“USA Today” announced Friday Staples’ football Head Coach Marce Petroccio in the top eight high school coaches in the state and top 408 high school coaches in the nation.
“It’s very humbling, and it’s an incredible honor,” Petroccio said. “But there are a lot of people who go into the equation. I’m just the end result of a lot of hard work.”
The honor is part of a “USA Today” poll, in which the American public will get to vote on which coach of the top 408 will take top billing as the national high school football coach of the year.
“If I were to win, that would be one of my greatest accomplishments ever,” Petroccio said.
This most recent honor adds to a long list of previous accolades, featuring the likes of his New York Giants Coach of the Year Award, his Connecticut High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year Award and his five FCIAC Coach of the Year Awards, the Staples Football website says.
“He’s been a consistently exceptional coach for our program,” wide receiver and back-up quarterback Teddy Coogan ’15 said. “His track record shows it all.”
Over 20 seasons at the helm of the Wreckers, Petroccio has become the winningest coach in Staples history, accruing 167 wins and only 52 losses, to go along with four FCIAC championships, the site says.
“He puts in so much work, no doubt he deserves the honor,” captain Nick Ward ’14 said. “I couldn’t be happier for him. He’s like a second father to me.”
And, according to Petroccio, his fatherly coaching style is no accident. Though he has a “fabulous” wife and two daughters, Petroccio has no boys in the family. Thus, he says, he treats each year’s team like he’d treat his own sons.
“We coach them hard, but we love them hard,” Petroccio said. “It makes my job more enjoyable to see the guys come in as starry-eyed freshmen and graduate as men.”
The poll opens to vote for Coach Petroccio on Monday.
