Counting down Delaware's top 125 coaches through the years. Here's 25 to 1

Delaware has a splendid sports history.

During the last two years, Delaware Online/The News Journal has capsulized the First State's prolific past with two epic lists.

Last year, we published a collection of Delaware's all-time 100 greatest teams, a compendium of winners who left the most indelible marks on teammates, fans and followers.

That followed our 2021 recognition of the state's 100 most accomplished athletes. It was a tribute to more than a century's worth of icons who graced our landscape by excelling at their games, scoring victories, stirring emotions and instilling memories.

Those athletes and teams, of course, needed coaches. Now, we have assembled an honor roll for them. Many guided the athletes and teams on our previous lists.

We learned that 100 names was not enough and expanded this list to 125, though it certainly could have been larger.

They have been divided into five sections of 25. Here are the top 25 all-time greatest Delaware coaches:

25: Dim Montero

Montero guided Salesianum football teams to a 71-10-3 record over 10 seasons and was national coach of the year in 1964 before heading off to the University of Maryland.

24: Bob Mattson

Delaware’s first inductee to the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2017 founded the Wilmington Aquatics Club and was its coach from 1957 to 1994. The former North Carolina State All-American and world record holder coached Delaware Olympians Steve Gregg, 200 butterfly silver medalist in 1976, and Dave Johnson plus national champions Marry-de Mackie, Jennie Franks and Seth Van Neerden and a slew of other Olympic Trials qualifiers.

23: Mike Drass

Drass made Wesley College one of the nation’s premier NCAA Division III football programs before his sudden death in 2018. Wesley was 229-61-1 in 25 seasons under Drass, never had a losing record, and made 14 NCAA Tournaments with six semifinal appearances. Defensive back Rocky Myers (2004) and quarterback Joe Callahan (2015) won the Gagliardi Trophy as best player in Division III.

22: Nancy Griskowitz

Griskowitz has coached St. Mark’s High volleyball since 1998, winning nine state championships in that 25-year span, with the last two going undefeated in 2020 and 2021 and the 2021 team dropping just two sets in 18 matches.

21: Marnie Giunta

The former University of Delaware runner became Padua cross country coach in 2007 and added indoor and outdoor track duties in 2010. Since then, she has guided the Pandas to 32 state team championships plus a slew of state, regional and national successes by relay teams as well as individual performers.

20: Betty Richardson

The Massachusetts native made Tower Hill School Delaware’s first high school field hockey powerhouse as coach from 1974 to 1989. She guided the Hillers to four state championships and three other trips to the state finals while preparing many players for collegiate and even international-level competition.

19: Stan Waterman

The former Howard High and University of Delaware point guard became Sanford School boys basketball coach in 1991-1992. The Warriors won the state title in that season and seven more along with 571 games through 2021, when Waterman left to become Delaware State coach.

18: Bob Tattersall

Delaware’s winningest high school football coach guided Wilmington Friends School from 1968 through 2022, missing 2018 after heart surgery. His Quakers went 331-161-7, won an improbable state Division II title in 1984 plus numerous Independent Conference titles and bouts with rival Tower Hill. Tattersall was associate head coach to his son, Rob, as Friends was 2022 state Class 2A champ.

17: Tom DeMatteis

DeMatteis was Saint Mark’s High boys soccer coach for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, winning 11 state titles and going 356-73-31 with three unbeaten teams and several appearing in national rankings. He also started the Spartans’ girls team in 1994 and guided it to a 223-25-12 record and four straight state titles from 2000 through 2003.

16: Rosemary Bianchini

Bianchini was William Penn High field hockey and softball coach for 26 years through 1994-95. Her hockey teams went 266-62-43 and won the 1988 and 1994 state titles with unbeaten records. Her softball teams had a 375-66 record and won 1986, 1988 and 1989 state titles. The Colonials also took 10 Blue Hen Conference Flight A field hockey and 18 softball titles under Bianchini.

15: Dave Nelson

This College Football Hall of Famer kept Delaware nationally prominent as coach from 1951-65 while introducing the novel Wing-T offense, a UD trademark that would be employed from high school football with wrinkles all the way up to the NFL. Nelson’s Hens went 84-42-2, won the 1963 national championship plus three Middle Atlantic Conference and three Lambert Cup titles symbolic of Eastern supremacy.

14: Bill Murray

Murray was the first University of Delaware football coach to win consistently and made the Blue Hens the nationally recognized program they remain. Murray’s Hens went 49-16-2 from 1940-42/1946-50 (there were no teams during World War II). Delaware was 10-0 and won its first small-college wire-service national title in 1946 and had a 32-game unbeaten streak under the College Football Hall of Famer.

13: Mary Ann Hitchens

Hitchens is among the founders of the University of Delaware women’s athletic program and one of its most successful coaches. The Milford High graduate was UD field hockey and basketball coach, with the field hockey team establishing itself as a national power. Over 16 seasons they went 196-76-30, finished second nationally once and in the top four six times overall.

12: Bruce Reynolds

The former William Penn High quarterback returned to his alma mater after graduating from Duke and became head coach in 1974. Three years later the Colonials qualified for the state tournament for the first time and became regulars. Under Reynolds, the Colonials went 218-73-3 over 27 seasons through 2000, having just one losing season, his second, and winning seven state Division I championships.

11: Steve Bastianelli

An unbeaten state wrestling champion at Sussex Central High and Eastern champ at Lehigh University, Bastianelli made a quick and equally successful transition to coaching while turning Saint Mark’s into a national wrestling powerhouse from 1980-2003. The Spartans won 10 state titles, went 201-79-2 in dual meets and had 58 state champs, including Delaware’s only subsequent NCAA champ Sheldon Thomas.

10: Scott Mosier

The former Glasgow High All-Stater and Delaware Wizards pro became Salesianum soccer coach in 2002 and has made it among the state’s dominant sports programs. The Sals have won 18 state titles in those 22 seasons, soared high in the national rankings and gone 325-39-15.

9: Pat Castagno

The former Salesianum and University of Delaware runner transformed Tatnall into a cross country and track and field powerhouse, his teams winning 54 state team titles since 2001 with standout showings at the Penn Relays, the Nike Cross Country Nationals and other regional and national events.

8: Jodi Hollamon

Delmar’s field hockey coach since 2009, Hollamon has guided the Wildcats to a 230-21-2 record. They’ve won their last 115 games, state titles the last seven years after four runner-up finishes before that, with periodic regional and national rankings appearances. Many players have earned college scholarships and several, including daughters Josie and Jordyn and niece Maci Bradford, are on United States teams.

7: Jack Holloway

The only Delaware coach enshrined in the National Federation of State High School Associations’ Hall of Fame, Holloway guided William Penn High wrestling team for 25 years through 2000-01. The Colonials went 297-35 in dual meets, won seven state titles and 18 Blue Hen Conference Flight A championships and had 39 individual state champions. Holloway was national Coach of the Year in 2000.

6: Butch Simpson

Simpson coached the Newark High football team for 39 seasons from 1977-2015, the Yellowjackets winning a record nine Division I state championships, including five straight during a dominant 1997-2001 stretch. His 284 career wins were No. 2 in First State history when he retired.

5: Dallas Green

The Conrad High graduate and former University of Delaware pitcher didn’t coach any First State teams. But many Delaware residents certainly relished when Green, as manager, steered the Phillies to their long-awaited first World Series championship in 1980.

4: Bob Hannah

Hannah was University of Delaware baseball coach for 36 years through 2000, his teams going 1,053-463-6. The .694 win percentage ranked 42nd all-time in NCAA Division I entering 2023. The American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee guided Delaware to 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and a 1970 trip to the College World Series. Delaware won 21 conference regular-season titles and had 32 Major League draft picks.

3: Ron Ludington

An Olympic bronze medalist himself as a pairs skater in 1960, Ludington became one of figure skating’s most prominent coaches based first at the Skating Club of Wilmington from 1970-87 then at the University of Delaware until his death in 2020. He regularly produced Olympic qualifiers such as Kitty and Peter Carruthers, 1984 pairs silver medalists. Foreign skaters also regularly came to Delaware to train under Ludington, including 1998 Russian ice-dancing silver medalists Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov.

2: Janet Smith

Smith coached the University of Delaware women’s lacrosse team from 1979-1989, highlighted by Delaware winning AIAW Division II national titles in 1981 and 1982 and the NCAA Division I title in 1983, the school’s first at that level in any sport. The 1984 team was third in the NCAA Tournament. Smith’s teams went 118-51-1. She is a National Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame inductee.

1: Tubby Raymond

After a long stint as offensive coordinator, Raymond became University of Delaware head football coach in 1966. He led the Blue Hens for 36 seasons through 2001, his teams going 300-119-3 and winning three national championships – in wire-service small-college polls in 1971 and 1972 and in the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1979. Raymond was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Have an idea for a compelling local sports story or is there an issue that needs public scrutiny? Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware's greatest 125 coaches: 25 to 1