High School

Marian High School Brings on New Head Football Coach

The Knights fill a void after their previous coach retired in December

Kevin L. Smith

Marian High School

Marian High School in Indiana has found its new head football coach for the 2026 season.

Angelo Di Carlo of Sports Michiana reported that Joe Calderone has been hired to lead the Knights. Calderone replaces former coach Mike Davidson, who retired in December after 16 seasons with Marian.

Calderone previously served as the offensive line coach at Mishawaka, where he was a 2009 graduate of the school. Calderone was also an assistant coach at Marian for a year before he coached for the Cavemen.

The Knights went 4-8 during the regular season. Marian started 2-1, but proceeded to lose six in a row.

Marian strung together two postseason victories before losing 48-18 to Knox in the IHSAA Class 3A sectional title game.

Davidson, who stepped down in order to spend time with his family, was Marian’s head coach for the last eight seasons. The coach led the Knights to a 54-31 record, four Northern Indiana Conference championship crowns, four sectional trophies and three regional titles.

During that time, Davidson was named the NIC Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2020. Before becoming the Knights’ head coach, Davidson was an assistant under Reggie Glon, who stepped down in 2018 after 24 years of leading the program.

“Coach Davidson has been an integral part of our athletic program,” Marian athletic director Steve Ravotto said. “He has had a positive impact on our student athletes by developing them into leaders on and off the field. He is a Marian alumnus and very invested in Marian’s mission of learn, serve, lead.

“On behalf of Marian High School, I would like to thank Coach Davidson for all the time and effort he has put into the football program.”

With the guidance of Davidson, Ravotto’s coaching search began almost immediately once the position became vacant.

Calderone is now set to become Marian’s third head coach in 32 years, according to Kyle Smedley of the South Bend Tribune.

At Mishawaka, Calderone was coached for a year by Bart Curtis, a 2016 Indiana Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee. Curtis, a Mishawaka alum who coached the Cavemen from 2008 to 2017, also had Calderone on his staff for several seasons.

“(An) outstanding hire,” Curtis said via X.

The Cavemen are coming off a 2025 campaign where they went 10-2 and reached the IHSAA Class 4A sectional title game against South Bend.

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Kevin L. Smith
KEVIN L. SMITH

Kevin L. Smith, a Rochester (NY) native and a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, has been covering high school sports for over a decade. He started out as a freelance sportswriter in 2013. Since then, he’s held sportswriter and editor positions for newspapers in Coudersport (PA), Sayre (PA) and Oswego (NY). Smith currently covers high school sports in the Greater Syracuse Area for syracuse.com | Post-Standard, a position he’s held since 2021. You can follow him on social media @KevLSmittie. Story ideas can be sent to KLSFreelancing@outlook.com.

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