Mike Vukovcan Over the off-season, Hopewell Head Football Coach Matt Mottes made a couple changes to his 2026 coaching staff.
The biggest and most impactful addition will no doubt be the addition of a new defensive coordinator.
Long-time high school football assistant Wayne Tatalovich, Jr. is now in charge of the Vikings defense. Back in 1995, Tatalovich was a member of the Hopewell coaching staff, but a large majority of his success has come while serving as the DC with Mark Lyons at Central Valley.
Mottes tells Vikings Sports Now that the addition of this veteran coach will make the entire program better and allow him to become a better head coach. For the last 3 years, Mottes has also served as the teams’ defensive coordinator.
“Coach Tatalovich was at Central Valley for 14 years, Center High School before that. He’s coached in I think 3 state championship games and 5 WPIAL championship games,” said Mottes. “So, he has the experience of coaching in big games. Coach Tatalovich is a great person, a very trustworthy person and an unbelievable human being. It’s very obvious that the kids love him already. Â He knows all of these head coaches and has prepared for them for a number of years. The experience that he brings here is invaluable, bringing us 30 years of coaching experience.”
“This move allows me to become more of a head coach and to oversee everything instead of having a heavy focus on defense. One of the issues I had was trying to be the defensive coordinator and the head coach. For instance, when the offense was coming off the field, I needed to have conversations with players on offense. I’m not saying I missed anything on defense, but it didn’t get my full attention. To truly be successful as a head coach, you have to surround yourself with talented people and people you trust and people that you feel are smarter than you. I feel like Coach Wayne is one of those people, he’s a great defensive mind. Bringing him aboard is going to make my job easier and to be successful, that’s what you want.”
