By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Portage Sports proudly introduces its new series called “Coaches in the Classroom.”

The series celebrates coaches throughout Portage County, who spend their days in the classroom leading today’s student-athletes to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Today’s spotlight is on Field High School’s Matt Furino, who is in his 34th year as a math teach and 20th year as a football coach.

• School District: Field Local Schools.
• How long have you been employed there?: 34 years.
• What class do you teach?: All levels of Math from 7th grade to Honors Pre-Calc.
• What made you want to become an educator?: My dad always told me to do something you are good at and that you enjoy. It was simple. I always liked math, and I love sports.
• What is your favorite part of your job?: That’s easy: The students! Over my career, I have got to be part of the development of some great young men and women, be part of a great community that helped me be the person I am today and to get to see many of my students become great people.
• What have you learned about being an educator that you didn’t know before you started?: I learned the most of the time there is a reason for the way students act (home, friends, personal issues). I grew up in a day where you just had to suck it up, and I think at the beginning of my career, I just believed that you were weak if you couldn’t do something. However, I learned that when you show genuine concern and find out what’s really going on, that’s when real growth can occur.
• Which teachers influenced you to go into education?: This is easy: Mrs. Jamerson and Mrs. Bilarakus. They had completely different styles, but they both found a way to get me to be better than I thought I could be. Mrs. Jamerson was nice and compassionate, but very hard on me, but I always felt like it was because she knew I could do better. Mrs. Bilarakus showed me you could have a sense of humor and show your real self to the students. I still, to this day, strive to be like both of them.
• How do you apply some of your coaching into your classroom?: I think I am always teaching her coaching. To me, it’s the same. In both, you have to motivate and bring out the best, you have to push and never give up and you have to love no matter what.
• How do you apply some of your classroom into your coaching?: I try to be the same person in every setting. My wife gave me the best compliment years ago when she said, “You are the only person I know that acts the same no matter who you are talking to or who is in the room.” I love that.
• Funniest thing that has ever happened to you in a classroom?: It didn’t start fun, but it turns out funny. Early in my career, I broke up a fight between two seniors who were both big and tough. I grabbed the one from behind, and I had my arms around his waist. He turned around and he put his fist up like he was going to punch me in the face, and I said, “If you punch me, it will be the biggest mistake of your life.” He didn’t punch me, and I brought him to the office. The next day, everyone in the school was talking about how tough I was by making that statement. They thought I meant I would hit him back if he hit me, but what I meant was that he would be kicked out of school and it would ruin his life. The reality was that he would have broken my nose and probably knocked me out, but I let them think I was a tough guy.
• Mentors in your building who have helped you along the way?: Early in my career, Jim Dee showed me how to be a Falcon. After him, Craig Nettleton taught me how to be compassionate and a Christian leader. In the later part of my career, my current math department friends, Michele Belknap, Sue Vitko and Miranda Lach. They are all great teachers, which makes me strive to be better every day. They have always helped me to be the best version of myself.