When it comes to understanding what kind of pride is associated with being a Streetsboro Rocket, no one knows that feeling better than Rockets boys’ basketball Coach Nick Marcini. A former student-athlete for the program, he has added more good memories as the head coach, having recently notched over 200 career coaching victories after the Rockets hammered Metro Athletic Conference rival Akron Springfield on Jan. 17.
“It is exciting,” Marcini told The Weekly Villager on March 14. “I am not real big on individual stuff. If you are getting 200 wins then your teams have been really good, which means your players have been really good. We have been fortunate over the last 15 years and have had some good players come through.”
In his 15th year at the helm of the program, the Rockets enjoyed one of their best seasons in school history, tying the school record for most victories in a season with a 21-4 (13-1) record. Marcini was named as the MAC Coach of the Year. In only 15 years, the Streetsboro alum has compiled a 209-136 record.
For Marcini, being a Rocket has been a part of his DNA since he was a child. His family originally hailed from Western Pennsylvania but moved to Mantua before he was born. His family then moved to Streetsboro when his older brother and sister were beginning elementary school.
He said that each Marcini was a student-athlete while studying in the school district, his sister was a cheerleader, his brother competed in wrestling and Marcini played both football and basketball. He was a quarterback on the football team and played shooting guard on the basketball team.
Marcini said he was drawn to basketball because while growing up, he could always find a pick-up game to join in his neighborhood.
“There were three or four different hoops that we would rotate playing at just in our own neighborhood,” he noted. “One of our better players lived in the house next to me who was my brother’s age and my head coach at the time would be playing over there in the driveway.”
He added that his basketball interest was at an all-time high thanks to some of the greats, including the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls and the Michigan Fab Five.
Marcini only played on the junior varsity in his first year of high school and alternated between junior varsity and varsity in his sophomore year before finally becaming a varsity starter in his junior season.
In his first year as a varsity starter his team only reached five victories but then in his senior year, the Rockets increased their win total to 12.
“Just like anything, you try to get better every year,” he said. “We had a tight group of guys, we had seven or eight seniors so those are guys you grew up with and had fun playing with and ended up having a pretty good year my senior year.”
It was while playing football at Walsh University that Marcini discovered his passion to become a head coach. Although he was not a starter, he spent plenty of time on the sideline watching how his coaches handled their duties. He added that understanding everyone’s position because of his responsibilities as quarterback also played a role.
“I had some really great coaches coming up through high school,” he said. “It just inspires you to do things and just was something I really wanted to do.”
Marcini credited Greg Gilbert and Ric Bailey, two of his assistant coaches at Walsh University, for helping nurture his desire to become a head coach.
After graduating from Walsh University, Marcini eventually returned to his alma matter in 2004 to land his first full-time teaching position at the Streetsboro Middle School and became the eighth-grade football coach and the junior varsity boys’ basketball coach.
After one year, he became a varsity football assistant coach while maintaining his responsibilities as a basketball coach. Marcini continued to rise through the ranks and was eventually named the head coach after his predecessor, Todd Muckleroy, took over the Canfield boys’ basketball team in 2010.
“It was an exciting time,” he said. “Coach Muckleroy got the job over at Canfield so I was already helping doing a lot of the summer stuff because we knew he was interviewing. He was still trying to run stuff but I was helping out.”
Marcini spent one more year as a varsity football assistant coach but relinquished his duties to focus full-time on the Rockets’ basketball team.
Since taking over, Marcini has paced the Rockets to 11 winning seasons over 15 years and appears poised to continue doing so.
