Replaced Skyline coach speaks out

"I don't have a problem with the decision, but I have a problem with the timing," said Raffetto. "I respect Andreas Wolf as (Skyline's) athletic director, but I think he knew a long time ago about his decision."

The move came at the end of the year and it caught Raffetto off guard since he felt he was going to be the first Skyline coach to move from part-time to full-time. He also heard the news second-hand.

"I first heard about what was happening from a local high school coach," Raffetto said in slow, measured tone. "I then came in to meet with athletic director Andreas Wolf and he told me that he wanted to move the program in a different direction. I had no idea that this was coming."

The end of an era

Piergrossi's hiring closed the chapter on the Pete Pontacq-era at Skyline College. Four years ago, Raffetto was Pontacq's personal choice to head the Skyline program after Pontacq retired. At the time he took over, Raffetto was a highly successful coach at San Mateo High School, losing in the Central Coast Section finals in 1999 and losing in the Northern California semifinals.

As soon as he arrived at Skyline, Raffetto had success. The Trojans were in the playoffs his first season and during his second year on the job, the Trojans made a Final Eight appearance in the state playoffs. Players from Skyline were moving on to major Division I schools, including University of the Pacific, Oklahoma State, University of Hawaii and St. Mary's College, as well as several Division II schools.

This year, however, the Trojans did not perform as in the past. The Trojans finished 6-18 and a few players had to sit out the season for academic reasons.

After the season, the head coaching position was elevated from a part-time position to a full-time position. Although several people applied, it was thought by many that Raffetto would keep his job. After Piergrossi applied for the job, Wolf decided he wanted to go in another direction.

At the press conference for Coach Piergrossi June 10, Wolf said wins and losses did not have anything to do with his decision to replace Raffetto.

"When you open up the job, you open it up to everyone," Wolf said at the press conference. "We felt that coach Piergrossi was a better fit for us."

More emphasis on local players

Wolf went on to say he wanted Piergrossi to recruit and place more emphasis on San Mateo County players.

"I want our focus to be on community students," said Wolf. "We want to give them the opportunity to shine."

He said that it was important to have kids from the area on the team, to help draw fans to Trojan games and build community morale.

"You may not win with 13 or 14 San Mateo athletes, but when you look up in the stands and you see empty seats, that comes with the lack of community involvement," Wolf said.

When he read those comments, Raffetto was shocked because he said he never heard any recruitment complaints. This past season, Raffetto had six players from out of state - but that was an aberration, he said.

"This was the one year that it just ended up that way," said Raffetto. "A couple of guys called us and told us that they were coming out here to go to school and play basketball. What am I going to tell them to do, not to come? This is what happened this year."

He said in his four years coaching at Skyline, 33 out of the 44 players he coached were from California, and 27 were local or regional. Raffetto said he made an effort to recruit local players for the Trojans and he had local players on every team every year.

"I am not having sour grapes about the decision, and I respect it," said Raffetto. "I just wish I would have known earlier."

Rafetto is looking to get back into coaching, but the timing of the move has thrown him off, as several college and high school coaching vacancies are closed.

"Right now, I am waiting to see what develops," said Raffetto. "Until then, I am going to relax and kick back with my 3-year-old daughter. It will take a few weeks for this to shake out. It is a little bit discouraging but it will not keep me down."