St. Vincent-St. Mary football coach Terry Cistone retires after two seasons leading Irish

Terry Cistone is retiring after two seasons as the St. Vincent-St. Mary High School football head coach and 42 seasons overall on the sidelines.

Cistone coached STVM the past two seasons to records of 8-4 in 2022 and 5-6 in 2023. The Irish made the Division II playoffs each season, with postseason wins over Cleveland John Hay and Austintown Fitch and a loss to Archbishop Hoban last season, and a loss to Warren Harding on Friday night.

A 1979 graduate of STVM, Cistone completed his 10th season as a football head coach, with the first eight at Revere. He was STVM special teams coordinator in 2020 and running backs coach in 2021 under coach Bobby Nickol.

"Forty years is enough," Cistone said with a laugh Saturday. "In 1983, I was 22 and had my first [full-time] stint as an assistant coach on the freshman team at St. Vincent-St. Mary. I haven't taken a fall off since.

"... I knew at the beginning of the season that this was going to be it. It is just a lot of time. I think we have done some good things in two years with the program, but it needs someone younger and someone with a little more energy. I want to do other things. My parents [John and Sally] are both 92 years old. They still live in the same house that we were raised in [in Green]. I need to spend more time with them and help them out. It is the right time. Like I said, 40 years is enough. I am going to miss the players and I am going to miss the coaches that I coach with."

Cistone got his start in coaching as a part-time assistant to his father, John Cistone, in 1981 and 1982 when the Irish won back-to-back Division III state championships while posting a combined 23-2-1 record.

The elder Cistone, a 1950 St. V graduate, also led STVM to a Class AA state title in 1972, a Division III state title in 1988 and had a 207-115-6 record from 1965-1996.

STVM's Green Street Stadium's field is named John Cistone Field.

"He let the team know last night and then he sent an email out to the team and the parents this morning," STVM athletic director coach Kyle Sasala said Saturday of Terry Cistone. "He is retiring. He has done this for 40-plus years. He is tired. He has been through it, and he wants to take a break. He has done the full trifecta. He went to school at St. V, started his career as a coach at St. V and has been nothing but great for the program.

"Obviously, his dad is huge at the school and he wanted to continue in his dad's legacy and even start his own legacy, too, with his coaching. Terry is an awesome person and an awesome coach. He has made a positive impact on so many kids through the years."

Terry Cistone also served as an assistant coach at Firestone, Buchtel, Revere and Lake, and he was the head coach at Revere from 2003-2009 and in 2019. He led Revere to a 39-42 record in eight total seasons with a Division III playoff appearance in 2005. Revere went 6-5 in 2005 and 7-3 in 2009. Revere was initially 7-3 in 2004, but accidental eligibility issues cost the Minutemen forfeits that dropped the team's record to 3-7.

"I coached with my father for five years and then I got hired in to the Akron Public Schools," Terry Cistone said. "I was at Firestone for four years with Dale Fortner and then I was with Tim Flossie for one year at Buchtel. I was in the Akron Public Schools for five years and then I went out to Revere and was out there for 30 years. I coached with Joe Pappano and then I was the head coach.

"When my two boys started playing high school football at Lake, that is when I gave up the head coaching job at Revere because I wanted to watch them play. I went and coached with Jeff Durbin for two years at Lake and then Dan DeGeorge for three years, and then I went back to Revere and then I went back to St. V."

Cistone graduated from the University of Akron and earned a master’s degree from Ashland University. He is the Director of Compliance at STVM after a teaching career that spanned more than 30 years in APS and at Revere.

Cistone, a Uniontown resident, said he also plans to spend more time with his wife, Marie, and their children, Anthony, Dominic and Olivia.

"I had good times at good places as a teacher and coach," Cistone said. "I was privileged to walk the sidelines on John Cistone Field for the last two years. It was good. No regrets. I think the program is in a good place."

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Terry Cistone retires as St. Vincent-St. Mary football coach