Former Wheeling Park great Daryl "Boogie" Johnson is the first coach announced to join Matsakis' initial staff with the Ohio Valley Ironmen

Manny Matsakis finally got his man.

Former Wheeling Park great Daryl "Boogie" Johnson is the first coach announced to join Matsakis' initial staff with the Ohio Valley Ironmen. Johnson will be in charge of running backs as the Ironmen eye the opening of training camp later this month, with the season-opening game looming on June 7 against Cincinnati.

Johnson was the Kennedy Award-winning sensation at Wheeling Park High during the Patriots' run to the 1991 W.Va. Class AAA championship game. Matsakis, then coaching at Hofstra University in New York, stopped to make his pitch.

"He was the top running back in the state of West Virginia, and I did a home visit with him and enjoyed meeting with his family," said the Ironmen head coach. "We didn't sign him but I followed his career and even coached against him when I went back to Kansas State."

Johnson, who ended up signing with Oklahoma State, remembers Manny's visit well: "He sat on our couch right there on 14th St in East Wheeling."

They'll be sharing a lot more time together in the next few months, of course, as the Ironmen navigate their first foray into professional football since the fabled Ironmen of the 1960's.Johnson has spent nearly 20 years coaching football, but took last year off from the Wheeling Park High staff as his son Amar'e opted to play high school football at Bishop Moore Catholic in Florida last season. Amar'e ran for 1,300 yards and 19 TDs as a junior and has received nine D1 offers thus far.

Coming back home to jump into professional football proved the perfect tonic to get Boogie back into coaching.

"It's a great opportunity to get back into coaching again," he said with a smile, "and share with these guys some of the experiences I've had. We've got three really good running backs, one who can actually play in the slot a little bit, another a big power back. We've got some explosion there."

Season tickets are on sale now at ohiovalleyironmen.com!!