Mike Matisi enters the college coaching ranks as he joins Gabby Holko's women's basketball coaching staff ahead of the 2023-24 season. Matisi comes to the River Hawks after a successful stint as the boys varsity head coach at Southeast High School in Ravenna, Ohio.
Matisi oversees all of the River Hawks' skill development and has his hands in on all guard play. He has been an integral part of the success over the last two seasons, with the 2023-24 program tallying the most wins in 30 seasons. He has also taken a big hand in recruiting, while helping run the basketball youth and overnight team camps.
"I am very excited to welcome Mike to our SUWBB family," said Holko. "Mike is going to bring a lot of experience to our program, and he has a great basketball mind."
Mike is also going to bring such a great energy as soon as he steps into the gym with our young women. Mike's experience as a high school head coach is going to help us continue to build a Landmark contender here at SU."
He is going to be involved in every aspect of our program from scouting, recruiting and skill development focusing in on our guards. Mike was just the assistant coach we were searching for throughout the hiring process."
Matisi inherited a program with zero seniors in 2018 and inspired a period of immense growth. The team went from 0-22 to 7-15 in one season, then improving again in the third season to finish 10-10. The team would compete for a league championship in 2020, finishing as runners-up.
He also guided the team to significant statistical improvement, dropping their points allowed from 70 to 50 and increasing scoring from 40 to 50 points per game.
Also a successful recruiter, Matisi helped grow the roster from the 15 players he inherited to a consistent roster of 20-25 players each season. He also helped to run several successful youth camps with more than 60 campers each summer.
Prior to coaching at Southeast, Matisi spent two seasons as a freshman head coach at Lowellville High School and then two seasons as the junior varsity head coach at South Range High School.
Matisi attended Westminster College and was a member of both the men's basketball and men's tennis teams there. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and special education. He also completed his Master of Education at Youngstown State University.
