Sept. 25, 2006

Joe Cuozzo says his 700th win is imminent. However, the legendary high school boys' lacrosse coach has confirmed, it will not happen at Ward Melville High School.

"I'm not going back to Melville," said Cuozzo, who spent 38 seasons at the East Setauket, N.Y., high school and amassed a national best 699-73 record there. "It has run its course there. It's time."

By now, the Cuozzo saga is well documented.

Cuozzo, the all-time winningest high school coach in the nation, retired from teaching after the 2004-05 school year, but planned to continue coaching. Due to a Three Village District policy that gives precedence to those who teach within the district, however, the boys' lacrosse post became open to internal applicants - one of whom was his former player and assistant, Mike Hoppey, an active teacher in the district.

Hoppey, who left Cuozzo's staff in 2004 to become the head coach at nearby Mount Sinai, was hired by Ward Melville in June 2005.

Snake bitten and, to a degree, confused, Cuozzo agreed to a "co-coach" stipulation initiated by Hoppey and the district by which the Hall of Famer could remain at the helm and "go out with honor," as Hoppey put it. But the Patriots fell to West Islip, 7-6, in the 2006 Suffolk County championship, leaving Cuozzo one win shy of 700, and questioning his future with the only lacrosse program he had known.

When he met with Lacrosse magazine in May, Cuozzo said co-coaching with Hoppey was "not an ideal situation," and that at times, "I had to bite my tongue." He affirmed that Thursday.

"Last year was strained," he said. "It was tough."

So Cuozzo met with Ward Melville administrators in August and said sayonara, with win No. 700 still in sight.

"I'm not ready to be put to pasture yet," he said Thursday. "There's still some fire in the old belly."

Reportedly, Cuozzo could reach his historic mark at smallish Mount Sinai - a program which, ironically, Hoppey brought to prominence just two years ago and was coached last year by another Ward Melville graduate, former Patriots and North Carolina All-American Jason Sanders.

Mount Sinai athletic director Scott Reh said Monday a decision had not yet been made.

"Nothing's been done," Reh, a former lacrosse player (Adelphi) and coach, said of the vacancy. "That's my next piece of business."

"From what I hear, Cuozzo's going to be my successor," Sanders said Friday. When asked how he heard, Sanders replied, "C'mon - I'm a Melville guy."

Cuozzo said he interviewed with Reh and that he was "hoping Mount Sinai will come through," citing an opportunity to raise the program's public profile next spring with his pursuit of 700 wins and a situation in which he could mentor assistant coach Harold Drumm, whom Cuozzo coached as an All-American in 1994.

Among Cuozzo's other prospects, he said, are coaching positions at Oceanside and Locust Valley - both Nassau County programs, the latter with which he will have a second interview this week. Neither school, however, has publicly reported openings. Bob Moltisanti and Glenn Lavey were the coaches in 2006, respectively.

Cuozzo has also expressed interest in joining Rick Sowell's staff at Stony Brook, an NCAA Division I college program, but would ultimately like to extend his legacy on the high school level.

"We're sitting on 699 here. That's a lot of publicity for your program," Cuozzo said. "Think about it."

"Joe's got the bug," said Sanders, a real estate mortgage broker who said he has been denied coaching opportunities by Ward Melville in the past because he was not a teacher in the district. "I was part of a 71-game winning streak (ending in 1993) there. You can't take the Melville out of me."

You can, it seems, take the Melville out of Cuozzo.

- Matt DaSilva