Correspondent file photo / Michael G. Taylor Lamar Claytor (7) celebrates a touchdown with teammate Jemeir Blair (71) against Chaney on Oct. 25.

YOUNGSTOWN — When former Youngstown East coach Devlin Culliver took over the Golden Bears’ program at the end of 2022, he wanted to reshape the culture within the program.

After two years at East, he found success both on the field and off, as the Golden Bears went 6-4 last year, their first winning season since 2018.

But this past spring, Culliver stepped down and left the program to take the head coaching job at Hunters Lane in Nashville, Tenn. In his stead, East elected to hire Mark Greene, a 2009 East High School Hall of Famer in football and track and a 1987 Golden Bears alum, who also served as an assistant on Culliver’s staff the last couple years.

This season, Greene is hoping to maintain and continue to build off the momentum that Culliver started, as East prepares for its final season before merging with rival and fellow Youngstown City School Chaney next year.

“We started something — one was changing the whole culture of the football program at East High School, that was a big thing with me,” Greene said. “The culture was going to create positivity in the community and support within the school system. We just started doing that. I want to continue doing that. I don’t want the kids to feel as if we started, then we left. So myself and some of the coaches from the past year, we stayed and brought in some new faces as well.”

The players that were freshmen and sophomores when Culliver took over the program are now juniors and seniors heading into Greene’s first season.

Those players have been through the program and understand the expectations and know what the coaching staff is looking for out of them.

“They’ve learned what to do to be successful and it’s their time to shine,” Greene said. “They’ve got the tools. They know what it takes. They know what hard work is. They know what adversity is and what it means to be able to overcome. So my goal is to continue to put the right things in front of them so they can be successful. That’s coaching, teaching and nurturing — we want to continue to support our school system of kids as an inner city.”

Now with East and Chaney set to merge next year, those players want to leave their mark in the program’s last season as its own school.

“They really believe they have the capability of doing something big,” Greene said. “They want to go down in history as one of the best East High School football teams, and that’s their goal.”

At the start of the summer, Youngstown City Schools announced that the district was implementing a reconfiguration project in which East and Chaney would be merged into one central high school — Youngstown High School, with the nickname, the “Defenders,” and the mascot being an owl.

The new high school will be housed in the current East High School building at 474 Bennington Ave. on the East Side. With the exception of all the new students, it won’t be as much of a change for the East students as it will for the Chaney students.

Greene believes the consolidation is a good thing for the athletics programs.

“Our community will grow as a whole, I believe, with one high school,” Greene said. “We’ll be able to do some of the things that other schools throughout the state of Ohio — the Canton McKinleys and Massillons, even Warren G. Harding, their schools combined and they became a powerhouse. We want to be able to follow the footprints of them and the blueprint with what they’re doing to make this program, when it does happen, be one of the best in the state of Ohio.”

OFFENSE

Offensively, the Golden Bears return five starters from last year, with most of those coming on the offensive line, including Drelyn Tubbs, Charlie Harrison, Derrick Hayes and Jameir Blair.

That group gives East a ton of size up front to run the ball behind and protect the quarterback.

“One of our pluses this year, and since I’ve been coaching, we’re definitely a lot larger on the front line,” Greene said. “We’re balanced, it’s not just one kid. So that’s going to be one of our focus points — being able to protext the quarterback, run the ball, open up some holes for the running backs and things like that.”

East’s other returning offensive starter is all-purpose dynamo Tyris Davis at receiver, who finished with 34 receptions for 659 receiving yards and 19 total touchdowns last season and committed to Youngstown State at the end of June shortly after receiving an offer from the Penguins.

“Tyris is the type of player that definitely needs to have attention drawn to. Offensively, you have to know where he’s at at all times as well as defensively. He’s really a defensive player as well and can play both sides of the ball really well,” Greene said. “It opens up opportunities for the younger guys that’s opposite of him.”

The Golden Bears have some uncertainty in the backfield however at quarterback and running back. Both positions have battles that will likely remain ongoing heading into opening week.

Under center, East has Keylin Warren, Jaden Irvin and Khalil Mason each vying for the starting quarterback job. Warren played a ton defensively last year for the Golden Bears, receiving All-State honors at linebacker, while Mason also saw considerable playing time on that side of the ball.

“We have some new guys coming in that are first-year starters, but they had experience playing some offensively,” Greene said. “We want to make sure we feature those guys, the ones that put their time in and put the sweat in to get to where they’re at now.

DEFENSE

Greene wants to make sure the defense is tough, fundamentally sound and able to create opportunities for the offense.

“Defense will be our strong point,” Greene said. “We believe in our concept that the coaches are instilling — be tough, show grit. So our focus is definitely on the defensive side, making sure we’re prepared every week and making sure the kids are prepared.”

That focus all starts with Warren and Dyonn Perry at linebacker and Davis in the secondary, along with East’s five other returning defensive starters. Warren racked up 97 tackles, 10 sacks, five fumble recoveries, four pass breakups and three defensive touchdowns last year.

“All these guys got accolades,” Greene said. “So we want them to be able to shine and put them in the right position. We got a lot of key returners that create more leadership, we’re looking for leadership on the field, being able to make smart decisions and things while they’re out there. That’s going to help them be successful.”

Tubbs is also back on the defensive line after recording 44 tackles, six sacks and two interceptions last season. East’s other four returning starters on defense are Mason, Mark Butler, Marcus Merchant and Leztwan Casey-Jones.

“Our kids, they work hard and they know what the reward is for working hard,” Greene said. “I tell any parent, no matter what school they’re at, we’re on the same level, no matter what they hear. Our kids are very dedicated and respectful and that’s the culture that we create.”

SPECIAL TEAMS

Heading into the season opener on Aug. 23 against Whetstone, East is having position battles to determine the starters at the specialist positions like placekicker and punter.