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Archbishop Ryan alum Joe Zeglinski hired as head coach

06/11/2015, 9:15pm EDT

By Tom Reifsnyder

Tom Reifsnyder (@tom_reifsnyder)
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Archbishop Ryan High School (Pa.) has hired ‘06 alum Joe Zeglinski as head boys’ basketball coach, and the players can hardly contain their excitement at the prospect of learning from a former Division-I basketball player.

"I talked to Freddie [Killian] about it and were both excited," senior point guard Austin Slawter said. "I’m going to listen to whatever he says ‘cause I know that he played in college at a D-I level, and that’s unbelievable as a coach.

"I’m just going to listen to everything he says and it’s going to be awesome listening to him."

Zeglinski, a four-year starter at the University of Hartford, replaces his former coach, Bernie Rodgers, who left Ryan in early May for the Haverford School after coaching his alma mater for 15 years.

“It was a long process, but I thought that’s what they needed to do to get the right guy and I’m just happy they chose me to lead this great school,” Zeglinski said. “I’m all about bringing the kids together as a family. We’re going to be a really close group.

“I feel like coach Rogers was the same way, but we’re going to continue that tradition of being a really close group.”

The 26-year-old incoming head coach was a four-year starter at Ryan from ‘02 to ‘06, earning First Team All-Catholic League honors three times. He’s the school’s all-time leading scorer, and his number is retired in both basketball and football.

He may be young, but it’s hard to believe there’s a better fit for the job than Zeglinski given his success as a player at the Catholic League school.

“The support has been unbelievable from the community,” Zeglinski said. “I’ve gotten so many texts and calls today. Somehow they got a hold of it before [Ryan] was even supposed to put the news out, so it’s really great to see.”

After graduating from Ryan, Zeglinski went on to play at Hartford under head coach Dan Leibowitz. He scored more than 2,000 points throughout his four-year career, finishing as the second highest scoring player in school history behind NBA All-Star Vin Baker.

Zeglinski ended his playing career after one season of professional basketball in Denmark, largely due to a knee injury that’s been bothering him since his junior year at Hartford.

“I would have probably gotten right into coaching as an assistant at the University of Hartford, but I wanted to give it a shot overseas,” Zeglinski said. “It worked out for six months but then it just became too much for my knee.”

The Ryan job is not Zeglinski’s first coaching gig, as he just completed one season as an assistant coach at Choate Rosemary Hall, a member of the New England Prep League, in Wallingford, Conn.

Although he’s much more experienced on the court than the sideline at this point in his life, Zeglinski shouldn’t have too much trouble re-acclimating himself to the Catholic League, with four starters from last year's 10-13 (4-9 Catholic League) squad returning.

Those four starters include three seniors, point guard Slawter (7.6 ppg) and wings Austin Chabot (13.5 ppg) and Killian, in addition to 6-foot-2 rising junior Izaiah Brockington, who led the team in scoring last year at 14.8 ppg.

As soon as Zeglinski got the job, he made sure to reach out to each of the players to let them know what he has in mind for the upcoming season.

“He called me on the phone and we had like a five to ten minute conversation, and it went really well,” Chabot said. “He kind of told me what was going to be going on, the offense he’s going to be putting in, and just the basics of what he’s going to try to do with the program.”

Since Ryan was established in 1966, the school has yet to win a Catholic League title in boys’ hoops. As a former player, Zeglinski realizes how daunting the task may be for the program, but he’s not going to let it damper his expectations for the years to come.

“We’re going to try to get the players we need to get over that next hump to get a championship at Ryan,” Zeglinski said. “We got close a few times, but we’re going to work our butts off in the offseason and during the regular season to get us over that hump.”