Mike DeFelice Named WHS Baseball Coach

Winthrop Athletic Director Matt Serino announced the appointment of Mike DeFelice as the new head baseball coach at Winthrop High this past week.

DeFelice has been the assistant coach for the baseball program since 2010 under long-time WHS head coach Frank DeMarco, who announced his retirement at the start of the school year.

DeFelice is a 1989 graduate of Winthrop High where he played football, hockey, and baseball. He went on to play football at Marist College for four years and got his first coaching job upon graduation as an assistant in the WHS football program under Tony Fucillo in 1993.

That started DeFelice on an extended coaching odyssey. He moved to Brookings, South Dakota, where he coached football, hockey, and baseball at Brookings High School. He coached football at UMass-Lowell, Tufts University, Alvirne High School in Hudson, New Hampshire, Medford High School, and Endicott College before returning to his hometown in 2009 when he was appointed as a special education teacher in the Winthrop school system.

“This is a dream come true for me,” DeFelice said. “I was heavily influenced by my coaches at Winthrop High School, Tony Fucillo, Barry Rosen, and Vin Eruzione. They truly changed my life and it is because of them that I always have wanted to emulate their dedication and desire to give back to the community and the next generation.”

Another huge influence upon DeFelice’s life path has been his dad, legendary WHS athlete and football coach Bob DeFelice. “Although my father stepped down as head football coach at Winthrop to take the job as Athletic Director at Bentley College just as I was entering my junior year in high school, for my entire life I have seen the positive effect he has had on the lives of so many young athletes whom he has coached and mentored.”

DeFelice, who lives in Winthrop and who is the father of three children ranging in age from 18 to 25, said one of his goals is to reinvigorate the youth baseball program in Winthrop, which has seen a bit of a drop-off in numbers in recent years.

“With all of the competing demands for youngsters these days, we have to find a way to bring back the excitement to baseball for them,” said DeFelice.