Not everyone knows that Jim Tomsula, the interim coach of the San Francisco 49ers, played for a championship team at Steel Valley High School in 1984.
Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak and Woodland Hills' George Novak are two who do.
Tomsula, 43, and Cherpak were shoulder-to-shoulder offensive and defensive linemen for Novak, then the Steel Valley coach, when they won the WPIAL Big Ten Conference with a 10-0 regular-season record.
"He was Pittsburgh all the way through," Cherpak said of Tomsula, a native of Homestead. "He was tough. He was the worker. He didn't get as much attention because he was shorter (6-foot, 255 pounds), but he was just as good a player as anybody else."
Tomsula had been the 49ers' defensive line coach since 2007, keeping his job when Mike Singletary replaced former head coach Mike Nolan in 2008. Ultimately, Tomsula replaced Singletary, who was fired Sunday with one game left in the season.
True to Cherpak's description, Tomsula was working when he got word of the coaching change Sunday night. Immediately after arriving from St. Louis, where the 49ers had lost to the Rams to fall to 5-10, Tomsula started watching film, preparing for the next game.
Jed York, 49ers president and CEO, said Tomsula apologized to him Monday for not wearing a suit and tie to his introductory news conference. Tomsula was so focused on his job that he never made it home to change clothes.
Tomsula has a long coaching resume that began after he played at Middle Tennessee State and Catawba (N.C.) College. Initially, he worked in the food service industry before beginning a coaching career at Charleston Southern (S.C.) University in 1997 -- against his father's wishes.
Cherpak, who remains close friends with Tomsula and his family, remembers Tomsula's father saying, "This coaching will never take you anywhere."
Undaunted, Tomsula coached at Catawba in the fall and NFL Europe in the spring and summer, working for the England Monarchs, Scottish Claymores, Berlin Thunder and Rhein Fire from 1998-2006. He was Rhein's head coach in '06.
"He was a fighter," Cherpak said. "He was one of those guys who busted his butt in everything he did. In the summer, he would work in construction and go straight to work out."
This summer, Tomsula, Cherpak and Novak organized a football camp at Thomas Jefferson for boys with Down Syndrome. A total of 40 attended, many of whom were playing football for the first time. Tomsula conducted a similar camp in California.
Tomsula's wife Julie has invited Cherpak to the 49ers' home game Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. It's a big day for the family, because Tomsula is not expected to keep the job.
"I'm on a one-week calendar," he said.
No matter what happens in the future, Novak and Cherpak do not expect Tomsula to change.
"He's a regular guy," Novak said.
Said Cherpak: "He is hometown. You would never know he is a head coach. You tackle. You block. There is only one ball on the field. He doesn't make it any harder than it is, any more important than it is."
By Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
