"Cap" calls it a career

Colin Dunlap | 12:44 p.m. Friday, October 31, 2008

Moon Area football coach Mark Capuano announced his retirement today after leading the program for 24 seasons and compiling a 143-108 record, making him the winningest coach in the program's history.

His 1998 team won the WPIAL Class AAA title and finished as the PIAA runner-up that season.

Capuano, who took the Tigers to the playoffs 12 times, was the Parkway Conference Coach of the Year in 1982, 1994, 1999 and 2000.

As a player, he attended North Carolina State and started as an outside linebacker for three years, earning All-ACC honors twice.

 It was, though, that 1998 team that probably served Capuano with his most shining moments as a coach, with the Tigers defeating Blackhawk -- and standout running back Trent Wissner --- 34-7 at Three Rivers for the WPIAL title.

Here is a link to that 1998 WPIAL championship game story.

UPDATE 4:52 p.m. --- Got a call back from Capuano, as I phoned him earlier looking for a quote. He has always been a classy -- and honest -- man in dealing with the media, and this time was no different. First, he told me to thank all my counterparts at the Post-Gazette for their coverage of his team through his tenure, which was a very gentlemanly gesture. But, the quote that stands out most is this:

"The reason I got into coaching was because of the great men who coached me and influenced me positively," said Capuano, whose team went 1-18 over the past two seasons. "It is not always going to be a bed of roses, and everything is not always going to work out your way. I think that is part of learning. You learn from the good and the bad, and I just felt the time was right to give another coach a chance to see what he could do with the program."