One of Everett’s greatest all-time athletes will be a candidate for the Everett High boys basketball head coaching position.
Ross Pietrantonio, 37, a standout football and basketball player and two-sport captain for the Crimson Tide in the early 2000s, said he will be applying for the position once the job opening is posted.
“That’s my intention,” said Pietrantonio. “I’ve let Everett school officials know of my interest in the job.”
At Everett High playing on teams led by legendary coach John DiBiaso, Pietrantonio was a three-year starter in football and basketball. He helped lead the Crimson Tide to Division 1 Super Bowl titles in 2001, 2002, and 2003. In basketball, with Pietrantonio excelling in the backcourt, Everett was a perennial GBL champion and a Division 1 North sectional finalist, falling a game shy of the Boston Garden.
Pietrantonio opted to play football at the next level and starred at Trinity College (Connecticut) where he received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science.
But as awe-inspiring as his own athletic career was, and Everett’s multiple championship seasons were a big part of that, Pietrantonio said his goal isn’t as much about winning as it is about “restoring the culture and tradition of the boys basketball program.”
“The big change that happened in 2017 was that the legend as we know him, John DiBiasso, retired,” said Pietrantonio. “I had the opportunity to grow up in Everett in the golden age of sports. Back then we had two Pop Warner systems (Huskies and Eagles), two youth basketball programs, two Little Leagues, and I haven’t seen that development and growth in our youth sports program during the past decade.”
Pietrantonio said he will enter the basketball coaching application process with Antoine Coleman, another former star athlete at Everett High School. “Antoine had a lot of success in football and basketball in Everett,” said Pientrantonio. “He was a U.S. Marine. And he’s been giving back as much as I have to youth sports.”
Pietrantonio and Coleman coached the Everett Crimson Tide eighth grade traveling basketball team this past season. If Pietrantonio were appointed Everett High’s new head basketball coach, he indicated that Coleman would be an assistant on his staff.
Peitrantonio said his main goals as a coach would be to instill into his players the importance of accountability, commitment, work ethic, and family. “My goal will be to bring back those qualities to the basketball program,” he said. “I also want to focus on reengaging our children in youth sports as a foundation for high school.”
Pietrantonio, who has worked in tech sales since his graduation from Trinity in 2009, offered a glimpse into the business-like approach he would take as Everett’s basketball coach.
“When you’re a head basketball coach, you are the CEO of that program, and if you want to be successful in being a legitimate program in high school, you need to have a farm system, and that farm system is your youth sports,” said Pietrantonio.
Pietrantonio said he is looking forward to the application process and discussing his goals for the future of Everett High basketball with school officials. The selection process for a new coach is expected to begin in September.