STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — The Strongsville Mustangs are playing in the first round of the playoffs, and their head coach, Jason Trusnik, is no stranger to the game of football.

He’s from Ohio, is a Nordonia High School alum and went on to play football at Ohio Northern and then in the NFL. Trusnik is now coaching high school football for his first time.

What You Need To Know

  • Strongsville's head coach, Jason Trusnik, is a first-time high school football coach

  • He spent years playing in the NFL and is now using his skills to help lead the Mustangs

  • Trusnik has his former high school coach on staff as someone to help guide him

“I was fortunate enough to play 10 years in the NFL and ended up moving back to Strongsville, so this is kind of where I was. I was coaching a lot of the youth stuff, but you know coaching was a passion, when this opportunity took it was kind like this is my time, my opportunity to coach at the next level,” Trusnik said.

It’s his rookie season as a head coach, and it didn’t start off easy. The Mustangs went 1-3 in the first four games, but now they’re a playoff team. 

“It was an adjustment coming in, and you know, in the process of changing a culture to the way that I wanted the boys to play and act on and off the field was kind of my first start,” Trusnik said.

Trusnik explained that the winning record wouldn’t have been possible without his former high school coach, Keith Boedicker, who now is the Mustangs quarterbacks coach. Boedicker expressed that he always knew Trusnik was special.

“He’s always been an overachiever as a player and a coach. You know, I’ve coached a lot of guys that have played at a high level of football and he’s different because he’s a great leader and he understands what it’s like to work very hard to become a good player,”  Boedicker said.

Boedicker said he could have never imagined being on the same coaching staff as Trusnik.

“I could actually, at that time, never foresee him having a future in the NFL or anything like that, but I could definitely see him as a coach because of his leadership ability. He’s the ultimate team player. I think even when things were going bad early in the year he did a great job of remaining positive and keeping our staff and our players together,” Boedicker said.

Trusnik credited a lot of this season’s victories to Boedicker and the rest of the coaching staff.

“Being able to be a first time head coach and bounce ideas of these guys that have done it and also been successful has really really allowed me to be successful,” Trusnik said.

Trusnik explained how much a playoff win would mean to the team, him and the community.