Paul Giesey left his mark on a lot of young people and on a lot of coaches.

The Cabot resident, former Knoch head football coach and Slippery Rock University wide receivers coach died Monday at 58.

His collegiate coaching stops included Frostburg State College in Maryland, Valparaiso University in Indiana, Illinois State and eight years as head coach at Montana Technical University, a NAIA school.

He coached high school football in Nebraska for three years, at Ligonier for three years and was head coach at Knoch for nine seasons.

"His loss leaves a big void for us to fill," SRU coach George Mihalik said. "There was a lot of football knowledge there."

Giesey was wide receivers coach at The Rock for five years, replacing veteran coach Jim McElhaney after the latter died of a heart attack during an offseason.

"We were looking for somebody to replace Jim and someone on our staff mentioned Paul Giesey," Mihalik said. "He wasn't coaching at the time, so I called him up and he was happy to join us.

"The contributions he made were immediate. Paul had an outstanding rapport with his position players and they thrived under him."

Colin Golden, Paul Favers, Terry Grossetti and Luke Wetzel were just a few of the receivers who posted big numbers under Giesey's guidance.

SRU hasn't replaced Giesey yet, though he was not planning to return for the 2009 season because of health problems.

"He called me at the end of January and told me he wouldn't be able to make it back this year," Mihalik said. "But the door was open for next year. Paul planned on coming back then and we wanted him back.

"He was a great addition to our staff. Our coaches are together so much. ... Losing him is like losing a family member."

Giesey was 44-49 overall in nine years at Knoch, leading the Knights to the WPIAL Class AAA championship game in 1992 and to an 8-2 record in 1993.

In between his years coaching at Knoch and SRU, Giesey coached his sons at Ligonier. He was a middle school physical education teacher in the South Butler School District until his retirement in 2007.

"He made that drive from Knoch to Ligonier for practice every day," Knoch coach Mike King said. "Paul was that dedicated to football and to those kids up there."

Mars football coach and athletic director Scott Heinauer coached against Giesey.

"I have nothing but good things to say about him," Heinauer said. "When I think of Knoch High School athletics, I think of (longtime basketball coach) Les Shoop and Paul Giesey.

"Paul loved sports and he loved kids. His life was centered around working with kids."

Heinauer described Giesey as an "old school" type of coach.

"Paul believed in the old-school style," he said. "You come to practice, you play. You work hard every day, you play. He believed in discipline and common sense.

"That man never let kids down. He was always there for them."

King coached with Giesey at Knoch from 1992-97 before being named head coach after Giesey resigned the post.

King and current Knights boys basketball coach Chris Andreassi coached the freshman team in 1992, when the varsity lost to Blackhawk in the WPIAL Triple-A title game at Three Rivers Stadium.

"I've seen a lot of Knoch football and there wasn't a better one than that 1992 team," King said. "They were so talented and well coached. Paul deserves the credit for putting together and developing that team."

King said Giesey had a knack for game planning and coming up with offensive schemes.

"He had a passion and intensity for this sport," King said. "He put a lot of hours in and came up with a lot of great schemes over the years.

"My finest memories are all of the laughs and good times we had as a staff. I was able to retain a lot of those same coaches when Paul left because the camaraderie was so good."

While Giesey coached at SRU, King brought his teams to The Rock for spring clinics there.

"It was nice to see Paul enjoying himself coaching at the collegiate level again," King said. "It was nice to see him come full circle. It felt good being able to see that."

While coaching at Montana Tech, Giesey earned NAIA District 12 Coach of the Year honors and was Frontier Conference Coach of the Year in successive seasons.

He also was an all-conference quarterback at Dakota Wesleyan College in South Dakota during his playing days.

"Paul had a tremendous background in football," King said. "The man was just a wealth of information."