By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The off-season has been filled with a growing optimism for Joe Siciliano.

ROOTSTOWN COACH JOE SICILIANO

Hired in May to be the new Rootstown High School varsity boys basketball coach, the 2012 alum, watched his team compete and learn throughout summer league, host strong numbers for open gyms and coordinated a youth camp that brought in 70 youth campers.

There are still 74 days before Rootstown’s season opener on Nov. 28 at home versus Cardinal, but Siciliano already feels like his team is winning.

“The team and community has really supported me, and I feel honored and blessed to have this opportunity,” said Siciliano, who is a middle school Social Studies teacher at Rootstown.

“I am passionate and committed to build this program up, and I am excited.”

Siciliano is the first alumni coach at Rootstown since Greg Bryte’s final season in 2003-04, but he is not a new face.

He has coached inside the Rootstown basketball program in some capacity since the 2016-17 season, including two stints at the middle-school level and two stints as the junior varsity coach, which is the role he held before being board approved as the head coach.

Siciliano’s history with the program gives him an immediate connection to the current roster of players, because he has either had them in class, coached them on the court or, in most cases, both.

“I think that having a positive coach-to-player relationship is one of the most important things,” Sicliano said. “That positive rapport builds trust and is a key part to building a family like culture for this program from the top to the bottom.”

Siciliano inherits a program that has not celebrated a winning season since the 2018-19 season.

That year, the Rovers were 14-10 overall and 8-4 in the Portage Trail Conference’s County Division under head coach Cody Calhoun, who is entering his third season at Aurora.

In the last six seasons, Rootstown has posted an overall record of 31-102 (.304 win percentage) and a league record of 9-53 (.170).

“My goal is to build a level of consistency for this program,” Siciliano said, “where we can compete for championships regularly, but also that a down year is when we are around .500.

“Our kids are tough and love to compete, so I believe in them that we can get the program back to that point,” Siciliano added.

Siciliano’s staff will include two other Rootstown graduates in lead assistant Tom Jenior and JV coach Adam Whitacre.

Jenior (Class of 1993) was an All-Portage County League forward for the Rovers and most recently coached with the Rootstown girls program in 2020-21.

Whitacre (Class of 2019) was an All-Portage Trail Conference point guard for the Rovers during their last winning season. He has spent the previous two seasons as the freshmen head coach and varsity assistant under Calhoun at Aurora.

Rootstown will compete as first-year members of the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division this season.