By Five Boro Sports
Bishop Ford girls’ varsity basketball coach John LoSasso will not return to the bench next season and will retire from coaching.
LoSasso just finished his first season as varsity coach after six years as the junior varsity head man at the Park Slope, Brooklyn school. He felt it was time to step away after 27 years of coaching and his daughter, Taina, who played on the team, graduating.
“I’m just not passionate about it anymore,” LoSasso said. “There are a lot of reasons. My daughter just graduated and is going to college. My life is about to go in a different direction.”
Retirement was something he pondered, but didn’t foresee happening when he took over for Denis Nolan, who is now the varsity coach at Lincoln, last season. He said the decision was tough and one he wrestle with before notifying the school of his intentions Tuesday in the form of a letter of resignation.
“I knew I would fulfill the commitment and I was hoping to see it through,” LoSasso said. “After one year, after a long and hard deliberation, I realized that I enjoy the off time. It was time for someone who was really gung ho to take over and take the program to new heights.”
He led a young and athletic Falcons team to a 13-17 record last season. The Falcons were a win away from the claiming in the CHSAA Class A state title. Bishop Ford fell 53-50 to Kellenberg in the final. The team was a bit enigmatic, some days spectacular and others struggling, especially against some of the CHSAA’s best teams.
Still, LoSasso had his team clicking at the end and earned quality wins over Archbishop Molloy, Francis Lewis, Notre Dame Academy and Holy Trinity, while losing to powers Mary Louis and John F. Kennedy in overtime thrillers. The team returns four of its five starters including athletic and explosive senior forward Shayra Brown and will be a bolstered by a JV team that lost to Christ the King in the Brooklyn/Queens final.
“You always want the person who is occupying a varsity job to stay forever,” Bishop Ford Chief of Athletics John Infortunio said. “John LoSasso is really one of the best in the business. We were very lucky to get him to come here seven years ago.”
LoSasso’s coaching career began as the girls’ varsity basketball coach at John Jay HS where he made five trips to the PSAL final at Madison Square Garden in his 17 years. He was hired to be the head women’s basketball coach at John Jay College in 1999 and spent three years there before heading to Ford.
“I think there is a good foundation at Bishop Ford and it’s time to step aside for whoever takes over,” LoSasso said. “There is a strong foundation there for the future.”
Infortunio said the administration has already met and talked about moving forward. They will talk to and consider members of LoSasso’s coaching staff first.That staff includes head JV and assistant varsity coach Mike Toro, a young and rising star in the city who coaches with the powerhouse Exodus AAU program.
“We owe it to them first before we went elsewhere,” Infortunio said. “We have some great coaches that are still here.”
What LoSasso will do moving forward is still uncertain. He said he has some personal pursuits he is considering and that he wants to enjoy the free time away from coaching after nearly three decades on the sidelines.
“There is a time for everything,” LoSasso said. “My coaching time is up.”
