Bacco excited to be ‘home’ at Serra Catholic

By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com

There was only one job that could make Matt Bacco leave his current position as an assistant for the Bethel Park girls basketball program.

And now, that one job is his.

Bacco has been hired to take over the girls program at Serra Catholic, his alma mater. While taking over for legendary coach Bill Cleary is something he thought would never happen, he’s excited to land the opportunity.

“I told the girls at Bethel Park when I talked to them, there’s only one job that I would ever leave for,” Bacco said. “It’s obviously an honor to be a head coach again. Not many people get the opportunity to coach at their alma mater. I don’t know if anyone saw it coming, but when I saw Coach Cleary was stepping aside, I had to throw my hat at it. There are two things I’m passionate about. That’s basketball and my school.”

Bacco has been an assistant at Bethel Park the past three seasons after serving as the head coach at South Fayette from 2008-2018. He has a career record of 171-78.

“We were able to accomplish a lot of firsts over a decade at South Fayette,” Bacco said. “I think we went to the state playoffs six out of 10 years. We went to two WPIAL championships and won one of them, that never happened there before.

“For me, I look at the Serra Catholic job as a great opportunity to continue a legacy of winning. I’m cut from the same cloth as Bill Cleary, who I played baseball for. I know the way things are done and the pride and excellence that go into the program.”

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