Sean Fitzpatrick was the last coach to guide a Hamilton West boys soccer team to a winning season, all the way back in 2008. He will now try and become the first coach since 2012 to lead Nottingham’s boys team to a plus-.500 mark.
And it will be left to Jon Iorio to end the Hornets 16-year string of losing campaigns.
The township natives are the CVC’s newest head coaches, with Fitzpatrick taking over for Nick Durante at Nottingham while Iorio replaces Simon LaPointe at his alma mater.
When informed of the Northstars long drought, Fitzpatrick turned into Joe Namath with his guarantee.
“That streak ends this year,” he flatly stated. “I ain’t predicting state championships. But I will tell the kids at practice that it’s been 13 years. They’re included in those 13 years; they should have that attitude that the streak ends this year.”
Asked if he had any such bold predictions, Iorio chuckled.
“I know once it gets written down those promises are in stone,” he said. “I’m not gonna promise anything, but I think this is our chance to be better than we’ve been in a long time.”
Fitzpatrick, whose wife Beth is the Notre Dame’s girls’ basketball coach, said that overseeing the Northstars freshman soccer program last year reignited his desire to lead a varsity team.
From 2005-09 he steered the Hornets to two winning seasons, three first-round county tournament wins and three state tournament berths. He returned to the pitch as Allentown’s JV coach from 2015-21.
Three years ago he went from teaching at Grice Middle School to Nottingham, and last year was asked to coach the freshman team.
“They were gonna fold that team, so I said I would do it,” Fitzpatrick said. “These things tend to go away, and it’s tough to bring them back, and I thought I’d help out there. I enjoyed it. Nick let me do a lot with the varsity and Mike Suosso was the JV coach and he’s great to work with.”
Durante stepped down after last year because he felt his new job at the Bob Smith Soccer Academy would not allow him to provide full commitment to Nottingham.
“They were looking for a candidate; and lo and behold they had one in the building again,” Fitzpatrick said. “I had said I was done with coaching, but I got the itch again after last year.
“It’s a good group of kids; I love the administration at Nottingham from the principal to the vice-principal to the AD. I thought it was a good situation. It’s nice finally being in the building where you’re coaching (he commuted from Grice to West). It’s amazing how much easier it is.”
Part of the reason for Fitzpatrick’s optimism is he feels that Durante left him with a solid program after Nottingham went 8-12 last year and reached the states. It was the most wins since 2012, and they came after a 1-15 season.
“Two years ago, I walked out the door and saw the varsity team getting on the bus and I was like, ‘That team is never gonna win a game,’ Fitzpatrick recalled. “They were small, they looked like a deer in headlights. Last year almost all of them were back, and I was like ‘Oh my God, what a jump these kids made.’
“I give a lot of credit to Nick Durante and how much work he did finding programs for them. He had them playing three or four days a week (off-season). The improvement was really impressive. He was building up to this year and I think it was pretty unselfish that he stepped away because he couldn’t make 100% commitment.”
Fitzpatrick will welcome back the team’s top two scorers in seniors Herbert Addo (12 goals, 2 assists) and Ridjeanno Valentin (6 goals, 7 assists).
“We have 14 kids returning from last year’s varsity team,” the new coach said. “We had 60-some kids try out and they love soccer. They show up every day to play hard.
“The kids have some high expectations, they think they can do pretty well and I think they have some potential to do well also. I think our other two levels have done a real nice job of getting kids to progress, so hopefully we can make a jump.”
Fitzpatrick couldn’t help but make the jump back into coaching. It’s still in his blood.
“I thought it was a good time (to return). My youngest daughter is a freshman at Notre Dame. I think the schedule will work out where I’ll get to most of her stuff and we’ll see how it goes. It’s nowhere near as difficult as when I had four running around.”
After revitalizing Hamilton over a decade ago, Fitzpatrick is in a similar position at Nottingham. He welcomes the challenge, but does not want to project the idea it’s a challenge.
“I enjoy the underdog role,” he said. “But I definitely embrace being the guy who thinks we can win every game.”
While Fitzpatrick brings experience to Nottingham, the 27-year-old Iorio brings youthful exuberance to the Hornets.
A 2016 West graduate, he played varsity baseball and served as Moe Moceri’s JV coach for four seasons. He has spent the past four seasons as a varsity swim coach, and will enter his third year as head man this winter. In the previous two autumns, he was the JV soccer coach.
“We were always successful with soccer; we won eight to nine games each year,” Iorio said. “I kind of grew with the job, with these kids who are now juniors and seniors. I put a lot of thought into this and realized I wanted to finish it out with them. I heard the freshman class was really exciting too. I felt like it was the perfect fit for me.”
Iorio’s soccer experience is limited to playing in rec leagues, but he thinks that’s an advantage.
“I honestly feel I’m a more effective soccer coach because it didn’t come as naturally to me as baseball did,” Iorio said. “In baseball, I felt I had trouble getting my point across. In soccer I feel more comfortable with it.”
And he wants his players to feel comfortable with their coach, which is something that has not happened in recent years. Since the late Mario Laurenti stepped down after the 2013 season, Hamilton has had four head coaches in 11 seasons.
Iorio realizes how important continuity is to a program. “Especially when you’re dealing with this age group,” he said. “When you have a bunch of different voices, it’s tough. It’s hard enough for them to feel comfortable with one. I’m in the building; these kids know me. Every kid on varsity now I’ve coached.
“Just things like rules, expectations, what I expect, what they expect from me, it’s all out there. When you bring a new regime in a lot of uncertainty comes. The less uncertainty you have with the team, that’s more time you have to focus on the game itself.”
Iorio also knows of the expectations that the Hornets had placed them from the 1960s through the 1980s. His dad played in the 80s, with such stars at Bobby Cummings and Gordon McNeil, when Hamilton was churning out quality tams.
“Mercer County soccer is a big deal, and it’s an honor to have one of the teams,” he said. “I look at it as a privilege. My dad said to bring it back to when he was in high school, when West was a feared team in the area.”
That won’t be easy and Iorio knows it.
“It’s a huge challenge,” he said. “We’re in this rut where we’re winning just five to seven games. But we have the talent. We’ve had great kids coming through the school. It’s up to me to turn that into wins.”
Iorio must lay the groundwork to establish a positive culture. He wants to make his guys both quality players and students.
“It’s more than just being a good soccer player,” Iorio said. “We have to be respectful in the building, make sure we’re being responsible for more than just the game. That will result in better team camaraderie and being more responsible on the field. I really think that will turn into wins.”
Iorio was enthused by the fact that nearly 90 players tried out; a number not seen at West in years. He encouraged underclassmen who were cut to play rec or travel ball in order to improve, and to give it another try next year. He hopes the guys he retained will also play more.
“Varsity soccer is too good in this area to just play two or three months out of the year,” he said. “We have summer workouts but it’s not enough. You gotta be out there without me and without the school.”
Iorio feels there is the potential to get on the winning side of the ledger.
“I have four great varsity leaders,” he said. “I’m gonna lean on them. We have some scoring. We’ve struggled with our stamina. In past years we’d get eight to 12 strong minutes from guys and then we’d fall off. We’re deeper this year, I feel my strengths are in areas we need to get better at.”
If a positive outlook counts, things could be on the upswing at Nottingham and West.
