LYNNFIELD — Peter Bocchino has been hired as the new girls varsity basketball coach at Lynnfield High. Athletic director Michael Bierwirth made the announcement last week.
Bocchino succeeds his good friend Jim Perry, who passed away suddenly last spring.
“Jim loved coaching girls, he used to say that unlike the boys, you didn’t ever get those rolling eyes when you were trying to teach them something,” said Bocchino. “I’d like to think that he and I are still a team and I am excited to be able to continue what Jim started and carry on what he accomplished for the last three years. I think we did bring the program to the next level. What the girls do going forward will be Jim’s credit and I’m not looking to make any major changes, but to continue what he started three years ago.”
Bocchino has been a fixture in Saugus youth basketball for many years. An East Boston native, he played basketball at Dom Savio High School, then a basketball powerhouse.
“It had a storied program and I played on a couple of teams that were state finalists, but it was great playing on a team that had so much talent,” he said. “I didn’t play much and knew I would have played more had I gone to East Boston High or Pope John, but it was all about being a part of a winning tradition, and college coaches knew it. In fact, I was recruited to play at Fitchburg State but my father wouldn’t let me go there unless I commuted, so I played at Salem State then transferred to Suffolk and played a half season, then hung it up.”
Along the way, he worked at the Salesian Brothers Boys Club from 1979-1983, then served as the full-time athletic director at the Harborside Night School from 1982-1986.
He graduated from Suffolk in 1985 and served as a probation officer at the East Boston District for a year, then went into teaching, working at City Roots, an alternative school for troubled kids through 1989.
He then got a job at the Boston Gas Company, where he worked for 15 years until it was bought out by National Grid, all the while serving as an IAABO board official since 1987.
“I decided to take a buyout and officially retired,” said Bocchino. “My wife kept telling me my real passion was working with kids as that’s what I always gravitated to, so a friend and I started our own property management business, called Catbo, so the last 10-15 years I have had the flexibility to work with kids.”
Bocchino said it was Perry who convinced Bocchino to come to Lynnfield as his assistant.
“He called me and said he was getting back into coaching and asked me if I wanted to come with him to either Lynnfield or Winchester, and right away I said, ‘Lynnfield’, and that’s how we both ended up here,” said Bocchino. “Jim gave me free reign pretty much to run the practices and offenses and defense but we always worked together to figure things out. We did the most with what we had for the most part.
“I am very excited to have this opportunity and am grateful to athletic director Michael Bierwirth for giving me the chance to continue what Jim started.”
