Sports

Wagner College track & field head coach steps down after nearly 30 years with program

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — On Monday, Wagner College’s cross country/track and field program announced that longtime head coach, Joe Stasi, will officially be stepping down from his position after leading the team for 29 years. Stasi helped transform Wagner into a consistently competitive program during his tenure on Grymes Hill, guiding his athletes to 12 […]

Published

on


STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — On Monday, Wagner College’s cross country/track and field program announced that longtime head coach, Joe Stasi, will officially be stepping down from his position after leading the team for 29 years.

Stasi helped transform Wagner into a consistently competitive program during his tenure on Grymes Hill, guiding his athletes to 12 NEC Championships, over 250 All-Conference selections and more than 110 school records.

One of Stasi’s crowning achievements as head coach came during the 2020–2021 seasons, when he led the Seahawk men to the NEC Triple Crown — capturing the 2020 indoor, 2021 cross country and 2021 outdoor titles — making Wagner the first program to accomplish the feat in the NEC since 2003.

But Wagner wasn’t always a force to be reckoned with considering the 2021 outdoor title was the first in program history for the men’s team. Stasi told the Advance/SILive that the beginning of his tenure was “a slow progression upward.”

“It’s been a process at Wagner. You can always look at the championships and the success that you had there, but I tell everyone that what’s kept me there were the student-athletes. I’ve had just a good group of student-athletes throughout the years,” Stasi said of what he’ll look back on most fondly.

To his point, it’s clear that the Wagner cross country/track program emphasized a wholistic collegeiate experience, as Stasi’s runners, jumpers and throwers achieved 13 NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year recognitions during his stretch as head coach.

“The kids were always focused on and off the track,” Stasi said of his athletes being dedicated to achieving excellence in the classroom as well as in their running careers.

“There’s a lot of stuff that you have to deal with as a college coach, but the kids being very focused in the classroom and kept me there for a lot of years,” he went on.

Wagner College Graduation 2025

Members of the Track and Field team gather for a picture with coach Joe Stasi at the 2025 Wagner College Undergraduate Commencement ceremony held on Sutter Oval in Grymes Hill on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Advance/SILive.com | Jason Paderon)(Advance/SILive.com | Jason Paderon)

In addition to preparing his athletes for success beyond graduation, Stasi continued to support those who pursued running after college — including Will Cuthbertson ’22, who went on to compete at the USATF Championships and the Olympic Trials.

“Coach Stasi has had a huge impact on the majority of my running career since graduating high school,” Cuthbertson said of the bond they share.

“He really got me to a place I needed to be in, and then he was super encouraging on me taking the next steps; he was also super helpful with me fundraising for an altitude training trip before going to USA’s. He’s just been one of my all around biggest supporters with running post-collegiately,” he went on.

Another Seahawk alum who ran under Stasi and has become a fixture in the Staten Island running community is Dominic Palermo ’24 — the recent runner-up at the SSG Ollis 5K and a key contributor to Wagner’s historic triple crown championship squad.

“Coach Stasi is one of the greatest coaches around,” Palermo said plainly.

“My favorite Stasi line will always be that ‘There’s no secrets to the sport;’ we knew what was expected of us every day and if we wanted to be great there were no shortcuts,” he continued.

Stasi’s impact also extends well beyond Wagner’s campus, as he helped mentor several coaches in the Staten Island running community — including Monsignor Farrell assistant Michael Ryan, former longtime St. Joseph Hill head coach JP Pablo and current Moore Catholic head coach Jason Paderon.

“The coaches on the Island are really phenomenal,” Stasi said of the borough’s running culture which he largely helped shape.

“I also ran on Staten Island when I was growing up; we wanted kids to know that the option was there to come to Wagner, but at the end of the day, I always wanted what was best for the borough’s athletes,” he humbly said of his positive feelings for the Island’s running scene as a whole.

Stasi doesn’t have any concrete plans to continue coaching elsewhere at the moment, as his full focus was to always “leave the team with a lot of talent and pass the baton onto the next person” who will guide the Seahawks’ track program.

Wagner cross country head coach, Joe Stasi, was named the 2019 Northeast Conference (NEC) Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year

“I always wanted to leave on a good note. We’re leaving on top, and I’m glad I’m leaving the program in a strong position,” Stasi said following the women’s team’s victory at the 2025 Outdoor NEC Championships.

Whether he was guiding athletes to record-breaking times on the track, pushing them to succeed in the classroom, or supporting their goals beyond graduation, one thing is clear: Stasi’s successor will have big shoes to fill.



Link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending

Exit mobile version