Cuozzo deserves Hall of Fame honor

It was a picture worth a thousand wins, but the coach who had most of them wasn't the one arranging the photo.

Joe Cuozzo, in his farewell tour as coach at Mount Sinai but a lacrosse legend for what he accomplished in 38 years at Ward Melville, was asked to pose after a game in May of 2010.

One of his former players, Shoreham-Wading River coach Tom Rotanz, had just won his 200th game -- at the expense of Mount Sinai -- and wanted to capture the moment.

"I had my wife take a picture of Joe, myself and my two sons [Wildcats players Tim and Tom Jr.]," Rotanz recalled. "It's a great picture, a keeper. I will miss him dearly on the sidelines. He set a coaching standard we all try to strive for. Everything I do, I emulate what he did. He's a great person and I'm honored to be a friend and honored to have played for him."

Such reverence for Cuozzo, 73, is not uncommon, and now he will earn yet another honor when he is inducted into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Lake Placid on Aug. 3. Former NFL quarterback Jay Fielder, from Oceanside, is also among the six inductees for the Class of 2011.

Cuozzo's credentials are impeccable, foremost among them his 747 career victories, most of any high school boys lacrosse coach in the country. He lost only 100 games for a winning percentage of .882. At Ward Melville, where he established a dynasty, Cuozzo won 699 games and a slew of titles -- 35 league, 22 Suffolk, 15 Long Island and seven state (Class A).

When the Patriots won their first Long Island Championship in 1974, beating Massapequa, Cuozzo recalled with a smirk, "People were saying, 'Who or what is a Ward Melville?' We were unknown at that time."

Not for long. He won a Long Island title again in 1976 and won the program's first state crown in 1978, the second year of the state tournament. "That got the program going," Cuozzo said. The short, trim man kept it going through four decades and put Suffolk County on the map as an elite breeding ground for major college lacrosse talent.

That all began with Cuozzo's system. "We liked to play a lot of transition. We used to fast break a lot. We were also known for our Melville defense," he said. "We called it the 'backer defense.' We would attack. We wouldn't sit back and play passive."

Rotanz was part of the Ward Melville defense from 1975-77, and he recalled Cuozzo as a taskmaster without an ego. "He was extremely humble, but he never let you sit and relax as a player," Rotanz said. "He demanded excellence and he didn't waver. I wouldn't have been the player I became if he hadn't set the bar so high."

After starting as a sophomore, Rotanz recalled Cuozzo bringing him down to earth quickly when the season ended. "He pulled me aside and said, 'The past should be a springboard, not a sofa.' I use that quote all the time," Rotanz said.

Cuozzo called his coaching style "all business," and declared, "Once that whistle blew, don't bother me with anything else. Something triggered and I was so focused."

He produced 50 All-Americans at Ward Melville, many of whom starred at Division I colleges. After the 2006 season, the school district decided not to renew Cuozzo's coaching contract and replaced him with one of his assistants, Mike Hoppey. Cuozzo had retired from teaching in June 2005. "When I left Melville, I wasn't ready to stop coaching. I still had a little bit more in my gas tank."

So in 2007, he took over the program at Mount Sinai, a Class C school without much of a boys lacrosse tradition. Cuozzo became the driving force in the Mustangs' accelerated progress. "It was very different. The first time I put on the black and red instead of the green and gold, I felt kind of out of place," Cuozzo said. "The culture was different. Lacrosse wasn't as important to Mount Sinai as it was at Melville."

In 2008, the culture change became a culture shock. Mount Sinai won the state Class C championship as Cuozzo added an eighth state title to his resume. "It was like a dream come true," he said. "People went, 'Wow, you're really zinging it to Melville.' I told them, 'That thought never entered my mind.' It's not as if I was trying to show Melville that I could still coach high school lacrosse."

Clearly he could, but retirement finally did enter his mind in 2010. "The fire doesn't burn as bright or as deep as it did when I was younger," Cuozzo said. "I still love lacrosse, but I can't coach the only way I know how, which is with 100 percent physical and mental dedication. I didn't want to do that anymore."

However, Cuozzo's coaching flame hasn't gone out completely. He spent last winter in Florida, where high school lacrosse season must end by May 1 in time for the start of spring football. That fit Cuozzo's schedule perfectly. Before returning to Long Island, he helped coach the Jensen Beach High School team, under former Baldwin player Matt Sofarelli, to a 13-3 record in its second varsity season.

Said Cuozzo: "I jumped at the opportunity to do what I love to do."

JOE CUOZZO BY THE NUMBERS*

At Ward Melville (1969-2006)

Record: 699-73 (38 seasons)
Winning percentage: .905
League titles: 35
Suffolk County titles: 22
Long Island championships: 15
State Class A championships: 7

At Mount Sinai (2007-10)

Record: 48-27 (4 seasons)
League titles: 3
Winning percentage: .640
Suffolk titles: 2
Long Island championships: 1
State Class C championships: 1

* Compiled by Andy Slawson