What has happened there? Here is what I know about Gateway. They were a nothing program before Terry Smith got there. All of a sudden they are dominating Quad A and churning out D1 prospects. Smith leaves, Gateway drops to AAA and they start sucking. They were one of only 11 teams to NOT make the 16 team AAA playoffs. When I heard they were dropping down, I thought they'd never lose in AAA. What the heck. Were the rumors about Smith's recruiting true?
OT: the fall of Gateway football
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
- Start date
Yes. At least that's what I was told by someone who lived in the district. And I guess he had to in order to try to keep up with Central.
Wow king, that's an original thought. Never heard that one before. Keep up the smart posting. George Novak & Rob Gronkowksi not pleased.
Was Gateway playing "up" when they were in the Quad A or have they been facing dwindling enrollment numbers, hence the move?? It is curious, gateway not to long ago, had some powerhouse teams. This all goes in cycles but that drop has been quite monumental.
Demographic switch....Penn Hills used to be huge, one of the biggest WPIAL schools. Now they are barely 4A. Population is moving north, hence the growth of Seneca Valley, Pine Richland, and NA
They just need to hire Jay Paterno. No, come to think of it, that would be stooping pretty low for them.
Times change, Butler, Aliquippa and New Castle used to be dominant in the WPIAL too, you never hear about them much anymore. Demographics have changed
I was told roughly 5 years ago by someone whose job it is to know what is going on within the school district that Terry Smith and his coaches would attend local 7 on 7 camps that were intended for 7th/8th graders and talk up the benefits of playing for the Gateway football program to the kids that they were interested in. The kids that were interested (and their families) were then given "help" in finding a place to reside within the school district. Some of them lived in the apartment complex that is right next door to the school complex. They also helped parents find employment if needed.
Once this was found out by the school board, they started the process of trying to get rid of him. But that wasn't easy because besides being a very popular football coach, he also held the title of AD at the school as well.
OK, I haven't heard about them lately, I don't follow it closely, I do know I haven't heard much about the other 2 the last 20 years.
What??? Maybe you shouldn't respond then? Aliquippa has won 60 regular season games in a row, and been to 7 straight WPIAL title games. I'm not sure there was a time Butler was ever dominant?
Thanks genius I wasn't aware anyone else did it. Guessing you're one of those hyper sensitive Central grads thats just way too easy to tweak.
yeah, I was a bit confused about the butler comment.. I follow high school football pretty regularly since the 80's and I cant recall ever hearing anyone ever mention anything about butler..
I can't really get why anybody would be really interested enough in high school sports other than your own school or your kids schools. I'm really into high school girls soccer right now, but when my daughter is no longer involved that will end on that very day.
New Castle was great in the '70s and '80s. My point wasn't about who was good now or then, it's about change, maybe I was thinking Ambridge and not Alliquippa, so what, the point is the same, some of these schools like New Castle where giant AAAA powers 30-40 years ago, now they are a third the size they where then and it's all over.
This is it. When I was in HS, Penn Hills and Gateway were the dominant schools, and we were in their conference. Penn Hills was like a college, the largest school district along with Butler. My HS is now AA, Gateway is AAA, Penn Hills is a smaller AAAA. Population aged and shifted. Couples who had HS aged kids used to live in Monroeville, now live in Murrysville (Franklin Regional).
Things change.
Dude, doesn't matter, if you live around here and remotely follow sports, you know Aliquippa has been good for like, forever.
Thanks, I do.
As a former committee member, and a booster (2011-2014), I do have the inside scoop on this whole Gateway deal. I created and produced the yearbook two years, and led many fundraising efforts. My son, as many of you know.. was the starting right guard on the teams of 2013 & 2104, and is proudly a Pitt freshman now.
The school district pretty much forced Terry Smith out after the 2012 season. Rumblings of recruiting (we know it happens at many Quad A schools), a general disdain between the football program and the school-board, and Terry's salary were a huge reason. Terry was making around 90k as the AD at Gateway & around 10k as the HC, and the district proposed to make the AD job part-time. So he would basically be reduced to a ONE-year contract for about 55k, doing what he did before.. He did it, for one year (2012), and then bolted for Temple. Smith was never my cup of tea, (after all he is a Nitter).. He did manage to get many kids (let's be honest, mostly underpriveleged kids, scholarships.. working his magic and doing a good job behind the scenes with colleges).. but to what end?...
BUT.. all the kids that ever played for him, my son included, loved his program, and loved their swagger on the field. When my son was a sophomore, they beat Norwin by 70. For a number of years.. they were the "U" of the AAAA... but never won the big one, because, IMO, TS was so into that "7 on 7" ball that he lost sight of the whole team concept, in my opinion. I hated the "scatter-ball" philosophy with the QB NOT being under center even on 4th and an inch (see the NA tussle in 2012)
As you know, Gateway is a somewhat diverse district, probably 80% white, and 20% black, etc.... I am only saying this to give some background to why things happened as they did. When the cultures clashed...this completely divided the community. The school was 80% white,and the team was 80% black, (just an observation, and not judging- just stating facts). The old time Gateway Fans didn't like to hear a rapper blaring foul lyrics over the PA pregame.. .The Gators became a team- from Terry's start to his ouster---who harbored a number of kids who just weren't from the area.. (probably up to dozen on the roster just in 2012)-- who were from Wilkinsburg, Larimer, Homewood, East Hills, East Liberty, and Penn Hills... I can name many of them, but won't. Some of them were the star players (on those 7 on 7 teams).. Right or wrong, this was a fact. Lack of booster "parents" from the areas where kids were matriculating to Gateway was evident. They were non existent, except to complain- and fuss-- about what their kids "should have"----and thus collection cans went bare- because of little support...Resources disappeared and the "QB Club" dissolved, and things for the kids went away. I spent $600-700 a year providing for my kid's football.. while some of these other parents just shifted their way to a free ride for 4 years. Don't get me started. That was the organization as a whole. In my opinion, Terry promoted this division, making special accommodations for certain kids. There was a reverence for TS beyond normal from the factions of folks who bowed down at his altar. .You still hear cries to this day.. "When Terry was here".... Guess what? The Gateway championship coach was Pete Antimarino. It was a culture of "where's my free stuff ?"(gear, shoes, etc), and all of that is gone.
My son was on both sides of this.. A real solid player; a starter on a team that boasted 6 or 7 D-1 players, the year that Donnie Miltizer was the sacrificial lamb to pick up the pieces (and had no reason to get fired)-- taking Central to the wire and losing by 5---, later to be ousted for Tom Nola, who missed the playoffs this past year .. Nola had NO quarterback last year, and their start was disgraceful...The program went from a program who had money for 4-5 different sets of uniforms to playing in front of 600 at home games, and shutting down concession stands.
So when Terry went, so did the element of Gateway being that destination football school. It is now comprised of kids that actually have always lived (for the most part) in the Monroeville/Pitcairn community.. so you get what you see---- a 1/2 empty grandstand, mediocre football, and middling in AAA....
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Like I said, I don't live there, I've lived near Baltimore since 1991 and haven't follow Western PA high school sports at all since the mid '80s, and you know what, Alliquippa wasn't all that great back when I did follow WPIAL, so it's not "forever".
you are 100% correct. I'll use this quote from a district resident who knew what was going on......."after Smith left, suddenly there just weren't as many "aunts, uncles, grandmothers and distant cousins" who just "happened" to live in the Gateway district as they used too"
Joe - outstanding post - this is what I heard too, from more than a couple residents..... my version was way way shorter about places/people to live with......your's had all the facts.
I was told by someone who'd know the situation that when Gronk's family moved here, Gronk's father asked their real estate agent which area high school had the best football team. Back in those days, Woody Hills was dominating (as they seem to be once again), so that's where their real estate agent steered them.
great post Joe.. as much as we like to knock recruitment in high school football, if I had a son who played football and I lived in Wilkinsburg, e. liberty, Homewood, I'd definitely try my best to get him into a better program. Tough to fault people for that..
You never hear of ALIQUIPPA anymore? What cave do you live in? They've been in the last 7 WPIAL title games and have won more Championships than any other school/
I live in Maryland and barely look at high school football in Maryland, let alone PA, the last year I can honestly say I paid attention to PA high school football was 1987. You don't need to live in a cave to avoid news about high school football from another state.
ALIQUIPPA has won WPIAL Championships in football in every decade since the 50's. That's pretty close to Forever!
Something else as a side note. Westinghouse relocated to Cranbizzle
Real estate agents direct people to the north hills. The gateway school district doesn't benefit from either of these situations
Real estate agents direct people to the north hills. The gateway school district doesn't benefit from either of these situations
It's going to get interesting when the two new classifications get set up later this month. It seems that the WPIAL will struggle to make it work and will create all kinds of chaos.
High school football especially in this area is a joy to watch. I'll sit down and watch any local HS game, my school involved or not. One of the best days of the year is the WPIAL Championships at Heinz Field. Even if you can't make it down, you can watch the games on ROOT (formerly FSN Pittsburgh.) Usually every game is a classic, thrilling game. I'm not a rabid HS fan and even in HS I stayed home on a couple Friday nights to watch Pitt instead of going to my High School's game. But, I'll gladly watch any WPIAL High School Football game.
Alliquippa didn't win from '64 to '84, from the time I was 5, until I was 25. My high school was AAAA, so when Alliquippa won in '84 they where AAA, so I honestly don't remember, because I only paid attention to AAAA, then by '87, I quit paying attention at all, since I moved out of the area, so I really have no personal memories of Alliquippa winning anything DURING THE TIME THAT I CARED ABOUT IT.
Seriously? Anyone ever hear of Pete Antimarino (1958-1989)
- A 236-80-12 record and a .725 winning percentage.
- Only four losing seasons out of 32.
- Five W.PI.A.L. Championships, including two Co-Championships. One with Upper. St. Clair in 1974, a 6-6 tie, and the other against North Hills in 1986, a scoreless tie. Gateway's first title came against Altoona in 1969 (22-15). The victory against Altoona established the Gators as a perennial football powerhouse and was followed up with an impressive 20-0 shutout over Jeannette in 1972. In 1986 Gateway answered the previous year's scoreless battle by beating the North Hills Indians 7-6 in the games final seconds. Altogether his teams played in 7 W.P.I.A.L. championship games.
- Teams voted State Champions is 1972 and 1986.
- First AAAA team to record 13 wins in a season (1986).
- Three noteworthy win streaks: 15 in a row, 18 in a row, 20 in a row (23 in a row including ties)
- Game 4 of the 1987 saw E.S.P.N. come to Gateway for Gateway's 300th game. The fact that Gateway was rolling along with such success could have added impetus to their interest. Gateway were the W.P.I.A.L. Co-champs in 1985, W.P.I.A.L. champs in 1986 and riding a 16 game winning streak, which would eventually go to 20 games, going into tho 300th game.
- A #3 National Ranking by U.S.A. Today in 1986. North Hills entered the title game ranked #l nationally before losing to the Gators.
- Five undefeated seasons (1965, 1969, 1972, 1974, and 1986)
- Six seasons with only one loss and eight seasons with only two losses.
- 17 Conference Championships
- W.P.I.A.L. playoff record 19 wins - 10 losses - 2 ties
- PA Scholastic Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, 1993
- Big 33 Assistant Coach in 1973 and Head Coach in both 1975 and 1985
Yep. Back in the day, Gateway and Penn Hills were the benchmarks for local football supremacy.
