SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — Alex Rotsko has unquestionable football pedigree. And now Marshwood High School has Alex Rotsko.
The successful Longmeadow (Mass.) High School coach was approved Wednesday by the MSAD 35 board of directors as the Hawks’ new head football coach. Rotsko takes over for John Caverly, who stepped down last November after three seasons (his second tour) to devote more time to his family. The Hawks went 2-6 in 2011, their first year back in Maine Class B after more than 20 years in Class A. Previous to that they had back-to-back 2-6 seasons in Class A.
“I just wish I could start tomorrow,” Rotsko said. “I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to meet the players and the people of the Marshwood community.”
“He’s a winner on paper and on the field,” said Marshwood Athletic Director Rich Buzzell. “He’s a great guy to lead people.”
Rotsko coached Longmeadow football for 19 seasons and is in the midst of his fourth year as the school’s athletic director. He will resign at the end of the school year.
The Lancers have posted a 184-38 record under Rotsko since 1993. Last season Longmeadow traveled to Gillette Stadium to play in their state record 15th straight Super Bowl, beating Springfield Central, 35-7, to highlight an 11-2 season. The Lancers have won 11 Super Bowl titles in fifteen years, which signifies supremacy in Western Mass. Division I.
Rotsko, 58, and his wife, Eleanor, are very familiar with the area. They have a summer place on York Beach and have a number of friends in the Seacoast area. Rotsko said he became aware of the position from Caverly, who is from East Longmeadow, Mass. The two worked together at football camps in Springfield, Mass., so their paths cross quite often during the summer months.
“When he stepped down, he called me and said the position was open,” Rotsko said.
As happy as Rotsko was about the new challenge, there was also the sadness of leaving Longmeadow after a great run. He told his players on Monday he would not be back.
“It was very difficult,” he said. “It was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do.”
Longmeadow went to its first Super Bowl under Rotsko in 1997 and he said it snowballed from there.
“I’ve got kids playing for me now who were 2 or 3 at the time and some weren’t even born,” he said. “It became just a great tradition.”
Rotsko is looking forward to the challenge Marshwood poses.
“You can just tell people care a lot about the football program,” he added. “Which makes it such an exciting position to take over.”
Before coming to Longmeadow, Rotsko was the head football coach at American International College for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1992. In 1985 Coach Rotsko received the New England College Coach of the Year award by directing his AIC squad to an 8-2 record and a No. 14 national ranking. His 1989 and 1990 squads were also nationally ranked. Before being named head coach at AIC, Rotsko served as an assistant coach for three seasons.
Rotsko was also an instructor and assistant football and baseball coach at Ithaca (N.Y.) College for two years. In 1979, the Ithaca football team won the national championship, while the baseball team won the national title in the spring of 1980.
Rotsko earned his master’s degree from Ithaca in 1979 and his bachelor’s degree from Springfield College in 1975. He played football and baseball while attending Springfield. He and Eleanor live in Hampden, Mass.
Marshwood has a rich football history dating back to the 1960s, but has not won a state title since legendary coach Rod Wotton left in the early 1990s. According to the MPA website, Wotton coached the Hawks to 16 shared or outright state titles in four different classes from 1966 to 1992, culminating with the Class A crown in 1989, the school’s last title.
Wotton later coached across the border at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, guiding the Saints to four crowns. He stepped down after the 2010 season as the winningest high school football coach in New England.
“We are extremely excited about Alex being part of the Marshwood community,” Buzzell added. “It was very clear during the interview process that Alex was a high-quality candidate. His football record speaks for itself. But what was completely clear, and more important to me, is that Alex is not just driven toward building successful teams, but is more interested in building successful programs and all that leads into that process. For me, that is a true sign of someone interested in always doing the right thing and leading the right way.”
© 2012 the Foster’s Daily Democrat
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