspective as an assistant coach.
"As an offensive coordinator, I learned a head coach has a lot more to do," Tsilimos said. "Being an assistant you do more coaching than as a head coach because there are other things to do."
After leaving the Lisbon staff following the 2017 season, Tsilimos said he talked to Wellsville and Beaver Local about being an assistant.
"I was talking to them and all of a sudden Carrollton opened up and (former Lisbon player) Caleb Crowl was down there, so I applied there."
He stepped down as Lowellville's head coach after only six weeks on the job.
"I got a long really well with the administration and athletic director," he said. "I told them I wouldn't fit in."
Tsilimos has something else to do before starting the football season at Wellsville. He is being inducted into the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in Columbus on June 13.
"It's the greatest honor that I have had as a football coach," he said after being selected.