Former Bishop Guertin assistant John Trisciani, Sr. is set to take over the Hollis Brookline football program. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HOLLIS – John Trisciani, Sr. remembers when he first took over the Trinity High School football program 17 years ago some 80 players signed up and he was worried about how to get them all in the weight room at the same time.

Then came the first day weight work, five players showed up. He later told one of his prospective assistants maybe he might want to stay on the staff he was at, “because I don’t even know if we’re going to get up enough guys for a team.”

That experience alone likely makes him the perfect choice to take over the struggling Hollis Brookline High School football program. HB officials agreed and he was officially hired as the Cavaliers new head coach just before the weekend started.

“One of the draws was the Trinity experience he had,” HB athletic director Brian Bumpus said. “Going into that program and doing what he did at Trinity a number of years ago.”

Trinity at the time played an independent schedule, unheard of in the state at that time. With just 16 players slated to return, Trisciani got 54 players to come out and finished his season with that number in tact.

Deciding recently he wanted to take another step in his football coaching career and perhaps get his own program, the HB opening caught his eye.

“I saw it was still open three months after it was originally posted,” the highly experienced Trisciani, father of former Bishop Guertin coach John Trisciani, said. “I reached out to the AD to see if it was still truly open.

“I wanted to be a head coach. And I read something that it was the third-rated public high school in New Hampshire academically so I said ‘That must be good.'”

Ironically, Trisciani had never been to Hollis, let alone Hollis Brookline HS. So he ventured into town, saw the turf field, and also watched some film. “Looks good to me,” he thought. “I want to be a head coach, that’s the open job, and I’m applying for it. I was lucky to get in the window, and things moved pretty quickly after that.”

Trisciani later spent 14 years as an assistant at Saint Anselm, the longest tenured coach in the modern day history of the program. Two years ago he joined his son on the sidelines at BG, and moved on to be an assistant at Manchester Central last year after his son resigned at BG, but realized at the end of this past season he wanted to become a head coach once again.

He takes over a Cavalier program that Chris Lones had guided to a Division II state championship in 2019, and things were in great shape. Then a little thing called COVID hit and it decimated the program, all the way down to the town’s youth levels. The numbers became miniscule and the Cavaliers hit rock bottom last year, going 0-8. It got to the point when it was obvious that physically they couldn’t compete, and a frustrated Lones felt a new voice was needed,stepping down at season’s end. HB petitioned the NHIAA to move down to Division III this past November but in what was described byh some as a close decision was denied.

“He’s super motivated and wants to get in with the youth program,” Bumpus said. “He’s looking to do all the right things and continue to build on the football program.

“He and I have talked about building numbers and continuing to grow at the lower levels, and that being the catalyst to building the program.”

Trisciani is scheduled to meet with the returning players and any other prospective players interested in the program on Wednesday.

At Trinity, the Pioneers his first year played that independent schedule, mainly against small school teams, and the second year they went back into full NHIAA play and made it to the semifinals in what was then Division V, probably a rough equivalent to today’s Division III. He left to coach at Saint A’s but the Pioneers were in great shape and won the Division V crown the next season going away.

And now he’ll be running his own program once again. Everything had happened so quickly, he’s just beginning to reach out to prospective staff members, and the first call he made was to John The Younger, who didn’t coach this past year. No decision just yet.

“He didn’t say no,” Trisciani said.

Either way, Trisciani knows there’s a lot of work ahead – and he can’t wait.

“I’m excited,” he said. “I’m glad to be there, and glad to get the opportunity.”

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