I really wish I was not writing this piece. All I wanted was a quiet offseason, but the world moves quickly, and as for the Diocesan High School from Hicksville, NY, they moved quickly. While the good feelings and vibes were still being felt, the athletic director from Holy Trinity, Matthew Sloan, relieved the entire coaching staff of their jobs.

See the email sent to the Holy Trinity community below:

This email was sent to parents and families on a Monday during school hours. Students found out during the day, and word quickly spread from there. The recent history of Holy Trinity paints a picture of a school that is, for whatever reason, not investing properly in their program. Kahmal Roy, Coach Tassone’s predecessor and Holy Trinity Class of 1997, was the head football coach from January 2019 to August 2023. He was fired a few days before the beginning of the 2023 season. See below:

I remember when this happened, as Coach Roy had led the Titans to two NYCHSFL titles in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, Holy Trinity went undefeated, and won the ‘AA-2’ title, defeating Diocesan rival St. John the Baptist 21-10 in the championship game completing a 10-0 season. In 2022, after being moved up to the ‘AA-1’, the Titans went 9-1, defeating a strong Moore Catholic team 20-14 in the championship. In 2023, a few days before they were slated to start a ‘AAA’ schedule, Coach Roy was fired, and the Titans went 4-6.

Enter Gino Tassone, who is an alumnus of the school from the class of 1998, and led the Titans during a tumultuous year in the ‘AA-1′ in which they went 1-10. Mr. Tassone has been a mainstay at Trinity, as he coached there from 2003-2010 as an assistant, and the past two seasons as head coach. This past season, the Titans went an impressive 7-4, and were 1 game away from a NYCHSFL title appearance. Besides the results on the field, Mr. Tassone and his family has been a mainstay for Holy Trinity for decades, as an alumnus, he revived deep connections from the school’s storied past, raising tens of thousands of dollars in donations, and brought in at least 30 students in a time when enrollment has been a challenge. Through intentional recruiting, alumni engagement, Mr. Tassone and his staff worked to rebuild the program. They added a junior varsity squad the last two seasons, something the football program had not seen in at least 5 years. One thing in my notes regarding the last two years is that the first African American football player in Holy Trinity visited the team last season, and after his passing, a tribute was done to his family with his initials on players’ helmets as a decal. During the year, several standout players made the senior bowl, there were multiple player of the week designations, and player awards. Mr. Tassone himself was a candidate for the Mario Valentini Coach of the Year award, and was inducted into the Board of Governors of the NYCHSFL this past season.

As I processed this news myself, I think it is important to get certain facts about Holy Trinity straight. First off, Holy Trinity Diocesan High School is managed directly by the Diocese of the Rockville Center. Long Island used to be full of diocesan high schools. To name a few:

• Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School
• Holy Family Diocesan High School
• Maria Regina Diocesan High School
• St. Agnes Cathedral High School

Some of these schools were closed, merged, and consolidated, as has been the trend for Catholic schools all over the tri-state area. I know Holy Family was absorbed by St. Anthony’s High School, a Franciscan School, and Maria Regina and St. Agnes Cathedral were consolidated to create Kellenberg Memorial High School, a Marianist institution. Holy Trinity Diocesan High School, and St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School remain as the two high schools that are directly under the purview of the Diocese of Rockville Center.

Holy Trinity is a school that had 677 students in 2019-20, and just 20 years ago, enrollment was 1,737. Source here. I am being told that this number dwindled to around 400 just a few years ago. Now? I am being told that Trinity has between 500-600 students. 53 students were in the football program across the JV and Varsity teams.

I think that there are things out of the current administration’s hands at play. Why would several long time faculty and staff members leave? Chris Hardardt, the president of the NYCHSFL, was the Athletic Director at Holy Trinity, and suddenly retired from this position this past fall. I remember seeing the job posting for the Athletic Director position online, and thinking that was strange. I do know that Mr. Tassone was a finalist for this position. They ultimately hired Matthew Sloan, a graduate of Hicksville High School in 2016. Mr. Sloan previously was the Head Men’s Soccer Coach at Molloy University before moving to an Assistant Coach role at Fordham University, while also holding roles like Soccer Director at Future Stars Camps and having a background of playing soccer at Fordham University and American University. From my perspective, there seems to be no apparent reason for the firing of Mr. Tassone to happen unless something is happening behind the scenes that the school is not being transparent about.

Though, I have learned that internally, the signs were there, speaking to sources nearer to the situation, the relationship soured rather quickly after Mr. Sloan’s hiring. A particular incident later in the season after a fairly typical practice shoving match resulted in two players being removed from the team. One of those student’s parents were not notified of the situation and the student was questioned by administrators without parents present. There was an incident earlier in the season in which a player was suspended, but the situation was eventually cleared up and the player cleared of wrongdoing. The coaching staff’s support for proper process and prudence regarding doling out consequences was viewed as problematic and combative by the administration.

Running a football program under the cloud of all this is difficult, but still, the Titans made a run in the playoffs, and while the players deserve recognition for this, the coaching staff’s tireless dedication to a successful season also must be recognized.

So where do we go from here? Holy Trinity has an entire offseason to hire a new head of program, and try to get kids to join their school in which football is a major draw, especially for a school that historically does not have a great track record of consistent treatment of students of color, as told to me by folks who reached out to me, and general sentiment online regarding the school.

Do they intend to keep their program? It seems so, as they posted the position on CatholicJobs.com just a day after Mr. Tassone was let go. I know that on this account, I have already had parents reach out to me regarding transfer rules for the NYCHSFL, and I have confirmed with other coaches around the league that this has happened as well. I will let you be the judge.

The offseason has just begun, and I hope that it stays uneventful. Unfortunately, it seems to be anything but. What do you think will happen around the league? What are your opinions, theories, and take on what happened in Hicksville?

I reached out to Gino Tassone for comment, and received no response.

I reached out to Holy Trinity Diocesan High School to comment on Monday, December 22, and they did not respond, likely due to being on Christmas Break.