THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 16, 1996 TAG: 9608150136
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: 67 lines
PAUL PALOMBO HAS enjoyed considerable success during his days since college, but now is the time he's going to need it the most.
Taking over the student activities coordinator job at Princess Anne High is a more monumental task than any coaching job he held during nine years at Booker T. Washington High in Norfolk.
But his record for taking over programs and turning them into winners makes him exceptionally qualified for running a program that has a long tradition for quality.
``Certainly the work he did with regional football caught my eye and knowing what he did with some of the programs he took over,'' said principal Patricia Griffin, who taught Palombo as a Bayside High student in the early 1980s. ``No matter what he did, he was a winner.''
Palombo's successes started in high school, where he lettered in cross country, basketball and track. While working on his health and physical education degree at Old Dominion, he lettered in cross country. Palombo later received a master's in administration at ODU.
His success continued when he went to work for the Norfolk Public School System.
Palombo was named the Norfolk rookie teacher of the year for 1987-88, the same year he took over a girls soccer team that had won only two matches in school history. Under Palombo, that program enjoyed seven-straight winning seasons.
The next year, he took over a girls tennis team that had won only four matches in four seasons and produced six straight winning campaigns, three Eastern Region berths and the 1994 district title.
He took over girls softball in 1995 and won the school's first-ever Eastern Region title.
In three sports, he posted a 146-50-10 record and was twice voted the Eastern District coach of the year in each sport.
He served last year as the BTW dean of students and acting athletic director. He is currently the Eastern Region football coordinator.
So the 32-year-old Beach native has certainly got the credentials.
But the SAC job at Princess Anne is arguably the most difficult in the area. This time a year ago, the school suffered a fire that has forced the operation to be run from two locations - the school and Celebration Station, a couple of miles down the road.
And he took the job from one of the best-regarded SACs in the state in Doris Riedel, who recently retired.
``He does have some big shoes to fill,'' Griffin said. ``Doris worked with him before school was out and Paul's a go-getter. We couldn't be more pleased so far.''
``I'm up for this job,'' Palombo said. ``I enjoy doing this kind of thing and I'm totally dedicated to doing whatever it takes to make things work around here.
``And I want everyone to know that I'm going to make just as much of a commitment to non-sports programs at the school as I am to sports.''
Palombo isn't just trying to get by until things at the school get better. He's already initiating new programs to help speed things up.
He has started a campaign to get the school more involved in the Partners in Education Program. He has a goal of finding sponsors to help support an already strong Cavaliers Booster Club.
``I want our football and baseball fields to look like the softball field,'' he said. ``Dennis Nixon has done a great job with that softball field and I want to upgrade our other fields to be like his.
``There a lot of things we can do here and I love to hustle. I'm single and I'm prepared to go 80 hours a week if I have to.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Paul Palombo coached for nine years at Booker T. Washington High. by CNB