Ralph Rossetti reflects on historic coaching career at Seaford High School

Not many could lay claim to have coached in the same school district for more than four decades — but Ralph Rossetti could.

At 74 years old, Rossetti is completing his 43^rd year as coach of the boys’ varsity basketball team at Seaford High School, and he plans to retire at the end of the season.

He has accomplished much in his storied career, including 22 playoff appearances and five league championships, and Rossetti said he’s happy the Seaford School District allowed him to coach for so long.

“I'm just very thankful for Seaford to give me the opportunity to do something that I really loved for my whole career,” Rossetti said.

Rossetti’s overall relationship with Seaford began around 50 years ago. After graduating from the University of South Dakota-Springfield in 1971, Rossetti landed a job at Seaford Middle School, where he taught technology.

Having played varsity basketball for two years at East Meadow High School and for three years in college, Rossetti coached the middle school basketball team for five years before leading the district’s varsity team in 1981.    

Rossetti said his first year as varsity coach got off to a rough start, losing the first nine games. In his first six years coaching varsity, the team made the playoffs twice, and it wasn’t until one impressive student walked onto the basketball court in the 1990s that the program really took off.

“When this kid Michael Harrington came into the program, that's when we really won a lot of games,” Rossetti said. “He was an exceptional athlete at Seaford.”

Harrington would go on to become one of three players during Rossetti’s varsity coaching career to have reached 1,000 career points. Rossetti said he has witnessed impressive athletes come through his locker room, but not every season during his 43 years as varsity coach was a successful one.    

“There were some stretches where we won over 75 percent of our games,” Rossetti said, “and then there were stretches where we won 30 percent.”

In addition to playoff appearances and league championships, his team received two sportsmanship awards and won a county championship in 1998 against Island Trees, which Rossetti singled out as the most memorable moment of his career.

“That was a real highlight,” Rossetti said of the county championship, “winning that game.”

Another milestone in his career came on Jan. 6, when he won his 400th game as Seaford’s varsity coach, defeating East Rockaway, 66-34. Rossetti said he was given a brass ball on a stand as a trophy for his accomplishment. A week later, he received a citation from the Town of Hempstead, congratulating him on the win and his decades-long commitment to the Seaford team.

“It was unbelievable,” Rossetti said of the community’s reaction to his 400th win. “I was really taken aback. I was overwhelmed because I've never really had that kind of attention in my life.”

While his record is over .500 as a coach, Rossetti said winning doesn’t matter to him as much as the longevity of being at Seaford for decades — a feat that is not common for coaches to achieve. Rossetti added that it was more important for him to have been a part of young lives.

“Teaching the kids to be better people, to be better communicators, to enjoy being a teenager, and through sports, learning life lessons,” Rossetti said, “that's more important to me than worrying about how many games I won or lost. It’s all relative.”

Rossetti expressed hope that his players would apply the life lessons they learned during the varsity program to their journey after high school. These lessons include making commitments, being punctual and taking on responsibilities, he said.

For Rossetti, coaching in Seaford for so long is an accomplishment he’s proud of, adding that Seaford is a tight-knit community where students come back to live after graduation.

“It's a nice place,” Rossetti said. “It was a nice place to work. And it's a really nice place to live.”

During his coaching career, Rossetti said he learned that players would work hard for him if he treated them with respect. This means treating them fairly and showing flexibility, such as when a student can’t make practice because they’re studying or visiting a college.

“You want to be treated with respect,” Rossetti said.

Rossetti said the 2023-24 season would be his last, and looks forward to enjoying his retirement and spending time with his wife, family and grandkids.

Rossetti leaves behind a large set of shoes to fill, but he hopes whoever takes his place will have the same fun that he had.

“This is it,” Rossetti said of his coaching career, “and hopefully, whoever takes over, they enjoy the same journey that I had. Hopefully, they take over the program and enjoy the kids and have success.”