Dr. Tom Caccese Retires After 40 Years at PSU Hazleton

Time flies when you are passionate about your career, but the mind still knows when it's time to walk away.

Penn State Hazleton is going to look a little different in 2014. Dr. Thomas M. Caccese is retiring Dec. 31 after 40 years of service as a professor, athletic director and head men's basketball coach at the Highacres campus.

Caccese had the unique distinction of being one of the few employees in the Penn State system to serve as a coach, athletic director and full-time tenured faculty member at the same time. Despite the work load, Caccese said he wouldn't change a thing.

"It was really rewarding. (The philosopher) Confuscius said if you find a job you truly love, you never work a day in your life. I can honestly say that's true," he said. "For 40 years I never said, 'I'm going to work.' I never looked at this as labor; I look at it as fun. I've been blessed to do something for 40 years I got so much pleasure from."

Caccese began his affiliation with Penn State Hazleton in 1968 as an engineering student and basketball player after serving in the U.S. Navy. He earned two undergraduate degrees in engineering and health and physical education and a masters degree in physical education, and graduated summa cum laude with a doctorate in sports administration before transitioning to a faculty member. He held a position as assistant professor of kinesiology and was a tenured faculty member in the College of Health and Human Development. He also taught classes in sports history and ballroom dance.

It was fitting that Caccese's path eventually led to coaching. His doctorate dissertation produced the first research on psychological burnout among college coaches. It was recognized internationally as the definitive research on the subject and was published in national and international journals.

In his 35 years as director of athletics, PSU Hazleton's varsity offerings grew from three sports in 1978 to eight by 2011. The Lions have won a combined 35 conference and state championships in softball, basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, baseball and golf since 1984.

Caccese developed the Student-Athlete Monitoring program in 1991 to evaluate student-athlete classroom performance. Faculty members presented a written report critiquing class attendance, exam grades and overall performance. The program has helped the Hazleton campus rank first in the Penn State system in scholar-athlete Academic All-Conference recognition for 21 consecutive years. Hazleton athletes averaged a 3.09 GPA over those 21 years and had a Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC)-leading 13 student-athletes named Academic All-American in 2013.

He retired as head men's basketball coach in 2009 after a 33-year career where he won the most games (459) of any men's basketball coach in the university's 106-year history. Caccese posted a 65 percent conference winning percentage and led his teams to five Northern Division and five Eastern Conference championships and a

conference state title in 1995. The three-time Coach of the Year guided his team to the PSUAC playoffs in 22 of his final 28 season. The Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives honored Caccese in 2001 for his "exceptional coaching achievements and outstanding contributions to men's basketball."

Although PSU Hazleton had a history of attracting top local talent and competing against other teams in the university's system, Caccese wanted to build a program that wasn't afraid to play anyone and one that could recruit talent from across the country. PSU Hazleton has battled top local NCAA Division II and III teams and NCAA Division I junior varsity teams from the University of North Carolina and Princeton University.

"I wanted to build the basketball program as a legitimate program and bring PSU Hazleton's programs into a more collegiate atmosphere," Caccese said. "I wanted to play as many NCAA Division III and Division I JV teams as possible so we could recruit good players into our program. I wasn't concerned with wins. I was concerned with scheduling good games to attract good players and build a program. The players came because we were playing tough teams."

Despite all of his commitments, Caccese wasn't content to stop coaching when the college season ended. In 1983, he started a summer basketball camp for boys and girls in fifth through ninth grades. More than 5,000 local children have attended the camps in the past 25 years.

All of his hard and work and dedication did not go unnoticed. Caccese was named to the PSUAC's Robert J. Scannell Roll of Honor in 2005 for his distinguished service and contributions to Penn State's Commonwealth Campus athletic programs. He was also inducted into the Hazleton Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Although Caccese will no longer have a daily presence at PSU Hazleton, his name will be tied to the university forever. He became a member of the Highacres Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and the PSU Hazleton gym was officially named the Dr. Thomas M. Caccese Gymnasium in 2011 for his contributions to the campus and its athletic programs and his dedication to the students.

By:  Kelly Kostanesky (Standard Speaker)