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Junko, Pitt’s cornerstone, enters retirement

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Donna Sanft worked with Bob Junko many years in the Pitt athletic department.

She knows the value of Junko’s standing in the Pitt football and athletic programs.

Sanft, a Monessen native and former gymnastics coach and athletic administrator at Pitt, said Junko was the soul of Panthers athletics.

Junko, a Washington native, retired from Pitt last week. It ended a nearly 30-year association with the Panthers’ football program and 54-year career coaching college football.

“If you look at the Pitt athletic department and football program, in particular, he wanted the best for everybody,” Sanft said. “Bob has a big heart and broad shoulders. He’s a solid, strong guy.”

Junko is all of that and more. He worked as an assistant to seven different head coaches at Pitt. His goodbye to the current team and coaching staff last week was emotional. He addressed the Panthers team after a spring practice.

The 75-yeard-old Junko talked about his coaching career and told the players it was like never going to work.

“It was just time,” Junko said. “The hardest thing is (leaving) the people, especially the kids. I received hundreds of texts and I tried to answer every one of them. I will miss the everyday interaction with players, coaches and fans.”

After 38 years as a coach, Junko moved to the administrative side of college football in 2007. He was Pitt’s director of player development and high school relations since 2013.

The 2021 season was the 25th of Junko’s second tour with the Panthers. He initially coached at Pitt from 1982-85, serving as defensive coordinator under head coach Foge Fazio. He returned in 1997 as defensive tackles coach under Walt Harris and served the program as assistant head coach.

In his time at Pitt, Junko was part of 19 bowl teams – including last season’s ACC championship.

Prior to returning for his second tour at Pitt, Junko was the defensive coordinator at Kent State (1995-96). He also was associate head coach and defensive coordinator for seven years at Akron (1988-94). He held similar positions at Northwestern, TCU and Tulsa, his alma mater.

As a collegian, Junko starred at Tulsa as an inside linebacker and was an honorable mention All-American in 1967. He was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference team twice and Tulsa’s captain.

Junko has been inducted into the University of Tulsa Sports Hall of Fame, Trinity High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Washington-Greene County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

“He’s impacted every player here and everyone here he’s touched. He’s awesome. We’ll miss him,” Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi said at a news conference last week.

“(We will miss) his energy every day. He is everything about this program. He is Pitt. He has energy every day. Just the way he treats kids. . . they walk by his office every day and say, ‘hi coach Junk’ and he loves that.”

Sanft, who retired from Pitt a few years, said Junko’s real genius was his connection to his players and students.

“He was an anchor for students,” Sanft said. “He made sure they stayed on track in a positive manner. He always provided support and consistency to students. He provided strength and perspective.

“Bob understood the student-athlete experience. I think the term cornerstone is appropriate. He was a relationship builder and helped them stay focused. Bob is such a great man. He has a wonderful family that he loves. He always wants the best for everybody.”

Junko admits he looks forward to more time with his family, including wife Judy and sons Jay and his wife Kim, Jeff and his wife Meredith, and Mike and his wife Mistydae. Bob and Judy have eight grandchildren.

“There are some things I can’t do that I used to,” Junko said. “I do want to spend more time with my family and grandkids. I’m just proud to have been a coach and then an administrator later in life.

“I am blessed with those opportunities Pitt and other schools gave me. I’m very thankful for a wonderful wife and for those people I worked for and with.”

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