Bethlehem Catholic Hires Mike Cole
- Thread starter RoverNation05
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The Lehigh valley is a strange place. This is a weird hire. He better be in good with Hartman. This guy could have a new pipeline starting with New Jersey. He was a very successful coach there for years. Mike is a really nice guy.
I assumed the Redhawk guy would get it but we all assumed Veres was going to get it too years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them left now.
I assumed the Redhawk guy would get it but we all assumed Veres was going to get it too years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them left now.
The first comment to the article is Seth Ciasulli going “horrible decision”. He owns Red Hawk, so I think that gives you an indication as to what the Red Hawk relationship is going to be going forward. His brother-in-law is Scott Desmond (Nate’s dad) who I had heard was getting the job back when it opened.
The assumption around these parts is Desmond and his little brother go to Blair or Sem. I’m not assuming there are a bunch of RH kids who transfer out (Rath, McFillin, Dillard, Scanlan being the most closely tied with the club) but I’m also not assuming that their kids in middle school are coming in anymore if their club coaches have any sway.
All those RH just entered the portal. Wonder where they end up? Nazareth, Faith, NDGP, Sem? Sem may have the most NIL cash to pay out.
Just playing
Just playing
I think the only one who could leave without sitting is Dillard. So anybody who portals would have to be Blair, Sem, or Malvern.
It will be interesting to see what Dillard does - he’s got a little brother who is a rising freshman, do you keep both boys there? Split them up? Mike Cole is not some clown, he’s a really good wrestling mind. I’d be happy to let my kid wrestle for him. But I don’t know what kind of loyalty the Desmond relationship has there.
I did see that Scott Frinzi is staying on as an assistant, so I’m assuming his boys stay. Scott Desmond was not announced as one of the assistants who is staying on, so follow that wherever you’d like. Desmond’s home school is actually Nazareth, but I’ve heard that’s not an option. The younger brother has been training at a middle school club in Easton when he’s not at Red Hawk, so we could have a big Ciasulli/Red Rover reunion if hell really freezes over.
My guess is, more Red Hawk kids stay at their local programs on the big school side - most of the Northampton county coaching situations are pretty solid, even for non-premier teams. And you’ve seen it a little bit with Collin Gaj being the biggest example.
Red Hawk is an elite club in the Lehigh Valley area that sends lots of kids to Beca. Most notable current Red Hawk guys are Desmond, Dillard, Kasak, Rath and Gaj (Who stayed at Quakertown). The guy who ran recently is Desmond's uncle.
His Youtube: https://youtube.com/@sparkwrestling
Thanks. So did Ciasulli want the job? Or just not satisfied with the hire in general?
Guessing the latter, and he has some unique insight -- was previously head coach at Allentown Central Catholic, so he's familiar with the pros/cons of having to develop feeders for non-boundary schools in the Lehigh Valley.
Also of note: Scott Desmond was head coach at Pen Argyl when Mike Racciato won 3 state titles.
Should also note: Cole will likely be on a very short leash, immediately if there is an exodus to the Prep schools, or in 3-4 years if he can't maintain a feeder youth program. D11 schools are not exactly known for patience.
So Red Hawk is a Lehigh Valley club that has been around since the late '90s. It was originally run by Mike Ciasulli, whose boys were all state medalists with Matt and Seth both round of 12 in college at Lehigh. It was kind of the club in the Valley and western NJ in the early 2000s, with guys like Hudson Taylor, Tim Darling, Kellen Russell, Jordan Oliver and Mike McMullen being the big names coming out. The club kind of fell off as the kids the Ciasulli boys generation aged out.
Fastforward - Seth Ciasulli took over the club for his dad and really turned it into a big youth program. Youth kids eventually become high schoolers, and the first wave of new Red Hawk kids ended up at Notre Dame (Andrew Cerniglia and Brandan Chletsos being the big ones who won state titles and went to D1 schools) and it was my understanding that Tyler Kasak was also going to ND. But there was a falling out between the Red Hawk people and Matt Veres (ND head coach) and Kasak and the rest of this year's senior class at Becahi who were Red Hawk kids all ended up there.
I think it was that offseason that Bethlehem Catholic announced that it's own club (Weaver Elite) was "merging" with Red Hawk and Seth was named a volunteer assistant at Becahi and the head of Weaver/Red Hawk (where they've since dropped the Weaver part) where his responsibilities were essentially to run Red Hawk with a "most favored nation" status for kids who train at Red Hawk as youths to end up at Bethlehem Catholic. Not that kids/families don't have autonomy, but the best Red Hawk kids have all matriculated at Bethlehem Catholic over the last four years. Kasak, Harmon, Rath, Desmond, Dillard, Scanlan, the Campbells, Gleason, etc.
Seth did not want the Bethlehem Catholic job from my understanding. However, shortly after Jeff Karam resigned, I heard that they were promoting Scott Desmond to be the head coach. Desmond, as stated above, is Seth's brother-in-law, and was listed as Red Hawk's head freestyle coach in addition to being an assistant at Bethlehem Catholic. There are obviously lots of hurt feelings that Desmond did not get the job, which gets hairy because Bethlehem Catholic's main development/club relationship is with the club he helps coach at and his family runs.
Great breakdown, thanks. Safe to assume Desmond got on the wrong side of someone at Becahi? If not, what a self-destructive move.
Yeah... I heard that too. Except that Bob didn't have any hiring advice, but he did give Beca Lar's phone #.
A very reliable Lehigh Valley source says the move had zero to do with not wanting Mr Desmond. They liked him alot but the baggage with his wife and her drama. I guess there is a whole soap opera that unfolded, then got posted all over the book of face. Bethlehem Catholic or the other parents wanted this stuff over their heads. I guess during the short time Mr Desmond ran it, she was annoying the existing parents with her drama.
As stated in many posts on here. Lehigh valley needs a reality tv series. I am shocked Willie hasn’t started this. It would be high quality entertainment.
The second part is, they went to Sem and they don’t want the momma drama baggage either. Mini version of Ferrari
As stated in many posts on here. Lehigh valley needs a reality tv series. I am shocked Willie hasn’t started this. It would be high quality entertainment.
The second part is, they went to Sem and they don’t want the momma drama baggage either. Mini version of Ferrari
Taken with a 5 lb bag of salt, not a pinch.
Mrs. Desmond is a Ciasulli, so there's no way to make a wife-based decision (lol, as if) without alienating the club head coach.
W
Where did Racciato go to college? I remember Pen Argyle at states. Those black singlets with the green clover leave on it were freaking awesome. Best singlets in high school wrestling not to mention their kids wrestled with more heart than anyone else.
That's where Rath's father was from when he wrestled for Pius. I believe his Dad is a cop in Stroudsburg and I thought that might be where they live also.
Lehigh is going after him big time from what I here. That's where his father played football.
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The situation last year involving Mrs. Desmond probably created a talking point among those who were part of the hiring committee at BECA.
i wish i had time to do more stuff in D11. i just don't have the bandwidth with all the national stuff.
a 'very reliable source' lol. More M2 Waiting Room gossip. What soap opera are you referring to? A lot of marriages have issues, so I'm not sure that was a hiring (or not hiring in this case) decision. Sarah didn't annoy anyone, so not sure where your source on that is? And you REALLY think Sem wouldn't want Desmond's services because of what his mom does, or doesn't, post on facebook? LOL. You really need to level up with your Dad Gossip Group, because this one isn't cutting it. And whats funnier yet, is you bash Desmonds, but continually stick up for the McCort group, and all their drama and social media stuff they bring. Priceless.
Schools are out this month. Hire a couple of summer interns for no/min wage and give them assignments. You have 46K followers so the kids would jump at the chance to get some experience.
We've got a good documentary/book in us. I think if you start with the Whitey Chlebove to Northampton transfer and go up to present day, just a tremendous amount of gossip, hurt feelings, characters, and really good wrestling.
Do you think the Cole hire works? I was kind of skeptical of Desmond getting a job - not that he's a good coach, but just from the standpoint of if you're hiring one of your wrestlers dads to be the head coach, that feels like a temporary decision for a much longer term role. And I think the drawbacks are apparent with what has happened - sounds like his candidacy (and whatever was/wasn't promised back in March) shown some of the risks in doing that.
Me waking up from a nap in rural central PA and reading all of this Lehigh Valley stuff for the first time.
I thought Rath and Ramsay from ND were both Pleasant Valley. Rath has always entered stuff even through youth as Bethlehem Catholic or Red Hawk, that's the feeder he's always been in.
I will say, if he is in Stroudsburg, that's not the worst "small time" program to go wrestle for (though I have a level of bias) - Sean Richmond was an NCAA qualifier at Pitt and an assistant at Easton during their last run of state-level success in the early 2010s before taking over at Stroudsburg. He's probably also the only high school coach in the state with a win over Jake Varner (Reno back in the day when Varner was like 145 or 152). Stroudsburg has bled a bunch of high level kids recently to Becahi, Wyoming Sem, and Blair, but their high level kids that have stayed (Lenny Pinto and Patrick Noonan) have been really successful even without being on super teams.
I think Seth was only at Allentown Central Catholic for a year - frankly speaking, that school overwhelmingly doesn't care about wrestling, and I think he initially thought he could do what Becahi did, but there was no institutional will to make that happen and he left. They are probably the only school in the Lehigh Valley were basketball is a true priority.
Mastro again?
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