Changes on the horizon as the Presidents' Athletic Conference prepares for 2025 season

Wednesday’s annual Presidents’ Athletic Conference football media day was as much about honoring Geneva coach Geno DeMarco as it was previewing the 2025 season.

In June, DeMarco announced that this, his 33rd season at the helm of the Golden Tornadoes, would be his last. So when it was their turn on the platform at Saint Vincent’s Dupré Science Pavilion, many of the coaches offered words of gratitude or shared an anecdote about DeMarco.

When DeMarco got his chance to speak, he, in his inimitable fashion, had a few playful words for his colleagues.

“You guys are talking like it’s my funeral,” DeMarco said, drawing laughs.

Then he added: “You know what’s going to happen in September. All these guys are nice and shaking hands and smiling and everybody loves Jesus right now, everybody’s having a great time. In September, we’re going to want to knock each other’s heads off.”

DeMarco’s impending exit is one of several changes for PAC football as the new season dawns. Perhaps the most significant was the addition of two programs: one this season and one coming in 2026.

Hiram, a member of the PAC from 1971-89, returned to replace affiliate member Carnegie Mellon, the conference tri-champion with Grove City and W&J in 2024, which left to become an affiliate member of the Centennial Conference. And in March, it was announced that Saint Francis would reclassify from Division I to Division III and join the PAC for the 2026-27 academic year.

The Red Flash will give the PAC 12 football programs and the opportunity to split into two divisions, which was the plan for this season until CMU’s exit. PAC commissioner Joe Onderko said the two-division model will be one of several options once Saint Francis joins.

“I think all options are on the table in that interim two- to three-year period.” Onderko told TribLive, referring to the time it will take before the Red Flash are postseason-eligible. “Long term, would we like to look at a two-division model? Yes. I think our membership has shown great interest in that.”

Along with new programs, the PAC has two new coaches: Hiram’s Xavier DuPree and Saint Vincent’s Casey Goff. Goff is a former W&J assistant, and he knows the task that awaits him after inheriting a program that went 1-9 last season.

“The kids that we have in the program are really committed to changing things here,” Goff said. “I don’t think we’ll be able to look at wins and losses in terms of how we view this being a successful season. We want to see a change in culture. We want to see a team that works hard, that values their time spent with one another, that doesn’t give up and is willing to improve week-to-week.”

The climb might take some time, but Goff needs to look no further than Grove City to have hope. When coach Andrew DiDonato was hired a decade ago, he inherited a team that had lost 20 consecutive games. The Wolverines lost 13 more before ending the skid.

DiDonato since has added to his team’s list of goals. Ten years ago, the final item on his to-do list was to win a PAC title. Now, after back-to-back titles, including a 10-0 season in 2023, DiDonato has added “win a national championship” to that list.

“In 2016, we were 0-10. What sustained me was visions of moments like this,” said DiDonato, who has led GCC to the NCAA playoffs each of the past two seasons. The Wolverines are ranked No. 23 in d3football.com’s preseason poll. “To get national recognition and get talked about at a school we love so dearly, it’s just an honor to represent Grove City in this way.”

W&J and Grove City will be the teams everyone in the PAC is chasing, according to the preseason poll. W&J came out on top in the vote of media, sports information directors and coaches. The Wolverines were second and Westminster third.

Presidents coach Mike Sirianni made no bones about his feelings. He said his team, which, along with Westminster, is among the “others receiving votes” from d3football.com, hasn’t received the respect it has deserved the past couple of seasons.

“We don’t get talked about. We don’t get voted in the top 25 because we don’t post stuff on Twitter every 20 seconds,” Sirianni said. “We felt disrespected. We still do.

“We talked a lot about toughness this offseason. You’ve seen the movie “Rocky IV”? If you’re going to beat us this year, you’re going to have to kill us.”

Whichever team wins the PAC will have been through a dogfight to do it. The conference’s rise to national respect, DeMarco said, is the biggest change he has seen as he prepares for his final season.

“I think it’s the commitment from each school for the game of football,” he said. “With Case (Western Reserve) and CMU coming in, it brought an awareness. But you’ve got great, traditional programs that have had great success over the years. And the emergence of Grove City. And W&J and Westminster have always been successful.

“It’s a good league. A really good league.”

PAC preseason poll

Voted on by conference coaches, sports information directors and media members with points and first-place votes in parenthesis

W&J 431 (17)

Grove City 413 (13)

Westminster 400 (12)

Case Western Reserve 347

Geneva 267

Waynesburg 260

Thiel 167

Allegheny 158

Saint Vincent 152

Bethany 117

Hiram 60