After the 2011-12 basketball season came to a close, Lakeside boys basketball coach Rob Pisano was summoned to the office of Dragons athletic director Rob McGruder.
Coming off what he deemed a successful season given the circumstance — injuries, suspensions, continued difficulty of the schedule — Pisano wasn’t concerned.
His team had just won 12 games and he had a strong record since taking over the job, 69-39.
“The end of the season finished and McGruder called me for an evaluation and said he wanted my resignation,” Pisano said, pausing. “I said, ‘Why would I resign? I enjoy this job. This is how I make a living.’ We went over my evaluation and at the end, he said he was not happy with the direction of the program and said that he would not be giving me a recommendation to the board.”
Having coached the school’s only two players to break the 1,000-point barrier — Emilio Parks and Cody Blizzard — in addition to creating a schedule that included playing some of the top teams in the state, Pisano didn’t hide his disappointment in the decision.
“I’m very disappointed, I’m really disappointed,” he said. “I put my heart and soul into my job. That’s an 11-month job to me. I’ve taken take teams to Erie and I spend my time in the summer traveling. As far as success, we had three of the best seasons in school history. We have been to the district semifinal, won the sectional and I beefed the schedule up and there was a lot of the same coming next year. For them to say it wasn’t going in the right direction... that’s up to the bosses in any job, I guess.
“It’s disappointing and a shame that I wasn’t good enough for athletic department and AD.”
While Pisano said he was told the program wasn’t headed in the right direction, he’s still unsure why exactly he won’t be sitting on the bench at Lakeside next year.
As far as he’s concerned, he was never given a specific reason.
“I’ll be totally honest, I really don’t know,” he said. “I thought I did a good job and worked it to the best of my ability. I know everyone in the stands thinks that we should be doing something differently, that’s coaching. But in my heart, I know I love my relationships with a lot of ex-players and I did everything I could for the players and program to better it to the best of my ability.”
In addition to building up the schedule, Pisano cited his strong record against the Premier Athletic Conference as another reason for his confusion.
Over the past three years, Pisano’s Dragons went 32-10 against the always difficult PAC, a conference he claims many detractors didn’t believe Lakeside could compete in.
“A lot of people said we couldn’t compete in the PAC and I think we finished 45-21 during my time and we were 32-10 over the last three years,” he said. “As far as the numbers, I don’t know what they’re looking for.”
So, if it wasn’t about statistics, Pisano also believed he ran the program successfully.
“As far as how I ran things, obviously, you self-evaluate at the end of every year and you hope to talk to bosses about how things went, but I was never given any instruction about changing things so I kept doing things the way I did them,” he said. “When things came up the whole staff would talk and we dealt with them together.”
All of this isn’t to say that Pisano didn’t enjoy his time at Lakeside.
While he admittedly leaves confused as to why he won’t be back, he did emphasize that he enjoyed his time with the Dragons and the opportunity he was given.
“I really enjoyed my time at Lakeside,” he said. “I want to thank Mr. (Joseph) Donatone and the board. He hired me, gave me the opportunity and took a chance on me. I felt I really had success and still would, but the powers that be want to go another way.
“I’m not stepping away, I love Lakeside the school, the players and program we built. So I have to thank them for giving me the chance for those five years, it was really enjoyable.”
Pisano, who will remain a junior high teacher in the school district, didn’t believe that his dismissal had anything to do with last season’s record.
And, if so, he explained why he felt it was a successful year.
“I don’t know who exactly made this decision and how they feel about it because it wasn’t clear to me as far as why,” he said. “But, we started the year off the bat without two starters and played the whole season without them. When you schedule games with teams like Lake Catholic, Mentor, Cleveland Heights and Kenston, those are top notch teams and you gotta be fully loaded, you can’t go in there missing guys.
“So if this year had anything to do with it I think that would be absurd.”
With that in mind, Pisano felt the future of the program was bright.
“We would’ve kept it going because the philosophy I go with is move the talented freshman to JV then sophomore year they play some varsity, this was just a year we were senior heavy,” he said. “I was fired up for next year. We would have some young juniors and sophomores, we could add two more games. I would’ve shot for 13-14 wins and the following year we’d get back to 15-16 again, which is where we’ve been the last three, four years.”
Although he disagrees with the decision, Pisano said that coaching, like any job, comes with an evaluation from superiors. He did say he respects Lakeside’s ability to make it.
So, for the time being, he won’t be coaching as he looks at what went wrong with the Dragons.
“This (basketball) is not something I’m stepping away from,” he said. “I’m disappointed, but I also understand I have bosses and if a company wants to do something different, that’s their choice, I have no say. And, as I said, I really appreciate the opportunity. But, I’m going to take a year off and step away, just look at things and evaluate things.
“I’m still going through shock process, honestly. I’ve coached since I 22 years old, so it’s still a shock. I’m going to take a look at things for the year and continue to teach at the junior high and see where I’m at after.”
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