WOODSFIELD — Jay Circosta is old school.

As a young football coach, he idolized Vince Lombardi.

When Circosta arrived at Woodsfield High School in the late 1960s, Lombardi was at the tail end of a career with the Green Bay Packers that resulted in a pair of Super Bowl crowns and countless admirers for, not just the victories, but for how he handled himself on and off the field.

“I just like how he did things,” Circosta said. “I liked the discipline. I liked the old school. I liked that type of thing.

“We started out that way, with things like the up and downs.”

Ahh, the old up and downs, a strenuous training method that Circosta brought to his workouts when he took over for Bob Butts as head coach at Woodsfield High. They were a Circosta trademark. Not every prep coach implemented the drill, but for Circosta it was part of his blueprint of success.

“I was coaching at the (BACF All-Star Football Classic) in Parkersburg once and a player on the team said, ‘Boy, now I know why you guys win so much,”‘ Circosta recalled.

And win he did. In 47 years as a head coach, Circosta registered 336 victories, second-best in Ohio Valley history, and was in the top 5 in the state itself … in any class.

“It worked for us,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s the only way, but it worked for us.”

Indeed.

Fourteen playoff berths and a like number of OVAC crowns resulted from Circosta’s brand of football, but as he reflected on his career, which ended in May, victories or banners didn’t register when he was asked what’d he take away from his 50 years on the sideline.

“Relationships,” he stated. “Relationships with the kids and the coaches.

“Coaching is a special fraternity. I’ve always felt it be an honor to be called ‘Coach.’ It takes a special person to be a coach. I think the relationships I’ve had over the years with players and the coaches; we just had so many good times. I don’t think I’ll be able to replace those.”

The Circosta home sits just behind Monroe Central’s practice field and athletic complex. He won’t be far away from the program he guided, first as the Redskins, and for the last 25 years or so, the Seminoles.

By the same token, being so close to the gridiron, he said, makes it a bit harder to say farewell.

“I’ve always said the kids really don’t care how much you know as much as how much you care.

“I think sometimes coaches get too much involved in worrying about Xs and Os and doing this and that, which you, obviously, have to do. But I think you have to let the kids know you care about them and that you’ll do anything for them. In return, they’ll do anything for you.”

Circosta learned those lessons as a youngster in Shadyside. He played for legendary coach Jack Berger, a man Circosta said was as big on the sideline as he was off it.

“I learned so much from him, more than just Xs and Os” Circosta said. “I learned so much because he was an outstanding man. He had the ability to get players, including myself, to play for him … run through a wall if they had to.

“Kids understand. They read coaches. You have to be real and sincere as a coach, and (Jack) was an outstanding man. He had great values. When I first got the job (at Woodsfield) I remember going down to Shadyside and sitting on his front porch talking about things.”

Circosta had many mentors, including his late father, Frank, who died at 95 in December 2015.

“My dad was a strong disciplinarian,” Circosta said of his dad, a former Shadyside athlete. “He played ball and, so, he taught me a lot of things, too. Discipline was important.”

When Circosta assumed the Redskins’ job in his mid 20s, he took all of the knowledge from all of his mentors, sprinkled in his own ideas, and created a master plan for how he wanted to run a program.

“I never dreamed I’d be here 50 years,” he said. “When I first started, I felt we needed to be disciplined. We had to set the tone right from the very beginning. I learned early on what to do and what not to do.”

The Redskins were 1-7-1 in Butts’ final season. That offseason the basketball and football job both opened. Fortunately, Circosta said, he chose the right position.

“The rest, as they say, is history.”

Circosta always believed in creating a system that best suited his personnel. His first season, he ran the Wing-T. As the years moved along, he adapted his playbook as his players came and went. The constant, though, was fairness. The coached dished it out on the field, but provided guidance and stability off it.

“They knew who was boss and whatever,” he said, “yet, you have to learn to joke around with them, have a good time and put your arm around them.

“You can raise hell with them and really chew them out, but I always told them that if they get chewed out it’s because we really care about you. We’re trying to make you a better player. I’m not doing my job as a coach if I don’t try to get the best out of you.”

Ever a coach, including during his playing days as a ‘coach on the field,” Circosta never stopped teaching, never stopped molding, never stopped instilling in his players the importance of getting it right … the first time.

Little things like putting on the uniform correctly and keeping the fieldhouse in tiptop shape were all part of Circosta’s master plan to win.

“If they believed in me and they believed in the program and our system, they’d be willing to go out and fight and be successful.”

During his 47 years as head coach, Circosta’s teams averaged seven victories a year.

“That’s a big challenge and one thing I probably take a lot of pride in,” he said. “That’s tough. I always felt in a small school, especially with the turnover you have, if you can be .500 you’re doing something.”

Circosta came close to leaving twice, once to Shadyside and another time to Dover. He stayed, mostly because of the people and the work ethic of the kids in his district.

It’s a decision he never regretted.

“I liked being competitive, but I enjoyed trying to mold something from scratch into a product you could be proud of.

“I always tried to be positive in everything I did.”