COACHING STAFF
Fall 2020 Coaching Staff
COACHES Bios
Tim Walbert
Tim has been involved in the Park Ridge sports community as a coach for over 15 years, has lived in the Park Ridge community for over 20 years and has had three children involved in Park Ridge sports. He was a collegiate basketball player and has coached Park Ridge house league football, basketball, football and baseball for both girls and boys. He has over five years experience as head coach of the Park Ridge Junior Hawks Girls and Boys Travel Basketball teams, was the head coach of the Park Ridge Falcons 7th grade team for the 2019-2020 season and was a board member of Park Ridge Football. Tim, founder, chairman, president and chief executive of Horizon Therapeutics, a $6 billion+ dollar biotech company, has also been a personal and corporate sponsor of Park Ridge Football and Maine South Football.
Lou Karnezis
Lou has been involved in the Park Ridge sports community as a coach for over 10 years. Lou was born and raised in Park Ridge, and now raises his three children here. Lou has coached a wide range of sports here in the community, from Falcons football, travel baseball, basketball and soccer. Although he occasionally played beach volleyball professionally, his favorite sports memories are of his boys playing Falcons travel football, his oldest son starting on the varsity Maine South Football team for two years, his middle son playing travel and Maine South Volleyball, and his daughter participating in competitive cheer and now at Maine South. Lou has served on football and baseball boards in Park Ridge, has his own law firm among other business interests. Lou has also been a sponsor of the Park Ridge Falcons and the Maine South Football Teams.
Sean Price
Growing up in Park Ridge, Sean's passion for football started at the age of 8 with the Park Ridge Youth Football tackle program. He then joined the Park Ridge Falcon program, developing his skills and knowledge under Coach Jim Dihu, competing in the 1999 and 2000 Pop Warner National Championships. In high school, Sean became the first sophomore to start as Maine South's Varsity QB. Under head coach Dave Inserra and offensive coordinator Charlie Bliss, Sean's high school career was highlighted by back-to-back State Championship appearances in 2003 and 2004. In 2003, Sean set numerous Illinois state passing records and was chosen as the 2003 Chicago Sun Times Player of the Year. He was also part of the MSFB All Numbers Team and the Maine South Hitter's Club. Sean continued his football career at Central Michigan University, being offered a four-year Division I football scholarship by current Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. During his years as a Chippewa, CMU won multiple MAC championships and appeared in several bowl games. Since college, Sean has enjoyed giving back to the Park Ridge community by volunteer coaching, sharing his knowledge and lessons learned to future and current Hawks. Sean works in finance in Park Ridge, and he and his wife are the proud parents to a three year old son and newborn daughter.
Jeff Kilburg
Mary, Seat of Wisdom alumnus and former Park Ridge Falcon football player, Jeff has been involved in Park Ridge football for decades. Jeff had the privilege to play for Coach Phil Hopkins at Maine South in the early 1990s. Jeff was a Blue-Chip All-American, member of the Maine South Hitters Club and is a member of the MSHS All Numbers Team. After playing for the Maine South Hawks, Jeff was a recipient of a four-year football scholarship to the University of Notre Dame. During his four years at Notre Dame, Coach Lou Holtz taught him many skills that he now teaches to Park Ridge youth football players. As special as it was playing for Lou Holtz, Jeff attributes a lot of his football acumen to his father, Jim Kilburg. His dad led Mary, Seat of Wisdom to many spirited victories back in the 1980s composed of future Maine South Hawk legends. Jeff is the CEO & Founder of KKM Financial, a financial services firm.
Charlie Goro
Charlie began his tackle football career at 7 years old, and by 2002 he had already led the Park Ridge Falcons to a 13-0 record and the program's first Pop Warner National Championship. Charlie went on to play for Dave Inserra and Charlie Bliss as a freshman on the Varsity football team at Maine South High School. During his senior year in 2008, Charlie was named Parade Magazine All-American, EA Sports All-American, and Chicago Sun-Times Illinois Player of the Year, while leading Maine South to its first 14-0 record and 8A State Championship in school history. Charlie was the recipient of an athletic scholarship to Vanderbilt University in the SEC. He works in real estate and is involved in volunteer coaching and foundations helping to promote awareness and testing for prostate cancer. Charlie attributes his passion for coaching to his late father, Chuck Goro.
Jamie Purcell
Jamie grew up in Park Ridge and attended both Mary, Seat of Wisdom School and Maine South High School. He is a proud former Park Ridge Falcon football player and was co-captain of the Maine South Hawks under the leadership and coaching of IHSA Hall of Fame Coach, Phil Hopkins, in the early 90’s, who he’s always admired for his virtues of character, commitment and community service. He was also part of the MSFB All Numbers Team and the Maine South Hitter's Club. Upon graduation with a degree in Real Estate Finance from Indiana University, Jamie went to work in the family real estate business, BJB Partners, which is now a multi-billion dollar real estate investment firm based in Park Ridge. Jamie has also been involved in Park Ridge youth sports for decades volunteer coaching and donating his time in baseball, basketball, and his true passion, football. He finds great joy and pride in mentoring and coaching, and seeing children reach their max potential both on and off the field. He hopes to instill the same love of the game and passion in all of his players that his many coaches and mentors gave to him along the way.
Mark Sroka
Mark attended Maine South High School and currently resides in Park Ridge with his family. He donates his time by volunteer coaching little league football, baseball, basketball and soccer. Mark teaches the virtues of positive attitude and never-give-up effort to his young athletes. Some of Mark’s fondest memories and experiences can be attributed to playing team youth sports and he hopes to allow the same to the next generation of athletes. Having the privilege to play for IHSA hall of fame coach Phil Hopkins, Mark earned USA Today honorable mention high school All-American honors, as well as Illinois All-State football team honors, and is a member of the MSFB All Numbers team. After graduating from Maine South, Mark was the recipient of a four-year football scholarship to Miami University and was a three-year starter at Offensive Left Tackle. Enjoying the rigor and discipline required to succeed both in the classroom and on the football field, he took great pride in the title of student-athlete. His belief is that the life lessons learned on the field are just as impactful as the lessons learned in the classroom. Mark earned his undergraduate degree in Engineering as well as an MBA and works as a Private Equity and Operations executive in Chicago.
Johnny Alviti
Johnny was born down the street from Maine South. His earliest childhood memories are playing football in his backyard where he pretended to pick up “another Hawks First DOWN!” As a former Falcon and Maine South football alum, John has been committed to the Park Ridge sports community for the last twenty years. Johnny realizes the value youth football has had upon him and wants to pay it forward. In his first year of Falcon Football, the Falcons went 13-0, as he played an important role in winning the program’s first Pop Warner National Championship. Over the course of the next seven seasons of football, John and his teammates lost six total games and won the 2008 8A State Championship. He was lucky enough to be surrounded by a great coaching staff, and his teammates who continue to be his lifelong friends. His experience in the Park Ridge football community ingrained invaluable personal skills such as physical and mental toughness, discipline, adaptability, commitment to teamwork and willingness to grow as an individual. As an example, one of Johnny’s closest friends and roommates at Indiana University was an opponent he caught a touchdown pass over in the 2008 State Championship game. Most recently, he was a member of the Park Ridge Junior Hawks coaching staff, which allowed him to pursue his passion for mentoring and developing young talent. Johnny graduated from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with degrees in Finance and Real Estate Finance and currently works as an Investment Sales Broker in downtown Chicago.
Paul Ragona
Paul attended Maine South High School and currently resides in Park Ridge with his family. He has been involved in the Park Ridge sports community his whole life and he has been a coach for 5 years. Paul has been an impactful coach for Park Ridge football, coaching both house league teams as well as Falcons football. Paul played football at Maine South and was a member of the Varsity Maine South Football team in the early 1990s. He draws upon his experiences and interactions with legendary Coach Phil Hopkins and his staff, to coach current youth football players. Paul has worked for the City of Park Ridge for over 20 years and is unwavering in his commitment to the Park Ridge community.
Steve Natalia
Steve grew up in Park Ridge and attended Maine South High School. As the son of Italian immigrants, Steve gravitated to the soccer field, but by the time he reached high school, he recognized that there wasn’t much of a future for a 250 pound midfielder.... He was fortunate to have great coaches who encouraged him to play football, including: Phil Hopkins, Dave Inserra, Phil Kardasz, Charlie Bliss, and Carl and Rick Magsamen. Steve earned All-State, All-Area and All-Conference honors as an offensive and defensive lineman. He was also part of the MSFB All Numbers Team and the Maine South Hitter’s Club. After graduating from Maine South, Steve attended Northwestern University on a football scholarship and was a member of the 2000 Big Ten Championship team. His brother Vince also attended Maine South and went on to University of New Mexico on a football scholarship, eventually earning All-American and All-Mountain West honors as an offensive lineman. Steve works in the finance industry and is a Partner with a Chicago-based private equity firm. He lives in Park Ridge with his wife Allison and their four kids. The opportunities afforded and lessons learned from the coaching staffs at Maine South and Northwestern were invaluable. Steve is proud to have the opportunity to coach with Park Ridge Travel Falcons Football and hopes to have a positive impact on players and their families.
Danny “Cola” Colapietro, Strength and Conditioning
Danny was born in Chicago, IL, to Italian parents and grew up in Norridge. He graduated from Pennoyer School in 2003, and then went to Maine South High School, where he played on the soccer team all four years. He competed in the State tourney in 2006 and the team took third place. In 2007, Danny started his career as a personal trainer and worked at a variety of clubs like Bally Total Fitness and FFC. In 2010, Danny attended Concordia University in Chicago, and obtained a degree in physical education, health and driver’s education. Danny was the starting kicker and punter for Concordia D3 football for four years. In 2014, he started a career in education, teaching PE, health and driver’s ed at various schools in the Chicagoland area, teaching grades 7-12. In 2019, Danny started a holistic fitness company, Danny Cola Fitness, teaching and coaching one on one, small group fitness classes, steel mace and functional movement workshops. In 2020, Danny joined the coaching staff of the Park Ridge Travel Falcons as the strength and conditioning coach for all levels. Danny recently opened his own personal training studio in Park Ridge, called Underground Fitness. It is his personal goal and mission to build a community around physical and mental optimization. Underground Fitness is the official training facility of the Park Ridge Travel Falcons.
Danny can be reached at 847.347.4398 and followed on Instagram @dannycolafitness and @underground.fitness.pr. He also has a podcast on iTunes and Spotify, “The Danny Cola Podcast,” which is a conversational style podcast that discusses optimization and connections to higher potential.
Mike Favia
Coming Soon
Matt Rioch
Bio Coming Soon
Randy Smith
Bio Coming Soon
Ralph Cantal
Bio Coming Soon
Ryan Healy
Ryan has made a career of coaching and mentoring football players throughout the country. He has experience working with players at all levels, including grammar school, high school, college, and the NFL. Ryan’s unique combination of skill-based and character-building training has led to the successful development of many high performance athletes. Notably, he trained Maine South State Champion quarterbacks Charlie Goro '09, Tyler Benz '10, Matt Alviti '13, and Nick Leongas '17. Ryan has been a friend of the Maine South High School football program and its athletes and coaches for many years and has long admired its football culture and dominance in the Central Suburban League. Ryan is currently the offensive coordinator at Evanston Township High School. He is also the president of The Tripp Healy Foundation which provides economic investment and growth opportunities to underserved student athletes and families in the greater Chicagoland area. Ryan’s life’s work has been the development of football players and football culture and he is excited to join this great coaching staff and the Park Ridge Falcons community.