Since being named the 22nd
head coach in
Canisius College men’s basketball history on April 10, 2006, Tom Parrotta’s
goals of changing and revitalizing the program’s winning tradition have not
changed. Built on a foundation that stresses a team-first attitude and a
commitment to winning without short cuts, Parrotta’s players and staff have
embraced and taken ownership of these principles whole-heartedly, as they
continued to build the framework in each of the previous five seasons. In this, his sixth year on the
bench at Canisius, he looks to continue the program's recent strong efforts, having guided the Blue and Gold to back-to-back 15-win seasons for the first time since 1995-96 and 1996-97.
The
Yonkers, N.Y. native has also placed emphasis
on molding student-athletes into well-rounded citizens off the court as
well.
Active in both the classroom and the community, every senior that has
played
for Parrotta during his time at Canisius has graduated from the College. The highlight of this accomplishment came before the 2010-11 season, when six of his first seven recruits earned their undergraduate degrees prior to the start of the basketball season, and the five players that remained in the program spent their final months on campus working towards their master's degrees from Canisius. This trend of graduating early was started by Frank Turner, who earned his undergraduate
degree prior
to the start of the 2009-10 campaign. In May 2010, Turner was able to leave the College with his master's degree in sport administration before taking his basketball talents overseas, where he currently plays in Holland. The men’s
basketball team has also been
active in the community in Parrotta’s time in Buffalo, taking part in
such
events as the Ride for Roswell “Knockout Cancer” event, the Shea’s 5K
Run for
the Arts, the "Canisius Cares" reading program and the MAAC Gives Back
initiative.
In 2010-11, Parrotta's team took his desire to "protect their home court" to new heights as the Golden Griffins closed out the season with 10 wins at home. Of those 10 wins, seven came against MAAC opponents, including long-time rival Niagara in a game that was shown nationally on ESPNU. That team also holds the honor of being the first Canisius men's basketball program to defeat long-time rivals Niagara and St. Bonaventure on the Koessler Athletic Center floor in the same season. The Griffs ended the year with a 15-15 overall mark and a 9-9 MAAC record to finish sixth in the conference's regular-season standings. That sixth-place finish earned the Blue and Gold their first bye in the MAAC Basketball Tournament in over a decade.
The 2009-10 squad continued to show signs of improvement under Parrotta's leadership, with the squad registering 15 wins during the season, the most wins for the program since 2000-01. In that season, the Griffs boasted a road win over cross-town rival Buffalo, snapping a five-year losing streak to the Bulls, while also recording wins over three teams rated in the top-150 of the national RPI rankings. One of those victories came over Southern Miss in the Southern Miss Christmas Classic, making Canisius the first program to beat the Golden Eagles in their yearly pre-holiday event in four years. Canisius' eight MAAC wins in 2009-10 were two more victories than the previous two seasons combined, and the program also laid claim to a winning record at home, the first time the Canisius men's team accomplished that since 2004-05.
The 2009-10 edition of the Griffs also recorded a postseason win in the first round of the 2010 MAAC Basketball Championships by beating Marist in the first round, extending the Blue and Gold's string of winning at least one MAAC Tournament game to a league-best six-straight years. Parrotta is now 4-1 all-time in the team's first MAAC Tournament game, and he joins former head coach John
Beilein as the only Griff mentor to lead the program to at least one postseason
victory in his first four seasons as Canisius’ head coach.
Entering his sixth season as the program's
head coach, Parrotta has recruited a number of Griffs that have spread their names throughout the school's all-time record book. One of those players, Frank Turner, ended his career as a Griff ranked among the top-10 in 12 different statistical categories and was also recognized as the MAAC Co-Rookie of the Year in 2006-07. In 2010-11, three players, Julius Coles, Elton Frazier and Greg Logins joined the storied 1,000-point club, and Logins wrapped up his time in a Canisius uniform as just the fifth player in school history to collect more than 1,200 career points while pulling down more than 700 rebounds.
In his second year at the helm of the Canisius program, Parrotta guided the sixth-youngest team at the Division I
level to a first-round win at the MAAC Tournament, making the Griffs the first
No. 10 seed in league history to advance to the quarterfinal round. The 2008-09
season saw the program end a 20-game road losing streak and finished the year
with five road wins, the most for the Griffs since 2003-04. Canisius also
strung together three-straight wins in the month of February, the first time
that had happened since the 2000-01 campaign.
Prior to his arrival to Canisius, he spent
five years at Hofstra University, holding the position of associate head coach
in his last season there, the 2005-06 campaign. No stranger to the Metro
Atlantic Athletic Conference, Parrotta played his college ball at Fordham, when
the Rams were members of the league, and coached at Niagara University for six
seasons.
During his time at Hofstra (2001-06), the Pride
compiled an 81-72 record, including a 47-16 overall record and 26-10 conference
mark in the last two seasons, and improved their Colonial Athletic Association
record each year. Hofstra tied a school record with 26 wins during the 2005-06
season and earned a berth in the National Invitational Tournament for the
second consecutive season, advancing to the quarterfinals and earning the
school’s first two Division I postseason victories. As Hofstra's top assistant,
Parrotta served as the recruiting, scouting and scheduling coordinator for the
Pride. He was also responsible for offensive execution and the development of
the team’s forwards under current Fordham head coach Tom Pecora, who served as an assistant coach for
seven years under current Villanova coach Jay Wright. Parrotta was a driving
force behind the recruitment of Buffalo native Loren Stokes, who was named the
2007 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year.
Before he joined the staff at Hofstra, Parrotta
spent six years (1995-2001) as an assistant coach at Niagara University under
Jack Armstrong and Joe Mihalich, including the last three as the Purple Eagles'
top assistant under Mihalich. During that time, the Purple Eagles posted a
49-37 record and made consecutive trips to the MAAC semifinals. As the lead
assistant, Parrotta was the team's chief recruiter and scheduling coordinator
and helped bring forward Juan Mendez to Niagara's campus. Mendez ended his
career at Niagara as the top Canadian scorer in NCAA history.
Parrotta, 45, began his collegiate coaching career
in 1994-95 as an assistant coach at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. Prior
to Nazareth, he served as the varsity coach at Rye High School in Rye, N.Y.,
and led his team to the PSAL Class C league championship. The following season,
he served as junior varsity coach at Mamaroneck High School in Mamaroneck, N.Y.
A 1991 graduate of Fordham University with a degree
in communications, Parrotta was a four-year letterwinner for the Rams from
1984-88. He was a second-team all-conference selection and earned
All-Metropolitan Team and team MVP honors in his senior season after averaging
13.9 points and 6.1 rebounds. He ranks in the top 30 on the school's career
scoring list and in the top-10 in rebounding. Prior to his playing days at Fordham, Parrotta played his high school ball at Archbishop Stepinac in White Plains, N.Y. In the summer of 2010, he was inducted into the Stepinac Hardwood Club, the basketball Hall of Fame at the famed high school.
A team captain from 1986-88, he helped lead the
Rams to two NIT appearances. Following his collegiate career, Parrotta began a
three-year stint in the Portuguese Basketball Association, where he led his
team in scoring and rebounding en route to a 33-0 record and a Second Division
championship in his first season. When his professional career ended in 1991,
Parrotta joined the Schering Corporation in Kenilworth, N.J., as a
pharmaceutical sales representative.
He and his wife, Dina, have three children, Michael, Carmen, and
Lucianna.
