When Paul Carella took over as head coach for the Brockport Blue Devils varsity football team, he inherited a 2-6 football team that lost five of those games by two-plus touchdowns or more. Every day from June to November, Carella and his team showed up, grinded in the weight room, grinded on the field, and looked at hours of film. The hard work paid off as under one season with Carella, the Blue Devils have a 5-3 record and have secured a spot in the Section V Class A playoffs.
Brockport and sports are in Carella’s DNA. He was born and raised here and since he was young, he was always playing sports in his free time with other kids his age.
“I grew up in a housing tract, where there were 500 kids, and that’s what we did; we just played sports,” Carella said. “That kind of changed me, changed my life and I’ve always been that way. I like to say too, coaches in all my sports made the biggest impact on me. It wasn’t much my schoolteachers, it was my coaches. Without sports I don’t think I would have gotten to the point where I am now. So, I’m embedded in sports and my coaches that really shaped them for me.”
When he was old enough to play organized sports, he played a sport for each season including wrestling in the winter and baseball in the spring, but football was his passion. He went on to play football at the collegiate level for his hometown Golden Eagles after he graduated from the Blue Devils. Carella gained a lot of experience during his playing time that prepared him to be a coach in his future.
“I think any experience you get, at any capacity, I mean that’s so vital,” Carella said. “You don’t even know if you’d be good at it or if you’re ready for it. It’s going to get you ready for the long run, it will get you acclimated. So, any experience you get, good or bad, is a good experience.”
Carella was in the midst of his first coaching job as the junior varsity wrestling coach for Churchville before coming to Brockport. He ended up at Brockport through a connection with the previous athletic director of Brockport who was also the Section V Wrestling Coordinator. They connected at a wrestling tournament in Greece Arcadia and from that connection, Carella was offered a job over the summer in 2004 to work at Brockport Central School District. He accepted and became a teacher for the school district and a coach as well.
When Todd Hagreen became the next Brockport Athletic Director in 2010, he met Carella and the duo got to know and learn a lot about each other over the years. After a tough 23-24 season, the Blue Devils were giving up 25 points per game and looked for a change, starting with the head coach. When Hagreen conducted the search for the new head coach, the decision to hire Carella was an easy one.
“I’ve known Paul for a while now,” Hagreen said. “He’s been a part of the staff for a while, and I’ve seen how he’s handled himself and the team throughout. From being at Brockport all his life, as a player and now as a coach I knew he would be able to connect with the team, the kids and it was a no-brainer for him to get the job.”
After a 2-6 23-24 season, Carella had multiple priorities at the top of his list to make Brockport competitive again.
“Before the season you have to simplify things or you will be overwhelmed,” Carella said. “I want to make my kids tough, and I think that’s the greatest compliment you can get from anybody. That’s being successful, having my guys ready, having my guys prepared, those are two big things for me.”
It hasn’t been smooth sailing for Carella and the Blue Devils this season by any means. The team is 5-3, but all three of those losses came by four-plus touchdowns. The Blue Devils three losses have also come by teams ranked in the top 15 in New York.
When Carella took over the team though, there was no other group of student athletes he wanted to face these obstacles with. He’s known the same group of kids since they were in middle school, whether it was teaching them in the classroom or coaching them on the field.
“I’ve enjoyed all my time,” Carella said. “These kids have made this experience for me great; I’ve known these kids for a very, very long time. I coached this very same team on modified when they were seventh and eighth graders, so I love them, they know me, and I think the experience has been great. We’ve been successful, we work hard, we’ve achieved many goals so far and every time I come into work, it has not been work.”
The love and respect Carella has for his student athletes is mirrored by his team. Seniors have nothing but appreciation for Carella, not only for this winning season, but also as a man that had an impact on them.
In year one of Carella’s coaching tenure for the Brockport Blue Devils he has already brought them to the playoffs. He has set up the foundation for this Blue Devils team for years to come. When asked about what it means to coach his hometown team he thought back to when he was just like his athletes.
“Honestly it’s hard for me to say, if I were at another school and I was working, teaching, I don’t know if I would work half as hard,” Carella said. “Coaching these kids, I always look back to my own experiences when I was in their shoes and what it meant to me. I always want to make it better, that’s always been my perspective or the way I look at these kids I’m like…‘Man, I want to make this experience as best as I can. I want to give them more than what I got, and it’s always been that way for me.’”
As the season comes to an end, Carella looks ahead to the future. He has made a positive initial impact, but the work is never finished. It’s back to the grind for Carella and the Blue Devils as they are reaching new heights in the journey to become a top team for years to come.
