3/23/26

SCRANTON, Pa. – Lackawanna College football has confirmed the football coaching staff heading into spring camp, with many returning faces and a few new voices dotting the list for the Falcons.
 
Defensive Coordinator – Will Blanden
New to the team is defensive coordinator Will Blanden, arriving after a five-season stay at Cornell University. With the Ivy League's Big Red, Blanden spent time as the defensive backs coach, as well as the Defensive Pass Game Coordinator, before taking over as the safeties coach. Blanden coached several All-Ivy League defensive backs in each of his years at Cornell.
 
Before his stint in Ithaca, he spent eight years at Bloomsburg, serving as the interim defensive coordinator and then the special teams coordinator. In his time at Bloom, the Huskies were 52-28 with two NCAA DII playoff appearances. Blanden coached three All-Americans, including two on the defensive line, along with a PSAC Defensive POTY and a first-team Academic All-American. Blanden coached outstanding players like Justin Shirk, a 2014 BSN National POTY, as well as Bloomsburg's all-time sack leader, Chris Gray, who finished his career with 29.5 sacks.
 
Blanden also had stops at Division III Nichols College, where he was the defensive backs coach, as well as strength and conditioning coach, and at Western Connecticut State, where he spent two seasons as the defensive backs coach.
 
Blanden played football and basketball at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he eventually became a quarterback, defensive back, and wide receiver during his time with the Bison. Blanden was a standout offensive player for the Bison in his time, ranking second in 2006 in total offense and helping the Bison win four of their final five games that season. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, then picked up his Master's in Business Administration at Nichols College.
 
Defensive Line – Joe Zabielski
Also joining the Falcons is a familiar face in northeast PA, Joe Zabielski, who will coach the defensive line for Lackawanna College. Zabielski was a longtime defensive line coach in his most recent stop at Misericordia University. He spent three seasons with coach Mark Ross with the Cougars, helping the 2018 team go 8-3 and make the first-ever postseason appearance in school history. Zabielski remained with the staff through the 2024 season at Misericordia. Before that, Zabielski was the defensive line coach at Wilkes University, helping the Colonels to a 2006 MAC championship. In all, Zabielski has over 30 years of coaching experience at both the high school and collegiate levels.
 
Zabielski is a long-time educator in the Valley View school district, and is originally from Old Forge, where he played as a quarterback, safety, and punter for the Blue Devils. Zabielski went on to play for Bucknell University, where he was a tight end and a punter for the Bison.
 
Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line – Ray Dayton
Returning to the Falcons as the offensive coordinator will be Ray Dayton. Dayton will now enter his fifth season as the offensive coordinator with the Falcons for the 2026 season.
 
Coach Dayton returns to the Lackawanna program and brings some much-needed stability and familiarity to the offense. Coach Dayton's offenses have been consistently amongst the most-productive units in all of junior college football, averaging close to 400 yards of offense in all the years he has been in control.
 
In 2023, Lackawanna had the nation's top rusher, Terrez Worthy, who ran for nearly 1,500 yards and was named as a first-team NJCAA All-American. Worthy went on to Temple University in Philadelphia. Dayton's 2023 squad averaged 452.8 yards per game and 6.7 yards per play.
 
The 2024 Falcons went for 374.5 yards per game and scored 39.6 points per contest. Running back Maurice Edwards had 978 yards rushing, seventh all-time in Lackawanna single-season history.
 
His 2025 squad averaged 393.6 yards per game and was led by quarterback Jacob Tiberi, who threw for 2,352 yards on the season. Tiberi was named as an honorable mention NJCAA All-American for his efforts.
 
Dayton originally came to Lackawanna in 2018, coaching the linebackers for an undefeated Falcons football team, but he switched to offense in 2019, helping Lackawanna score 43 points per game and coaching an offensive line that only gave up 14 sacks all season long. The Falcons were undefeated through the regular season and competed in the 2019 NJCAA National Championship game.
 
Dayton spent time in the high school ranks, coaching at Oxford and Unadilla Valley in New York state, as well as assistant coaching at Harpusville and Binghamton-Seton Catholic.
 
Dayton graduated from Alfred State, where he played football. He also spent time at Mansfield University.
 
Tight Ends – Nick Csillan
A former Falcon returns to Lackawanna College, as former offensive lineman Nick Csillan joins the staff to serve as the tight ends coach.
 
Csillan, a towering 6-foot-7 offensive lineman for the Falcons in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, returns to Scranton after spending time at the University of Albany. Csillan committed to the Great Danes after the 2024 season, but had to medically retire following spring ball in 2025, and he has now transitioned into coaching.
 
Nick is a Hamilton, NJ native, and will take over a tight ends group that will look to continue to do what it always has: Anchor a strong rushing attack, as well as provide extra options for the Lackawanna passing game.
 
Linebackers – Paul Wiedlich
Longtime coach Paul Wiedlich will return as the linebackers coach for the Falcons for a sixth season. Coach Wiedlich has spent time as both linebackers and defensive line coach since he joined the Lackawanna staff in 2021, and his units have been consistently productive throughout his time with the Falcons.
 
In 2022, while coaching the defensive line, coach Wieldich's charges were stingy up front, giving up only 55.7 yards per game on the ground, and producing over half of the 44 sacks for the 2022 defense. In 2023, the defensive line had 12 of the 27 sacks for the defense, and combined for 31.5 tackles for loss.
 
His 2024 linebacking squad was led by a trio of eventual NCAA Division I linebackers in Andrew Marshall (Eastern Michigan), Nyair Graham (Alcorn State), and Gene Townsel (Stonehill). Marshall led the team with 59 total tackles and 13.5 tackles-for-loss in ten games, while Townsel had 55 tackles, including 37 solo stops, and Graham had 45 total tackles and 13.5 TFLs. The defense had 41.5 sacks on the year.
 
The 2025 Falcons also had a strong linebacking presence, with Michael Johnson posting a team-best 62 tackles and two-sport athlete Brodie Daugherty finishing with 43 stops on the season.
 
Wiedlich previously served as head football coach at the former GAR Memorial HS in Wilkes-Barre, winning 54 games and a pair of PIAA District II championships. Wiedlich's Grenadiers had back-to-back eleven-win seasons in 2010 and 2011, and were known for their exciting brand of high-flying football. Wiedlich was the final head coach in the history of the football program, as GAR closed and was folded into what is now Wilkes-Barre Area following the 2018 season.
 
Quarterbacks – Josh Pardini
Josh Pardini will serve as the quarterbacks coach once more for the Falcons, now in his 18^th year coaching football at Lackawanna College.
 
Pardini came to the Falcons in 2009, and has coached tight ends, defensive backs, the offensive line, running backs, and then quarterbacks, while also finding time to serve as offensive coordinator from 2016 through 2022.
 
Pardini's offenses were nationally-renowned, with the Falcons becoming perennial fixtures in the top-ten in offensive statistics every season, often putting up gaudy numbers in points and yards.
 
His 2016 squad averaged almost 47 points per game (4^th in the NJCAA) and put up 486 yards of offense per game, converting on 50% of their third downs. The Falcons went 10-1 that season and coach Pardini had three offensive All-Americans that year.
 
The 2018 squad averaged 402 yards per game and scored 39 points per game, helping Lackawanna go unbeaten with a stunning victory against Arizona Western in the El Toro Bowl. The 2019 squad was even better, averaging 42.5 points per game en route to another unbeaten regular season, before falling in the national title game. Pardini had five All-Americans that year.
 
In 2021, Pardini's quarterback Barry Brown set a school-record in passing yards in a single season (2,435) and threw 28 touchdowns, earning an All-American nod.
 
In 2022, Pardini stepped back from his offensive coordinator duties to take more of an administrative role in the athletics department, but remained with the Falcons to help with the offense and coach the quarterbacks.
 
Josh is a northeast PA native and holds associate degrees in Culinary Arts and Chef Training and Hotel from Luzerne County CC, as well as a bachelor's degree in Sociology from American Public University.
 
Running Backs – Kevin Roginski
"Coach Kev" enters his fifth year at Lackawanna College, moving to coach the running backs for the spring.
 
Roginski handled tight ends the last two seasons for the Lackawanna offense, and, before that, was the linebacker coach for the Falcons.
 
Roginski is also the assistant men's wrestling coach for Lackawanna College, where he has helped send 13 student-athletes to the NJCAA National Wrestling Championships.
 
Roginski is a Scranton native and a West Scranton HS graduate.
 
Defensive Backs – Mike McGrue
Another former Lackawanna Falcon, Mike McGrue, will return as the defensive backs coach for the spring. McGrue's unit had 12 of the 16 interceptions for the Lackawanna defense last year, while also providing 13.5 tackles-for-loss out of the secondary.
 
McGrue is a Lackawanna graduate, playing wide receiver, cornerback, and punt return for the Falcons from 2011 to 2013.
 
Wide Receivers – Anthony Staivecki
Coach Anthony Staivecki will enter his third year with the Falcons, transitioning from running backs to wide receivers coach for Lackawanna.
 
As running backs coach, Staivecki oversaw a unit that averaged over 170 yards per game on the ground in his two years, and he had a back go for nearly 1,000 yards in Maurice Edwards (978) in 2024.
 
Staivecki is a PA native, graduating from Panther Valley HS and then from East Stroudsburg University. He coached HS ball at both his alma mater and at Shenandoah before coming to Lackawanna College.
 
Special Teams – Mark Ross
New head football coach Mark Ross will handle the special teams unit for the Falcons, as well as his duties overseeing the football program as a whole. Ross was hired in December 2025 as the new head football coach at Lackawanna College, taking over for the retiring Mark Duda. Coach Ross has decades of collegiate coaching experience, helming the Misericordia University football team, as well as serving as defensive coordinator at both Ithaca College and Bloomsburg University. He most recently spent time as Director of Football Operations at Cornell University for the 2024 season.
 
Lackawanna College has announced its spring practice schedule, which begins on March 27^th, and then culminates with the annual spring game on Saturday, May 2^nd, at 3:00pm ET at Scranton Memorial Stadium.