STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 After nearly 35 years of coaching both genders of high school basketball on Staten Island, New Dorp girls\u2019 bench boss Frank Guglielmo is set to call it a career at the conclusion of this season, bringing one of the longest active coaching runs on the Island to a close.<\/p>\n
With over three decades of experience\u2014 including three PSAL top-five seeds in six playoff appearances with the Centrals since taking over in 2016\u2014 walking away from that level of success couldn\u2019t have been easy for Guglielmo. But in the end, he boiled his decision down to a simple feeling.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou kind of know it\u2019s time, right?\u201d Guglielmo began when reflecting on his announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just getting to the point where I have other endeavors in my life that I want to spend some more time doing. Basketball\u2019s essentially a six-month commitment\u2026 it\u2019s just a long season, so it was time. It was also time to have someone else pick up the mantle, so to speak, and carry it into the next decade,” he went on.<\/p>\n
Whoever steps into the role Guglielmo leaves behind will be taking over a program shaped by a coach who spent 24 years leading Port Richmond\u2019s boys\u2019 team before transitioning to the girls program at New Dorp\u2014 and who built an impressive roster of talent along the way.<\/p>\n
Guglielmo said that mentoring former Raider Monte Cumberbatch, the lone Jaques Award winner he coached, was a pivotal experience in his career, teaching him how to let his players find their own rhythm and get in the flow of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe always had his finger on the pulse of the game. He knew when it was time for him to get his\u2014 all the while making sure that everybody got theirs because he knew that it couldn\u2019t just be him,” Guglielmo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever coached an athlete like him in the sense that he just knew when it was time. He was one of the reasons why our teams with him had so much success,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
He also produced three 1,000-point scorers\u2014 Jonathan Chadwick-Myers and Jamele Allen at Port Richmond, and Sydney Gomes at New Dorp\u2014 and perhaps his most exceptional player was Jordanna Schrecker, a rare member of the 2,000-point club, whom he said helped take the Centrals to the next level.<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/H5AAXJXU3NDMNHQ2VICE2SFIBA.jpg\")
New Dorp coach Frank Guglielmo gives instruction to star guard Jordanna Schrecker in the semifinals of the Borough President’s Cup Tournament held at Petrides in Sunnyside on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Staten Island Advance\/Jason Paderon)Staten Island Advance<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Jordanna walked through the doors, all of a sudden, you\u2019ve got talent, you have ability, and all the things that you\u2019ve hoped and dreamed that you could accomplish came to fruition,\u201d Guglielmo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also had Sydney and [her sister] Savannah enter the building and Kasey Caroccia finished her senior year here\u2026 thanks to all of them, our program turned into a recognized and respected girls basketball program throughout the city, finishing in the top five or six in the last few years,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
The longtime coach also offered a candid explanation for another factor in his decision: after retiring from teaching a few years ago, he said it became harder to stay connected to the players and the team day-to-day, and he believes someone with a more constant presence at the school would be well-suited to take over.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you retire from teaching, you lose a bit of that connectivity to the kids. You don\u2019t have your finger on the pulse of the team while they\u2019re in the building and their access to you shrinks, so it certainly made it more difficult to stay tuned in,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Still, even with the challenge of maintaining connection and a roster missing a slew of graduated talent this season, Guglielmo looked back fondly on the opportunity he was given at New Dorp.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all started with Deirdre [DeAngelis-D\u2019Alessio] when I left Port Richmond; she opened her doors to me as a teacher. And then certainly Richie Rucireto, who knew my pedigree and saw me as someone who would be perfect to rebuild his basketball program. I have to hand it to those two and thank them for giving me the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also emphasized the enjoyment he got from coaching girls for the first time, saying, \u201cPeople would ask me all the time, \u2018What\u2019s the difference between coaching girls and boys? Is it harder?\u2019 And I gave them a very simple answer: I treated them like athletes who deserve to be treated that way, and I think that was kind of the foundation for my success here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game itself is a little different. It\u2019s not played at the same pace, it\u2019s not played at the same height, but I was certainly prepared to take on that challenge; and it turned out to be a fruitful endeavor.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6XLIBGV5WBG5BPKHSILYYPNMAQ.jpg\")
New Dorp coach Frank Guglielmo talks with his players against South Shore in a PSAL City AA semifinal game, held at The City College of New York’s Nat Holman Gymnasium, in Manhattan. March 13, 2022. (Staten Island Advance\/Derek Alvez)<\/p>\n
As for his next steps, Guglielmo shared that although he\u2019s stepping away from coaching hoops, his lifelong love of sports and competition will continue to shape how he spends his time, and he\u2019s already planning to stay involved in organized sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an umpire, which has definitely become a part of my life,\u201d he said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpending more time doing that is something that I\u2019m planning on moving forward into now that I\u2019ve retired from basketball. As a retired teacher, I also have other availabilities and options to do other things when I want to try it,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n
Whatever Guglielmo ends up doing next, if he brings along the same knowledge and passion that he gave to coaching the Raiders and Centrals, he\u2019s sure to find success. <\/p>\n
Congratulations and best of luck ahead, Coach!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 After nearly 35 years of coaching both genders of high school basketball on Staten Island,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-132920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}