Bradford offensive coordinator Nate Zitnik didn’t check his mailbox during Thanksgiving break, but when he finally did, he found a small envelope addressed to him with a Bradford return address.
Inside the envelope was a letter from senior quarterback Austen Davis, expressing his gratitude towards Zitnik.
It’s those types of moments that Zitnik treasures most about his occupation and reminds him why he coaches and teaches — for those meaningful relationships.
“I know that it’s cliché when you talk about the relationships,” Zitnik said. “But being invited to former players’ weddings and forming those friendships as they become young men, that’s obviously the most important thing, knowing that you had an impact on their lives because the wins and losses kind of fade.
“You forget what the score of that game was, but there’s a lot of life lessons in sports and especially football and I think the guys that play, coaches are better for it for sure.”
The 40-year-old Zitnik recently completed his first season with the Owls after previously serving as Otto-Eldred’s offensive coordinator and was recently approved by the Bradford Board of Education to teach sixth grade english language arts after serving in the same role at Port Allegany.
Zitnik, who was also the longtime head baseball coach at Port, just recently resigned that coaching position along with his teaching job at Port as well.
The teaching role at Bradford was vacant after Bradford head boys basketball coach, Brian Hobbs, resigned both his teaching and coaching positions last month to join the sales and marketing department at B&T Contracting in Bradford.
“Brian leaving is kind of what opened that door, so that’s sad,” Zitnik said. “I know I’m biased, Brian was in my wedding and I’ve been good friends with Brian since high school, but he certainly was dedicated to doing a really good job and it’s certainly going to be big shoes to fill. He’s a great coach and an even better person.”
Baseball was Zitnik’s first love and it wasn’t until he was in junior high when he developed a love and passion for the game of football.
Zitnik’s junior high coach, Clair Hawver, was among the many teachers and coaches who were positive influences and role models for him.
“I was, I don’t know, 80 pounds soaking wet, 75 pounds soaking wet, but I played at the junior high games at safety and he put me back there and he believed in me,” Zitnik said. “And my dad said I looked like a helmet running around the field and that was about it.”
Hawver is who started Zitnik’s passion for football and then Zitnik’s varsity coach at Port, Mike Bodamer, also served as a major influence in Zitnik becoming a teacher and a coach.
“Mike was always someone that I looked up to and was a pleasure to coach with him for quite a few years before he stepped down,” Zitnik said. “Those two really resonate with me in regard to football for sure.”
Zitnik gravitated towards coaching because he knew eventually one day, he would have to hang up his cleats, but he believed picking up a whistle was the best way to stay connected to sports, while aspiring to be the very role models he looked up to. He also admired the lives his mentors lived.
But before he would graduate from Port and major in elementary education in college, Zitnik’s mother was pragmatic and advised him to figure out whether he actually wanted to be around young children at all.
“When I was going through my confirmation and whatnot, a couple of the guys that I played football with, one of the guards on our team and myself, we would actually handle the child watch during mass,” Zitnik said.
“And it was always funny to kind of get the looks because a lot of times the child watch was done by some of the girls and then it was me and my buddy that was this big burly guard on the football team, but it was kind of that experience that sealed it. We did a lot of fun things with them and it just kind of seemed like it was of more interest to me than maybe teaching that subject area in high school.”
Zitnik’s college years saw him attend three different schools.
He started off playing baseball at St. Bonaventure before transferring to Quincy University in Illinois for two years and then wrapped up his education and playing career at Pitt-Bradford.
Growing pains are what led to him transferring from St. Bonaventure and while at Quincy, he got to play under Patrick Atwell, who’s a native of Andover, New York. Zitnik had a bounce back season during his sophomore year, but Atwell, who helped bring Zitnik there, would eventually end up becoming the school’s athletic director.
At UPB, Zitnik would play under head coach Bret Butler, who would actually give him his first real coaching gig, which was position coaching during fall baseball while he was still in school and finishing up his student teaching.
“I was able to have a lot of different experiences and the fact that I was able to play all four years was the most important thing,” Zitnik said. “You wouldn’t call it the blueprint, but I’m very happy with how my life turned out. Sometimes you figure things are meant to be.”
Following graduation, Zitnik was a long-term substitute teacher at Port where he was also a volunteer football coach and assisted with baseball. He then spent one year at Oswayo Valley. After that, he would begin his full-time position at Port.
“I was actually supposed to coach (at Oswayo Valley), but I played a summer in Europe,” Zitnik said. “I had an opportunity to go over there, play a little ball with the Lithuanian national team. My grandmother was Lithuanian, so I kind of forwent coaching to really kind of focus on myself there a little bit and they were pretty understanding about it. But then (I) got hired at Port.”
Zitnik is the father of three young kids and said the balance of being father, husband, educator and coach is made easier by the support of his wife, Mary Anne.
And when it comes to teaching and coaching, some valuable things he observed from his time with Bodamer as well as close friend Jason Luther, is how to stay prepared, organized and emphasize attention to detail. Knowing what you want to do, fully committing to it and making sure you’re coaching the details are big keys for Zitnik whether it’s on the gridiron, baseball diamond or in the classroom.
“Mike was always uber prepared, over prepared and ultra organized,” Zitnik said. “It was more so preparing to the point of it being almost monotonous. That’s really as a coach what you need to do. It’s actually one of the reasons why I really like the offense that we run (at Bradford). It’s simple, yet complicated, but the way you get good at it is just by repetitions and really coaching the details.”
“I’ve had some really good peers in terms of what it takes to get really good because I think being a good high school coach is when you’re able to coach past talent,” he added. “It’s when you might not necessarily have the best horses in the race, that you’re able to kind of compete and you’re able to win some games maybe you’re not supposed to.”
Zitnik has gained numerous memories throughout his coaching career, such as coaching the Port football teams from 2010-12 that went on playoff runs.
“They were actually my first sixth grade class and I (coached) two years in junior high and I kind of followed them up through,” Zitnik said. “Those years we were always practicing on Thanksgiving and got into December when we ran into Clairton. Those are obviously some of my fondest memories just because of the amount of time that we all spent together.”
Winning the AML north as defensive coordinator with the Gators in 2015 and his seasons as Otto-Eldred’s offensive coordinator with Sawyer Drummond (2017) and Cole Sebastian (2019) at quarterback also resonate with him.
There are more memories to be made as Zitnik enters a new chapter in his teaching career and continues his duties as offensive coordinator for the Owls. While spring will be different for him not coaching baseball, he said that time will allow him to transition into his new teaching role.
According to Zitnik, his official start date is still up in the air, but he remains excited about what lies ahead for him in his new teaching gig and next year’s Owl football team.
“I’m really excited to be in Bradford,” Zitnik said. “I think it’ll just be a really cool opportunity and wonderful opportunity for me professionally and personally.”
