Mastroianni is just the fourth of those 14 who has won WPIAL titles at different schools

BRAD EVERETT

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

beverett@post-gazette.com

DEC 20, 2025

4:00 AM

5

Mike Mastroianni vividly remembers his first season as a basketball coach.

In 1983, Mastroianni, then a college student, made his debut coaching the eighth-grade team at Slippery Rock Middle School.

“We went 22-1, and what I remember was that I thought it was because of me,” Mastroianni said with a laugh. “We had Bobby McConnell, who was such a good player, and we had such a good team. I was drawing up all of these plays and thought it was me. But, no, it was just because we had the better players.”

Mastroianni has had some outstanding players — one of them now plays in the NBA — in his 34 seasons as a varsity head coach. And while the Jimmys and Joes undeniably have played a role in Mastroianni’s success, so has his proficiency for the Xs and Os and his ability to connect with players and get them to buy in to the message.

The formula has led to many wins, with the latest triumph Friday providing a giant career milestone.

Mastroianni picked up his 600th career win while helping WPIAL Class 4A No. 2-ranked Quaker Valley remain unbeaten after a 63-21 win at Ambridge in the Section 2 opener for both teams.

The win put Mastroianni in special company, as he became the 14th coach in WPIAL history with 600 wins, joining a group of legends that includes Don Graham, Ed McCluskey and John Miller. Mastroianni, who also has made coaching stops at Keystone Oaks and Bethel Park, upped his career record to 600-244 (.710), which includes a 478-198 (.707) mark in 27 seasons over two stints at Quaker Valley.

“I really haven’t paid attention to that stuff,” Mastroianni said Friday after the win. “I just feel privileged that my name stands beside a lot of those guys. When I started coaching, a lot of those names on there were guys that I looked up to and followed and knew they did things the right way. To be beside them, I just feel fortunate.”

After a game that was never in doubt — Quaker Valley led Ambridge by 31 points at the half — Mastroianni smiled as he celebrated the accomplishment with his team, family and friends. That family included his wife of 36 years, Karen; children Meghan, Emily and Mike; and grandchildren Hayden and Myles.

“Obviously, he’s been coaching my entire life,” said Meghan, a former coach who led the Moon girls to the WPIAL semifinals in 2022. “I think the support system you see that travels with him and follows him shows that it’s bigger than the wins, obviously, for him. It’s about teaching kids and making them better people, which he’s instilled in every team he’s coached.”

Big Mike, also Quaker Valley’s athletic director, said he had a feeling he was going to hit some sort of milestone Friday considering he had so many loved ones in attendance. But the 600 wins was never something mentioned in practice, he said, adding that the biggest focus was his team winning their first section game.

“He’s just worried about winning the next game, and that’s what makes him great — his consistent approach,” said young Mike, who is back sitting alongside his dad on the Quaker Valley bench after spending the past three seasons coaching at Illinois State.

Then 22, young Mike first joined his dad as an assistant during a memorable 2021-22 season which saw Quaker Valley capture its first WPIAL title in 25 years. That team, led by the dynamic duo of Adou Thiero and Markus Frank, finished 27-1 after losing to Philadelphia power Neumann-Goretti in the PIAA Class 4A final.

Thiero went on to be a college standout and now is a rookie with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Playing for Mas, it was fun,” Thiero told the Post-Gazette this week. “He always let us play our game. My team, we had a lot of individual guys who put the work in, so he trusted us to go out and perform. He just did a good job of managing us and making sure we did what we were supposed to be doing, calling the right sets when we needed something.”

Of the 14 coaches with 600 victories, Mastroianni is just the fourth who has won WPIAL titles at different schools. Mastroianni guided Quaker Valley to titles in 1997 and 2022 and led Bethel Park to a title in 2007.

Mastroianni is a 1979 Quaker Valley graduate who is well liked throughout the coaching community. The affable Mastroianni is known as a “players’ coach,” something that apparently was visible in his very first season coaching.

Chris Burtch played on the ninth-grade team at Slippery Rock when Mastroianni guided the eighth graders as a rookie coach. The teams practiced together, and Burtch said it was evident then that Mastroianni was going to be a big success. Just before Mastroianni arrived, Burtch said Slippery Rock was going through a major rebuild, and that the environment wasn’t the most positive.

“And here comes this college kid, kind of strutting into the gym with all this confidence,” Burtch recalled. “What he did was make basketball seem fun. He made basketball seem cool. He made it make sense that it wasn’t all about hard work and guts. He coaches that, too, but the thing that made such a lasting impact on me is that he made the game fun and made the game cool.”

Burtch went on to become a high school head coach himself. And wouldn’t you know, in his very first game, Burtch’s Slippery Rock team took on Mastroianni and Quaker Valley.

“Quaker Valley won, of course, so one of those 600 wins was me,” Burtch quipped.

At the age of 64, Mastroianni is in his fifth decade of coaching basketball. And while there will be a time when he eventually calls it a career, that time certainly is not here yet.

“I think I’ll coach for as long as the message resonates,” he said. “They say you’ll know when you know.”

First Published: December 20, 2025, 4:00 a.m.

Brad Everett is a staff writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

  beverett@post-gazette.com
  @BREAL412

alt="Portrait of Ethan Morrison" border="0" width="48" height="48" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1" uploadprocessed="true">Ethan Morrison

Beaver County Times

Updated Dec. 19, 2025, 9:37 p.m. ET

AMBRIDGE — Another tenured Beaver Valley basketball coach reached a career milestone during the first month of the 2025-26 campaign, as longtime Quaker Valley head coach Mike Mastroianni recorded the 600th win of his coaching career with a 63-21 victory in the team’s section opener against Ambridge. 

"I feel privileged to now stand alongside some of the coaches that were around when I was starting out," Mastroianni said. "Those were guys that I knew, looked up to and did things the right way. To be beside them, it is special to be around some great coaches."

The Quaker Valley alum has been a focal point in the district throughout his tenure, also serving as the Director of Athletics & Activities since 2009, taking on the role after over two decades as an Assistant Athletic Director and the director of intramural and club sports at Carnegie Mellon University. 

While he was in his role at Carnegie Mellon, Mastroianni began his high school head coach career at Keystone Oaks in the early 1990s after a brief stint as an assistant for the Carnegie Mellon men’s basketball program.

alt="A group of people celebrating AI-generated content may be incorrect." border="0" width="263" height="151" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_5" uploadprocessed="true">

Mastroianni spent three seasons at Keystone Oaks compiling a 50-12 record before beginning his first stint with Quaker Valley in 1995.

During his first run with the program for eight seasons, the seasoned head coach led the Quakers to their first boys basketball title in program history, defeating New Brighton 57-49 in the Class 2A title game in 1997. 

Then in 2003, Mastroianni took the head coaching job at Bethel Park, leading the Black Hawks to a WPIAL crown in his final year with the team in 2007, defeating Albert Gallatin 68-63. 

He would then return to his alma mater at Quaker Valley, where he is now in his 27th season, posting a career mark of 478-198 with the Quakers program. 

"Being an alumnus, it is great to be able to coach where you went to school. The second time when I came back, it emphasized that I needed to be there [Quaker Valley]," Mastroianni said. "I have coached so many good players who have dedicated themselves to the game. I asked a lot of them and they were receptive to it."

One of his most successful seasons with the program came during 2021-22, when he helped guide the team to its second WPIAL championship, knocking off Montour 61-52. 

alt="The Quaker Valley boys basketball team gathers for a photo following head coach Mike Mastroianni's 600th career win in the team's game against Ambridge, Friday Dec. 19, 2025." border="0" width="342" height="256" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_4" uploadprocessed="true">

The team would later go on to reach the PIAA 4A championship game, where it would ultimately fall, marking the team’s only loss of the year, finishing 27-1. 

On that historic WPIAL championship team for Quaker Valley was current Los Angeles Lakers small forward Adou Thiero and Shippensburg University combo-guard Markus Frank, who helped lead Quaker Valley to that title run. 

“It was great that I had an opportunity to play a part in helping coach Mike reach 600 wins,” Frank told the Beaver County Times. “For a coach, 600 wins is insane. I am just happy that I was able to play for a coach like him.”

Frank had a prolific high school career at Quaker Valley, scoring 1,462 points, shooting 68 percent from the field and averaging 27 points per game as a senior. 

alt="Quaker Valley head coach Mike Mastroianni looks on at his team in the first half of the WPIAL Class 4A Section II game between Quaker Valley and Ambridge at the Ambridge Field House, Friday Dec. 19, 2025 in Ambridge, Pa." border="0" width="196" height="131" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_3" uploadprocessed="true"> alt="Quaker Valley head coach Mike Mastroianni yells out an offensive set to his team in the first half of the WPIAL Class 4A Section II game between Quaker Valley and Ambridge at the Ambridge Field House, Friday Dec. 19, 2025 in Ambridge, Pa. Mastroianni captured the 600th win in his 34-year coaching career." border="0" width="195" height="131" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2" uploadprocessed="true">

He also holds the school record for most points in a single season at Quaker Valley, surpassing Rich Woznicki’s 41-year-old record of 691 points, with Frank scoring 760 as a senior. 

“Him coaching me through our senior season is what I will remember the most,” Frank said. “The small things like practices were a lot of fun and the time spent around my teammates and coaches. “

Thiero also had a great high school career in his own right, scoring 1,624 points, which ranked third most all-time in program history, before enjoying a strong career at Kentucky and Arkansas before being drafted by the Lakers. 

Even though that team was one of Mastroianni's best groups during his tenure, each day he gets to coach a Quaker Valley team is special for the 64-year-old.

"I get to coach my favorite team every year and this year's group hasn't disappointed," Mastroianni said. "It's not about the wins. This group fits the mold of so many other teams I have gotten to coach. To do it with this group, it is really special."

Mastroianni's family was in attendance, along with his wife, kids and a pair of grandchildren.

His son, Mike Mastroianni, previously served as an assistant on the Quaker Valley staff before taking the role as Chief of Staff at Illinois State University for three seasons.

He was on the bench tonight, back on the Quaker Valley staff coaching alongside his father, watching him capture the milestone victory.

"To be back here and on his staff is a lot of fun because of the time I get to spend with him and bond over something we both love to do," Mike Mastroianni said.

The elder Mastroianni is in his 34th season coaching high school basketball, his career record now sits at 600-244. 

Mastroianni will join longtime Blackhawk head coach John Miller as another Beaver Valley basketball coach to reach the 600-win mark, with Miller finishing his career with 657 victories.

RAY FISHER TRIBLIVESUN, NOV 30, 2025 • 11:01 AM

alt="A person in a white jersey and yellow and black uniform with a basketball in the air AI-generated content may be incorrect." border="0" width="227" height="227" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_8" uploadprocessed="true">

Quaker Valley’s Sam Chapman scores against Avonworth on Jan. 3, 2024.

Last year’s rash of injuries may prove helpful to the Quaker Valley boys basketball team in 2025-26.

“We have a very young roster with only two seniors but return a number of key letter winners,” coach Mike Mastroianni said. “We battled a number of injuries last season that allowed our younger players to gain valuable playing experience.

“We have an experienced team returning but are still a very young team.”

QV’s returning starters are led by senior Zach Washington, a 6-foot-2 guard, and junior Sam Chapman, a 6-3 junior guard.

“Zach averaged 14 points last year in limited (playing time) as he was injured less than halfway through the season,” Mastroianni said. “Sam is so valuable in so many areas as he does so many things well. We are excited to have him in a leadership role and will lean on his experience.”

Chapman, who is a member of the National Honor Society and the peer jury at his school, has high hopes for the Quakers in 2025-26..

“I am hoping that we can make a strong push in the playoffs this season and even possibly get a WPIAL title,” Chapman said. “I am also hoping that we continue to grow as a team throughout the year. We have a lot of returning players, so I feel good about what we can accomplish together.

“I’m excited for the season and grateful for my teammates and coaches. We’ve been working hard and are looking forward to the season. We’ve been working on connecting as a team and playing together on both ends of the floor. We have also emphasized how important defensive communication and intensity will be to reach our goals.”

Other QV players with varsity experience include Kolton Johnson, a 6-2 junior forward, and sophomores Nic Cohen, a 5-10 guard, Conner Dwyer, a 6-4 forward, and Harrison Kerley, a 5-8 guard.

Key newcomers include 6-2 senior forward Atticus Barr, 6-2 junior forward James Irwin, 5-5 sophomore guard Isaiah Council and 6-3 sophomore forward Lukas Baldwin.

Mastroianni, who is in his 33rd season of coaching and with a 595-244 record needs five wins to reach 600 for his career, said the Quakers have been working ardently on improving their play on the defensive end of the floor.

“Our preseason has been geared to defensive continuity,” said the veteran coach.

Mastroianni predicted Central Valley, Hopewell and Beaver would be the teams to beat in Section 2-4A.

The Quakers started out 6-1 and 8-2 last season before finishing 15-8 overall. QV lost to Deer Lakes, 83-58, in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

Beaver (8-2) and Avonworth (8-2) tied for first in the section in 2024-25 followed by Central Valley (7-3), QV (4-6), Hopewell (3-7) and Ambridge (0-10).

“Our section is very balanced across the board,” Mastroianni said.

One of Washington’s goals for this year’s team is to win the section championship.

“My expectations are that we compete at a high level in every game and practice and aim to be at the top of our section,” he said. “We’ve been working on improving our team rebounding and communication on the defensive end.”