Mark Lavine will begin his first head football coaching job this fall - and it couldn’t be a more perfect fit for the 1991 Panther Valley High School graduate.

After years as an assistant coach at four different schools, Lavine will take over the reigns at his alma mater.

Although it will be his first time in charge of a program, Lavine is not short on experience as he will be beginning his 26th year as a high school football coach.

His years involved with the sport and the guidance he has received from several successful coaches along the way has provided Lavine with a high football acumen.

A career that began in 1996 as a junior high coach at Tamaqua has also included five-year assistant coaching stints at both Pocono Mountain and Panther Valley, an 11-year stop at Northern Lehigh, and the last three years back at Tamaqua.

“For the past 14 years, I’ve worked under two coaches with the same type of philosophy and learned a tremendous amount from both of them,” said Lavine. “Joe Tout at Northern Lehigh would allow his assistants to handle a lot, and Sam Bonner at Tamaqua was along the same lines. They were also both great players’ coaches.

“Working with them and learning from them has helped me become who I am as a football coach.”

Lavine also credited the mentoring under King’s College head coach Rich Mannello - who he played under from 1991-94.

“Coach Mannello really knew his football. I loved playing for him,” Lavine said. “He really helped me as a player. In addition to what I have taken with me from working with coach Tout and coach Bonner, I also have taken a lot with me from my time at Kings with coach Mannello.”

Lavine hopes the knowledge and experience he has gained in the years since he played at Panther Valley, will help him in his return as head coach.

He is taking over a program that was 0-8 last season and posted a 2-15 record over the past two seasons under former head coach Rick Jones. When the door opened at his alma mater, Lavine knew it was the right choice.

“The timing was perfect in many ways,” said Lavine, who has been a teacher in the Panther Valley school system the past six years. “I took a year off from coaching to watch my son Sean’s junior year at Tamaqua. The following year when Sean was a senior, coach Bonner asked me if I would help out coaching the team and I accepted. That was a memorable season. The team advance to the state semifinals and I was able to be a part of it with my son.”

Lavine, who also has a daughter in the Tamaqua school district, continued on as a member of the Blue Raider football staff the past two years before deciding to apply for the Panther Valley job when the position opened.

“My daughter will be a senior at Tamaqua this year, and she’s a soccer player. So I can see her play at night after our football practices at Panther Valley are finished. It really all worked out well.”

Lavine is confident this year’s Panther team can turn things around after a couple of rough seasons.

Lavine’s optimism comes in part from several talented seniors in the program, including quarterback/linebacker Michael Pascoe, wide receiver/defensive back Trey McAndrew, lineman Riley Hoban, and fullback/defensive lineman Austin Hadley.

The first-year coach plans to get back to basics.

“We want to play Coal Region football and be physical up front,” he said. ‘We’re going to try and pound the ball and control the clock. That’s how we’ll establish our identity.

“We want to do what we do well. It doesn’t help if you can do a little of everything, but not do anything well. We want to find our strengths and accentuate them.”

Lavine is stressing improvement with his players - from practice-to-practice and from game-to-game

“Being 0-8 last year, it will be big for us to get our first one (win),” he said. “We don’t want to get into a rut and get comfortable losing. But at the same time, we don’t want to get too focused in on records.

“By week 10, we want to be better than we were in week one. It’s not just about wins and losses. The wins will take care of themselves if we do the little things well.”

Lavine, who was hired in late December of last year, has watched his club be diligent in their approach during the offseason. He believes his team will benefit from playing in the new Schuylkill/Colonial League arrangement.

“We’re a solid 2A team,” he stated. “In the past, the program took its lumps playing the bigger schools. But we like our schedule, and we can compete. Our attendance for workouts was very good throughout the offseason. We have stayed positive and the kids have responded.”

With the season opener less than two weeks away,the Panther players aren’t the only ones excited about the upcoming season.

“I always wanted to be in this position,” said Lavine. “This is the place where I wanted to be a head coach.”