SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Steven Marcus
January 28, 2004
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

Cheers are in order for Rich Wrase, who doesn't need to be at a place where everybody knows his name for self-fulfillment. The hottest coach in (junior college non-scholarship) basketball is having a great time in the (small time) at Suffolk CC-Selden. St. John's need not call. Wrase isn't interested.

"No matter what happens, I'm committed to my $8,000 Suffolk job," Wrase said with a smile wider than his team's 36-game winning streak, which is the longest in the nation. On the longest run of his coaching career, the 52-year old Wrase is taking his closeup with a refreshing sense of humor.

Wrase not only knows where he is, he realizes where he isn't.

The Suffolk streak is unfolding before hundreds, not thousands of fans.

Wrase isn't represented by an agent and there's a good chance if you didn't know his phone extension at his high school job or at Suffolk, you'd be asked to spell his last name before getting connected.

Working at a JC enjoys no better than entry-level status in the college coaching echelon. Only a handful eventually make it to Division I, such as Hofstra coach Tom Pecora, who started out at Farmingdale.

Pecora never forgot his roots, saying, "When I get on a bus today, people say, 'Do you mind riding on the bus?' and I say, 'I'm glad I'm not driving it.'"

Wrase is experiencing the same route. "You drive the vans, you are the team's social worker, psychiatrist, godfather, the whole nine yards," he said. "We don't pay the kids to play, it's a community college."

But Suffolk has not seen such spirit here since 1969, when 1,200 fans regularly packed the stands to see Tom Galeazzi's team win the Region XV title. Suffolk might actually have to pull out both bleachers to accommodate the turnout when it goes for its 37th straight victory tomorrow night against rival Nassau.

Small though the stage and pressure may be, winning can be elusive. After Galeazzi left, Gene Farry tried in vain for 19 years to win a regional title. "To the players and coaches and the people who follow the team, it's just as important as cutting down the net at the Final Four," Farry said.

Wrase starts his day at Eastport High School, where he is a social studies teacher. When his classes end, he drives about 20 miles to Selden for his part-time job. Part-time in salary only.

"It's a not a full-time job, but it's a year-round job," Suffolk athletic director Art DelDuca said. "You have to do it because you love to do it. It's not a matter of money." What kind of money would such a winning streak garner Wrase on the major college level? "I saw [Mike] Jarvis' contract," he said, "So, I probably would be making about a half million." At the very least.

Basketball was never about money for Wrase. He played guard in high school at Half Hollow Hills, then in college at Stony Brook University. His coaching career began at Eastport. He was 2-33 over his first two seasons, which included a 130-40 loss to Bridgehampton.

Eastport would later prosper, but Wrase made his high school coaching mark at Westhampton, where his teams won three county titles and the State Class B championship with a 28-0 record.

"This is harder," he said of the Suffolk streak. "All the road games are tougher." Wrase wanted a challenge above high school coaching, but not one that would carry him that far from his home and family in Rocky Point.

"I love where I live, right near the water," he said.

Wrase's ego doesn't need nurturing. "That was taken care of when I took little Eastport and beat Bridgehampton in 1988," he said. Wrase is on target to duplicate last year's NJCAA Division III title. Winning will not get him a raise.

"No, it won't," he said. "I do wish they would redo the gym floor, though. It's probably the same varnish from ." Regardless of the floor, Wrase is looking forward to next year when he gets to coach his son, Richie. After his son's two years, he might consider retirement.

Wrase may have dreamed about the big time, but he's never lost sleep over not being there. "The thing I haven't done is take a chance," he said. "Sometimes when you go to the Garden you make believe in your own mind that you are part of it. But I'm happy. I'm happy."
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

 
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