Rotsko leaving Longmeadow after 19 years


Longmeadow High School football coach Alex Rotsko is leaving the program for a position at Marshwood High School in Maine. Photo courtesy of longmeadowhighfootball.com

April 9, 2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW — It's the end of an era in Longmeadow High School athletics.

After 19 years, head football coach and athletic director Alex Rotsko will leave behind his Lancers' black and white to don the purple and white of the Marshwood, Maine, Hawks at the end of the 2011-12 school year.

Rotsko told his players on April 2 that he would not be returning.

"Monday I had to tell the team and that was certainly one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," he said.

With the frustrating and at times seemingly unstoppable Wing-T offense, Rotsko led the Lancers to a 184-39 record and 15 straight Division I Super Bowl appearances, including 11 wins, in what was the most dominant streak in recent memory for Western Massachusetts football.

His teams won 47 straight regular-season games from 2005 to 2008 and 17 of his 19 seasons were winning ones.

He ended his time with the Lancers with a 35-7 drubbing of Central High School in a televised 2011 Western Mass. Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium on Dec. 3, 2011.

Rotsko was first hired as the head coach in 1993 after a successful run as the head coach of the American International College (AIC) football team. At AIC, he coached three nationally-ranked squads and was named New England College Coach of the Year in 1985.

He said that the Longmeadow High School's dedication to excellence in education, athletics and character is what first drew him to the program.

"Those three things pretty adequately sum up this place and sum up what I believe in, too," he said. "I guess you could say it was a perfect storm.

Rotsko will fill the shoes of former East Longmeadow football head coach John Caverly. Caverly, who is also the principal at Marshwood Middle School, resigned as head football coach after a 2011 season in which the Hawks finished 2-6.

Rotsko explained that he didn't plan on leaving Longmeadow until his retirement, but the Marshwood job offered him an opportunity to coach and teach close to his summer home in York, Maine, where he and his wife planned to spend their retirement.

"I got a call in January about the position. I wasn't looking to leave Longmeadow," he said. "I'm not sure if there would be any other high school job other than Marshwood that I would leave here to go to."

Rotsko also expressed regret that he would not get to see the new high school project reach its completion.

"I really hoped to see that because I was involved in getting it done," he said.

Rotsko admitted that one more challenge may have convinced him to stay in Longmeadow — the chance to win a Massachusetts State Championship. Currently the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association's tournament format consists of "Super Bowl" games for Eastern, Central and Western Massachusetts, crowning 18 Super Bowl Champions each year.

Rotsko has been openly critical of the system, calling it a "glorified league championship" in a 2011 MaxPreps.com newsletter.

"What we've done and what we've accomplished has been fun, but to stay and win another league title and a Super Bowl is not high on the priority list at this point in my life," he said. "I'm not sure I would feel the same way if there was a state championship. I'm not saying I would have definitely stayed, but it would have made my decision harder, especially with the group that is coming back. That's a special team."

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