Stepping down after 16 years of guiding the Warriors on the links
DENNIS BISSO on left pictured at the 2015 Warrior golf banquet.
Published in the May 6, 2016 edition.
By JIM SOUTHMAYD
WAKEFIELD — After 16 years as the Wakefield Memorial High golf coach, Dennis Bisso announced his retirement citing personal reasons for his stepping down.
Bisso informed Brendan Kent, the K-12 Director of Athletics, Health, and Wellness for the Wakefield Public Schools yesterday of his decision.
“I am going to be moving to Florida. My wife and I have bought a condo down there and we’ll be back and forth between Florida and here,” said Bisso. “We’ll probably spend six months here and six months there.”
Bisso also told Kent that he wants to spend more time with his family and his grandchildren as well.
“The weather for baseball here isn’t good,” said Bisso, who also was the coach for the varsity baseball team until stepping down after the 2013 season. “I also retired from teaching nine years ago. I continued to coach but now I am going to have a real retirement including from coaching.”
Bisso also worked part-time at Extra Innings in Middleton. But now he wants to enjoy his retirement and enjoy golfing which he can do in Florida year around and also since his condo is on a golf course which will give him ample opportunity to play.
Bisso leaves the golf program in good shape. The Warriors were Middlesex League Freedom division champs co-champs two years ago and they won the Middlesex League Shootout last fall. Both were firsts for the program.
Wakefield posted a 10-4 overall record and 7-4 record in the league last year. The Warriors had a 12-5-1 overall and 8-3-0 record in the league in ‘14. Wakefield also qualified for the Div. 2 North sectional tournament both seasons.
“The program has come a long way in the past four to five years,” said Bisso. “I think being able to play at the Thomson and Bear Hill courses really helped. I am hoping that Brendan or the new coach can do the leg work to keep the players there. I told Brendan I would help if he needed me to.
“There have been some great athletes over the past few years,” continued Bisso. “Whoever the new coach is going to have six kids returning including the top four. Dave Melanson and Mike Guanci are the captains. You have also Tim Hurley, John Evangelista, Justin Sullivan and Austin Collard. They’re going to be seniors and they should be very good.”
Bisso retired as the WMHS varsity baseball coach after 21 years in ‘13. He also coached for 14 years at Northeast Regional Metro Tech prior to becoming the Warrior head baseball coach.
The Warriors posted a 7-13 record in 2013 which was two more victories than the 5-15 season they had in ‘12. Wakefield’s last state tournament berth with Bisso as the head coach was in 2009 when the team finished with a 10-11 record.
Wakefield’s best season in Bisso’s 21 years was the in ‘03 when the Warriors posted a 15-9 record advance to the Div. 2 North final in the state tournament.
There were several other tournament appearances as well in the 1990s.
Now Kent, who thanked Bisso for his years of service to Wakefield High, will seek to find his replacement before the golf season begins.
“In regard to hiring a new coach, we have to post the job internally for a week and then we can start posting the job outside of the school and begin searching for a new coach,” said Kent. “Ideally, I would like to hire a replacement before the end of the school year.”
