Article by Dan Tortora
Enrico Mastroianni will be stepping away from coaching, moving on from his position of Men's Basketball Head Coach at Marywood University, a post he has held for the last seven years, dating back to his first season with the Pacers, in 2015-16.
Mastroianni guided Pacers Men's Basketball to their best seasons ever, with back-to-back campaigns of at least 15 wins, going 15-11 in 2017-18 and 17-11 in 2018-19. During that time period, he not only navigated the waters of Marywood changing conferences from the CSAC to the Atlantic East, but also coached the Pacers into making each of these respective conferences postseason tournaments. In 2018-19, Mastroianni also led Marywood into a berth in the ECAC Playoffs and the school's first-ever ECAC postseason win, an 89-77 victory at home versus Medaille College.
"Leaving Marywood and this career I've spent the past 20 years building has been one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make," Mastroianni told me.
"I met with our players and coaches Sunday night (referring to Sunday, July 17th, 2022) via zoom and their outpouring of love and support really made it even more difficult to say good-bye."
Anyone who knows Enrico knows that he cares about every single player, every single practice, every single game, every single second that he gets to spend with his team, and with people in general.
He wants those around him to become the best version of themselves they can be, not just in basketball.
Enrico wears his emotions on his sleeve and has provided Marywood University with more blood, sweat, and tears than can ever come close to being counted.
He cares... and that will undoubtedly carry over into his new role as Athletics Director at Abington Heights High School in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania.
"Ultimately, this was a family decision," Mastroianni shared with me. "Being at Abington Heights in this role [of Athletics Director], I will have the opportunity to watch my kids grow up in sports and even if they don't play anything, I'll get to be around them as they attend games," said Mastroianni, speaking on his daughters Angelina and Elena and son Marco.
"It truly is a perfect transition out of coaching for me," he expressed. "I get to stay in sports and work within the district where we live!"
Enrico, his wife Jamie, and his children already know this community, and are a part of it daily.
Now Enrico gets to take that care for the community and supercharge it in his new post at Abington Heights.
And this was the right hire.
How do I know?
That is simple.
When you hire someone with the faith, love, humility, generosity, kindness, and compassion that Enrico has, you have already won the game before it even begins, because a true leader leads by example, and I know no better example than Mastroianni.
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