Dr. Tom Caccese
Head Coach
Men's Basketball (1973-2009)
Director of Athletics (1977-2009)
A veteran Penn State employee with 33 years of service, Caccese began his affiliation with Penn State Hazleton as an engineering student and basketball player in 1968 after serving in the Navy. He went on to earn undergraduate degrees in engineering and health and physical education, his master’s degree in physical education and a doctoral degree in sports administration. His doctoral dissertation produced definitive research on the psychological burnout of college athletic coaches, with several articles published in national and international journals. His other areas of expertise include basketball, ballroom dance, badminton and sports history.
He established the Penn State Basketball School in 1983 for boys and girls in grades five through nine. In the past years, more than 5,500 youngsters from the Hazleton area have attended the summer basketball school.
In his 30 year role as director of athletics, Caccese has overseen the development of Penn State Hazleton's varsity athletic program which has grown from three sports in 1978 to seven in 2005. Since 1990, Penn State Hazleton teams have won 21 conference state titles in soccer, tennis, softball, and basketball.
Importantly, he developed a scholar/athlete monitoring program in 1991 which, with the assistance of faculty members, evaluates the classroom performance of each student athlete. Penn State Hazleton athletes have consistently ranked at the top of the conference in the number and percentage of Academic All-Conference honors. In the 2007-2008 academic year, 65 of 94 Penn State Hazleton athletes (69 percent) achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or higher in their season of participation.
As head coach of the men's basketball team for 28 years, Caccese's teams have made him the "winningest" Penn State men’s basketball coach on record with 441 wins. Under his tutelage, the teams have amassed such impressive statistics as:
- five Penn State University Athletic Conference championships;
- five Eastern Conference championships;
- one Conference State Championship in 1995;
- qualifying for CCAC playoffs in 21 of last 27 seasons;
- and a 65 percent winning percentage over the last 32 years.
On an individual level, Caccese has been named "coach of the year" three times and was honored by the Pennsylvania Senate and Pennsylvania House of Representatives for "his exceptional coaching achievements and outstanding contributions to men’s basketball" in 2001. In 2005, he received the Robert J. Scannel Roll of Honor, awarded to the outstanding athletic administrator of the year.
Caccese was the 2004 badminton Silver Medalist at the Pennsylvania Senior Games and participated in the 2005 National Senior Olympic Games. In 2006, he was selected Temple University Outstanding Sport and Recreation Administration Graduate.
Article taken from http://news.psu.edu/story/183472/2008/09/22/caccese-inducted-hazleton-area-sports-hall-fame