If you didn’t know and ran into him in a St. Cloud High School hallway, it would be pretty easy to mistake Tommy Billiteri for a student. But in the basketball gym, you quickly realize he’s the man in charge.
The SCHS alum just finished his first season as Bulldogs head coach, and turned a perennial losing program into county champions. The Bulldogs won 19 games and took Final Four team Edgewater to the brink in the regional playoffs.
And, basketball was not the only sport Billiteri played a major role in at St. Cloud last year. An assistant volleyball coach, he stepped in midway through the boys’ season when St. Cloud had to make a coaching change and proceeded to coach the boys to both OBC and district championships.
That turnaround, and his ability to pivot late in the year, led to Billiteri being the Osceola News-Gazette Coach of the Year for 2023-24.
“No one more deserving for the honor,” St. Cloud Athletic Director Bryan Smart said. “When you interview someone for a head coaching job, they are all going to say the right things like ‘I am here for the long haul’ and ‘I want to turn things around.’ With Tommy, you believed it when he said it. He was a St. Cloud kid, played here and came back to teach and coach here. His sincerity and vision for the program during the interview convinced me he was the right guy for the job.”
Billiteri played basketball and volleyball and graduated from St. Cloud in 2015. At the University of Florida, he was going to major in journalism, hoping to become a sports reporter or broadcaster.
“About halfway through, I just realized it wasn’t for me,” he said. “I switched to sports management and about the same time I started coaching at Oak Hill Academy. I just knew I wanted to get into coaching.”
After graduating in 2019, Billiteri spent one more year at Oak Hill before returning to the area. He was an assistant coach one year at Liberty, before getting an opportunity to return to St. Cloud High, where he was hired as a teacher and an assistant coach for junior varsity basketball and volleyball.
Even then, he said he dreamed of eventually becoming the head coach in basketball and reversing St. Cloud’s two-decade long string of losing seasons.
“It’s something I really wanted to do because I was part of that long losing tradition when I was played here,” Billiteri said. “I knew the problem did not lie solely with the talent. We somehow had gotten into a rut of believing we could not win consistently. I believe the administration, players, students, parents and fans just started accepting that. I even felt some of the previous coaches in the program believed that.”
After being named head coach prior to last season, Billiteri instantly created a new culture with the players, establishing clear definitions of what was expected of players both on and off the court.
St. Cloud got off to a 2-0 start, but it was a seven-point loss to arch-rival Harmony in the next game that really turned the Bulldogs program, Billiteri said.
“I knew how well-coached Harmony was and knew it would be a tough game to win.,” he said. “But I said nothing and waited until after the game to remind them in no uncertain terms that we were not anywhere good enough to be in a position to take anyone lightly. I think that loss got everyone on the same page.” The Bulldogs used that inspiration to pull a major upset of long-time Florida power Dr. Phillips the following road game. St. Cloud won four of five games before dropping two of three in a prestigious and tough Christmas Tournament, then won 12 of 13 games after the break, including avenging the Harmony loss on Jan. 10 (49-42) and winning the Orange Belt Conference Tournament for the first time. The Bulldogs finished the regular season with 19-5 record.
Despite a loss in the district semifinal, they received an atlarge bid to regionals. Against Edgewater, who was ranked #1 in the state in 6A for much of the season, St. Cloud stayed with them for the entire game before dropping a 72-67 decision.
St. Cloud girls’ coach Chad Ansbaugh, who has run a highly successful program for years, says he is simply in awe of what Billiteri accomplished in his first season.
“I love watching the practices of other coaches and frankly Tommy’s practices blew me away. I’ve never seen a coach that young be that organized. He had a chalkboard out with the practice schedule mapped out for the kids to see before the practice. Every drill he had he made sure it was some sort of competition that kept the players engaged. But the biggest thing was how he dealt with mistakes. He would make his corrections without having to raise his voice. His kids really respond to his style and frankly it made me a little jealous because I tend to get upset.”
The soft-spoken Billiteri says his style comes from taking bits and pieces from the best coaching traits he has seen through the years.
“In college, I was a student manager and practice player for the girls’ varsity basketball team and I learned a lot from Gator coaches running a highlevel D-I program. We had some solid coaches at Oak Hill that influenced me and other things I just picked up from watching and observing coaches in other sports.”
As for the future, Billiteri has most of his team coming back for next year and says the potential for a great season is possible, but he will preach about overconfidence.
“The most important thing will be for our players to understand we are no longer the hunter but the hunted. Teams will no longer take St. Cloud lightly so we will have to ramp our intensity.”
Ansbaugh added that he feels Billiteri has the potential to be a great coach. “There is so many things that go on today that creates headaches for coaches to the point they burn out and want to quit. If Tommy can navigate and deal with those issues, he will be a Hall of Fame type coach, I really believe that.”
“The most important thing will be for our players to understand we are no longer the hunter but the hunted.”
TOMMY BILLITERI SCHS Basketball Head Coach
