State champion football program Aliquippa makes move for future, promotes assistant coach
Aliquippa High School football’s longtime assistant coach Vashawn Patrick has been promoted to associate head coach, Quips head coach Mike Warfield told the Beaver County Times on Friday.
The decision to promote Patrick, 41, was approved by the Aliquippa School District on Wednesday, a little more than two months after Warfield wrote a letter to the Aliquippa Board of Education requesting approval for the move. Throughout Patrick’s 13 years with the Quips’ football program, he has served as the team’s defensive backs coach, linebackers coach, running backs coach, offensive and defensive coordinator, and other roles.
“He’s a young guy who has a big future ahead of him, I believe, in coaching,” Warfield said in a phone interview with The Times. “And he’s a big reason why we win.”
During Patrick’s tenure, Aliquippa has won five WPIAL titles and two PIAA titles. Last fall, the Quips won WPIAL and PIAA championships for the first season as a Class 4A team after being bumped up from Class 3A in 2020.
In the letter to the Aliquippa Board of Education, obtained by The Times, Warfield mentioned that the move to promote Patrick was made with concern for “the future of our historic football program.” Although Warfield, who will presumably enter his fifth season as head coach this fall, doesn’t know when his time at the helm will end, he believes Patrick is the most qualified candidate to be his successor.
“Based on my letter and based on my comments in the past, it’s no secret that I think whenever a new coach is hired — whenever that may be — I truly think it should be him,” Warfield said.
Contact Parth Upadhyaya at pupadhyaya@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @pupadhyaya_.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: PIAA champion football program Aliquippa promotes assistant coach
