Submitted photo / Chiefs.com Kansas City Chiefs safeties coach Donald D’Alesio, a Cardinal Mooney graduate, coaches during a practice earlier this season. D’Alesio, who also played and coached at Youngstown State, is heading to the Super Bowl this weekend with the Chiefs.

Donald D’Alesio is used to winning.

First, the Youngstown native was a defensive back on Cardinal Mooney’s 2009 undefeated Division III state championship team. Then, he was a defensive assistant coach on Youngstown State’s 2016 FCS national runner-up team under former Penguins head coach Bo Pelini.

And now, he’s the safeties coach for the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs, as they are set to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in Super Bowl LVII.

“It’s surreal — I know coaches and we know coaches in this profession or players that have played a long time that have never even had the opportunity to make the playoffs, and for me to be in my second year, and have the chance to coach in the Super Bowl, it’s unbelievable,” D’Alesio said in a phone interview last week before the Chiefs left for Arizona.

“Last year, being so close, losing in the AFC championship game to this year, being able to win and play for the Super Bowl, you realize how much hard work and how much it takes to actually get to where we are now. You can’t take it for granted because it’s not an easy thing. It’s a lot of time and a lot of hard work. There’s a lot that goes into getting here to still be playing and coaching in February.”

However, during his playing days, getting into coaching wasn’t necessarily the “end goal” for D’Alesio — at first.

After a five-year career at YSU, during which he made 274 career tackles while starting in 44 games and playing in 48, he began to pursue a master’s degree. When Pelini took over the Penguins program in 2015, coaches on his staff reached out to D’Alesio to see if he’d be interested in becoming a graduate assistant.

D’Alesio was unsure at first. He’d completed his bachelor’s degree in business and finance and already had some potential job opportunities lined up.

“I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” D’Alesio said. “But I figured, let me go finish my master’s and see if I liked this coaching thing.”

Something must have gone right because D’Alesio ended up spending five years on the Penguins’ coaching staff, during which he spent time as defensive coordinator, defensive line coach and defensive quality control coach. Then, in 2020, D’Alesio followed Pelini to LSU, where he spent the year as a defensive analyst for the Tigers.

“I was fortunate enough to learn under some great people (at YSU) and I kind of climbed the ranks to where I am today,” D’Alesio said. “So I guess you could say it all worked out.”

After catching the coaching bug, D’Alesio was looking for the next step in his career.

He had built a relationship with Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy through mutual coaches that he had met and worked with.

“Just from talking to him, he knew of my interest in wanting to get to the NFL, and he passed my name along here in Kansas City,” D’Alesio said. “In this profession, and really in everything, it’s about relationships.”

With the assistance from Bieniemy, D’Alesio was able to interview with Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

From there, he met others within the Chiefs organization and was able to get the opportunity to join the team in 2021 as a defensive assistant. After a year, he was then promoted to where he is now — safeties coach.

“I wouldn’t change my journey or path of how I got here,” D’Alesio said. “I love what I do every day and I’m blessed to be here.”

In his climb up the coaching ladder, D’Alesio has epitomized the blue collar ethos of hard work that is associated with Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley.

“You have to put in the work and I’ve been able to carry that in my life from (Mooney) to when I got to Youngstown State,” D’Alesio said. “I’d never played safety before and I’m not the biggest dude by any means, and I knew my path as a freshman was to outwork people and I’ve just carried that over from my playing days to my coaching days.

“When I first got into coaching, I would be there as long as I possibly could trying to talk to everybody and learn as much as I possibly could. Then when it was my opportunity, I was able to take advantage of it. That’s still what I live by now. I’m a hard worker, I take pride in that, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

From Ken Kollar with the Crusaders youth football team and P.J. Flecko and Chris Amill at Mooney to Eric Wolford and Pelini at YSU, D’Alesio has had his fair share of coaching influences during his football career.

But now, D’Alesio is having the opportunity to learn from two long-time NFL coaching masterminds in Reid and Spagnuolo as they work towards building a potential dynasty with the Chiefs and he works towards his own newfound goal.

“It’s priceless — just being able to sit in every team meeting and listen to Coach Reid speak and every defensive meeting and listen to Coach Spags speak to the guys,” D’Alesio said. “When your ultimate goal is to become a head coach at this level, which is what mine is, you have to take advantage of being around the guys you have. I’m able to talk to coach Bieniemy whenever we have free time — all the coaches in the building. You take advantage of it, soak it all in and watch how they handle certain situations. And I can’t thank these guys enough for just being able to be in the building with them.”