11 Coaching Legends Set for Induction into NILCA Hall of Fame

The National Interscholastic Lacrosse Coaches Association announced its 2024 Hall of Fame class earlier this month. They’re some of the most recognizable names in high school boys’ lacrosse history.

Rick Brocato, Jon Heisman, Scott Howe, Chris Kenneally, Bob Macaluso, Paul McDermott, Jake Reed, Tom Rotanz, George Searing, Bill Turri and Gill Gibbs (posthumous) will be enshrined at the NILCA’s annual banquet and ceremony Oct. 12 at the Milleridge Inn in Jericho, N.Y.

Collectively, they account for 3,747 career wins and 39 state championships. They’ve amassed 44 coach of the year awards and have given back to the game as clinicians locally and nationally.

Rick Brocato  
St. Paul’s School (Md.)

Brocato compiled 241 wins in 17 seasons at St. Paul’s before stepping down after the 2017 season. He guided the Crusaders to four MIAA championship games, winning the title in 2010. Forty-four players he coached were named USA Lacrosse All-Americans, including three Kelly Award winners as the top high school players in Maryland.

Jon Heisman 
Bishop Shanahan (Pa.)

The winningest coach in Pennsylvania boys’ lacrosse history, Heisman most recently led Bishop Shanahan to consecutive PIAA 2A championships in 2018 and 2019. Overall, he won four state championships at three different schools, leading West Chester East and Springfield-Delco to titles in the pre-PIAA era. Heisman’s career record improved to 533-160 (77 percent) after leading Bishop Shanahan to a 16-3 mark this year.

Scott Howe  
St. Xavier (Ky.)

The winningest coach in Kentucky boys’ lacrosse history, Howe started the St. Xavier program and coached there for 23 years. He’s the only coach in the state with more than 300 career wins (326) to go with 16 state championships. Howe is the head coach of another startup now at Oldham County (Ky.), which resurrected its team this year.

Chris Kenneally  
Fayetteville-Manlius (N.Y.)

Kenneally retired after the 2017 season with a 396-122 career record (76 percent). He coached more than 500 players who went on to play in college and 34 who earned USA Lacrosse All-American or All-Academic honors. Kenneally started his career at Bishop Ludden but achieved most of his accolades at Fayetteville-Manlius, where he was an assistant to Tom Hall for 15 years before taking over the program as head coach for 18 seasons.

Bob Macaluso  
Northport (N.Y.)

A longtime coach at Long Island powerhouse Northport, Macaluso won more than 280 games at the helm — notably leading the Tigers to a state championship in 2001. Northport made it the Suffolk County final four in each of his last 12 seasons. Macaluso retired in 2007 but resurfaced later as the head coach of New Zealand’s national team, which he led to a 12th-place finish in the 2014 world championship.

Paul McDermott  
Huntington (N.Y.)

A two-time NILCA Coach of the Year, McDermott enjoyed a storied career at Huntington. He led the Blue Devils to three Long Island and two New York state championships to go with 19 league titles. His 304 career wins included a 63-game winning streak and No. 1 national ranking in 2007 when the Bratton twins were turning heads at Huntington. McDermott also served as vice president of the Suffolk County Lacrosse Association from 2000-2014. He was inducted into the Long Island Metro Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame last year.

Jake Reed  
McDonogh (Md.)

Reed coached at the highest level for 30 years. After stints as the defensive coordinator at Army and head coach at RPI, he cemented his place as one of the game’s greats with a 13-year run at McDonogh during which he won two MIAA championships twice and had teams ranked No. 1 in the country.  Reed also coached at Hackley (N.Y.) and Dulaney (Md.), was an assistant on the gold medal-winning 1999 U.S. U19 team and founded the Blue Chip Lacrosse Camp.

Tom Rotanz  
Shoreham-Wading River (N.Y.)

A three-time Long Island Coach of the Year, Rotanz compiled more than 250 wins in 18 seasons at Shoreham-Wading River — a program he inherited as a scrappy startup in 1995. He led the Wildcats to state championships in 2001, 2007 and 2012. He also has 10 county and five Long Island titles to his credit. Rotanz served on the coaching staff for the gold medal-winning 2012 U.S. U19 team.

George Searing  
Northport (N.Y.)/Yorktown (N.Y.)

Macaluso’s co-head coach on Northport’s 2001 state title team, Searing’s coaching career started in the 1980s at another New York powerhouse in Yorktown. Between the two schools, he coached high school lacrosse in some capacity (assistant, head coach and co-head coach) for 25 years and won five state championships. Searing also coached at the collegiate level, winning a pair of NCAA Division II titles as an assistant at NYIT in 2003 and 2005 before returning to Northport in 2007. He moved to Florida in 2020 and is now the head coach at Naples.

Bill Turri  
West Islip (N.Y.)

A longtime assistant at West Islip, Turri was the defensive coordinator and Scott Craig’s top deputy for more than 30 years. Together they won more than 400 games, five state championships and nine Suffolk County titles. Craig was inducted into the NILCA Hall of Fame two years ago. Now it’s Turri’s turn.

Gill Gibbs  
Montclair (N.J.)

Gibbs established the first nationally recognized public-school powerhouse outside of Maryland or New York. After being diagnosed with cancer prior to the 1977 season, he led Montclair to a 20-0 record that included landmark wins over Gilman (Md.) and Suffern (N.Y.). Later that spring he was named USILA Man of the Year, one of only three high school coaches so honored in the award’s 80-year history. Gibbs’ career record was 177-35, including a 132-7 mark in his last eight years. Montclair won New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association championships in 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978. Gibbs died in 1978 at age 38.