Dave Anderson happy with decision to pull double coaching duty at Kiski Area

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, October 25, 2022 | 8:52 PM

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Dave Anderson will be front and center Wednesday evening as a varsity assistant for the Kiski Area boys soccer team as it hosts Montour at 6:30 in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal at Richard Dilts Stadium.

On Monday, he was in command as the head coach of the Cavaliers girls soccer team for its WPIAL Class 3A first-round matchup at Plum.

It’s been a busy fall soccer season for Anderson, one of a select number of coaches in Western Pennsylvania who pulls double duty with two teams at the same school.

For Anderson, the decision, he said, to take on the girls job in June while remaining a boys assistant was a no-brainer. And, he said, it worked out well.

“There was a lot of support from everyone when I applied and when I was hired,” said Anderson, who also devotes a lot of time to his family and his vocation as the head of a Pittsburgh-based engineering firm.

“I was called crazy a few times, and some called me nuts for wanting to do both because of how much time it would take. But I’m used to it. During the first week of preseason practices, I was there from literally 7:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night because of all of the practices, and we also had meals up there, too. I knew that doing both would require a lot of time. But I love the sport. It’s my passion. I grew up playing, and staying involved this way is special to me.”

Anderson got his first taste of high school coaching 22 years ago as a volunteer assistant with the girls program at Greensburg Central Catholic.

He has coached his two sons, Maddox, a senior and Kiski’s starting goalkeeper, and Owen, a sophomore midfielder at Pitt-Johnstown, from youth leagues through the high school ranks.

Anderson, in his sixth season as a Cavaliers boys assistant, said he first got the idea for doing both coaching jobs three years ago when the girls position opened. But he decided to continue working with just the boys team.

Mike Spagnolo headed up the girls program for three seasons, starting in 2019 until he stepped away in the spring.

“I talked with (Kiski athletic director) John Peterman about it, and, being an engineer, I had all the spreadsheets color-coded with where all the conflicts might be and how it would and could work out,” Anderson said.

Cavaliers boys coach Sean Arnold said he strongly encouraged Anderson to apply for the girls job.

“I have two girls coming up through the program in a couple years, and I know what kind of coach they will have,” Arnold said.

“He made sure he had all his ducks in a row to make sure there weren’t any conflicts with the boys side because he was so heavily involved in that, as well. He does so much work in the offseason, and I value his opinion so much. He just lives and breathes soccer in the best way possible.”

The only schedule conflict with the teams this fall wasn’t a conflict initially. Because of SAT testing and homecoming, an Oct. 1 nonsection game with Ambridge was moved to Oct. 3, the same day the Kiski girls played at Hampton.

The Kiski boys, the No. 5 seed in Class 3A, defeated Gateway, 2-0, on Saturday to improve to 16-3 overall. It was the team’s eighth win in its last nine games.

Anderson then turned his attention to preparation for Monday’s girls game at Plum.

“I knew the girls team was going to be in safe hands once he got it,” Maddox Anderson said.

“He’s probably one of the best coaches I’ve had in my soccer career. Once he was on board for both jobs, I knew he was going to be prepared to have enough time for both teams.”

Anderson said he couldn’t have done what he did without all the support from the players, parents, administrators and coaches, including girls assistants Alex Heinle and Roger Bordoy.

“Both were instrumental in growing the team and are amazing to work with,” Anderson said.

Anderson said one of his biggest supporters in taking on both coaching jobs is his wife of 24 years, Courtney.

“Right from the start, she said, ‘You gotta do it,’ ” he said.

“She’s so understanding and awesome with it. She’s busy, too, with her job as (an elementary) principal at Apollo-Ridge.”

Summer prep had the added task of getting up to speed with the girls team, which had designs on making a trip to the WPIAL playoffs. The team did just that through a challenging Section 1 schedule. Kiski Area capped its season Monday with a loss to No. 3 Plum.

“When we started in the early summer, the girls were committed to get better, and that carried over into the season with every practice and game,” Anderson said. “The whole time, they showed a great work ethic and attitude.”

Senior Riley Koziatek, a captain and the team’s leading scorer in 2022, said she and her teammates were glad Anderson came on board.

“We were really excited when we found out he took over as head coach because we knew how successful he was with the boys program,” she said.

“We hoped that (success) would carry over to the girls team this season, and it did. He brought a lot of positive energy, and he helped the team, from the varsity starters to the JV players, really become a family. ”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Kiski Area