Ron Petroni NCS honor coach

Ron Petroni has never been a head varsity football coach, but he is among the most respected football coaches in Northern California.|

Ron Petroni has never been a head varsity football coach, but he is among the most respected football coaches in Northern California. Just how much respect the Casa Grande High School coach has earned from his fellow coaches was reflected by his selection as the North Coast Section Honor Coach of the Year. Just how much respect and affection he has earned from his fellow teachers and the student body at Casa Grande was reflected by the schoolwide assembly held to acknowledge his honor.

Petroni has grown up as a teacher, mentor and coach right along with Casa Grande High School.

One of the greatest running backs ever at Tomales High School and a member of the Marin County Athletic Hall of Fame, Petroni was still attending Sonoma State University when he began coaching the freshman team at Petaluma’s fledgling new high school.

At that time, there were 80 kids out for freshman football and only three coaches. Three decades later, 34 years to be exact, he finally retired after coaching under a whole succession of head coaches, including current head coach Trent Herzog who talked him out of retiring four years ago.

It wasn’t the first time he had been coaxed out of retirement. When Rick O’Brien became head coach in 1996, he prevailed on Petroni, who had stepped away from coaching for a year, to help “for just one year.”

“I had 12 one-year contracts in a row after that,” Petroni said.

Through the years, he has had several opportunities to be the Casa Grande head coach, but it seemed that every time the job opened he was serving as head coach of the varsity baseball team and believed that coaching two varsity sports was too much to take on. That, and the fact that he truly enjoyed the teaching aspect of football more than the strategy part of the game.

“Being an assistant is less stressful and more rewarding,” he explained.

“I enjoy breaking down a position and taking the kids all the way through what I’m trying to teach. I’ve been an offensive coordinator, but for me it takes away from teaching. Being a position coach is far more rewarding.”

He acknowledged that working for several different head coaches complicated being an offensive coordinator. “I would get mixed up and call Bill Silva’s plays for Dennis Wilson,” he said.

As much as he enjoyed teaching football, it wasn’t what gave him the most satisfaction.

“The biggest thing is when players came back and said, ‘Thanks coach. Thank you for getting me ready. Thank you for what you taught me. I had a great time.’ When they come back and say things like that, you know your program is a success.”

Of course the reason the players returned to thank the coach is because he was an excellent teacher and role model.

“He was the best of the best in teaching the game of football,” said O’Brien. “And it wasn’t just football. He taught life lessons and how to be accountable. His personal character was immaculate. Everything a high school coach should be he embraced.”

This is the first year Petroni has been on the sideline since returning to join O’Brien and staying on to work with Herzog, and he admitted to mixed emotions. “I have missed coaching the kids,” he said. “I don’t miss all the time it takes and missing most of summer.”

“The other thing he has missed is “the interaction with the other coaches.

“I miss the comradery of being with the other coaches.”

After some difficult years as Casa Grande tried to establish a competitive football program, Petroni was instrumental in helping O’Brien build a Gaucho powerhouse over the last 15 years. Since 2001 through last season, Casa Grande has won nine league championships and played in three North Coast Section championship games.

As a baseball coach, he won two league championships in six years as head coach. He has also served as Casa Grande athletic director and has been a site director for NCS events in soccer, basketball and baseball.

In the classroom he is a highly respected teacher of science and physical education and has been department chair of both the science and PE departments.

He is married to Lolly Petroni. and has two grown daughters and a grandson and a granddaughter.

Summing up how the other Casa Grande coaches in all sports and his former players feel about the honor coach award, O’Brien said, “This is the most well-deserved award I’ve seen in all my years in athletics.”

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.