Pisano to be assistant at YC

After stints with Kofa and Yuma High, Louie Pisano is heading to the private sector.

Pisano will be an assistant coach for the Yuma Catholic boys basketball team this coming season, according to Shamrocks head coach Brooks Neumann.

Pisano, who last coached in 2008-09 when he was head coach of the Gila Valley Region champion Criminals, will still teach at Yuma High. After a year off, he said he's excited to get back on the court.

"It's going to be fun, I just enjoy doing stuff like that," Pisano said. "I enjoy practices. That's the fun part of coaching."

The Shamrocks missed the playoffs for the first time in the school's history this past season. Neumann said he has high expectations for next year, and bringing on an experienced assistant - Pisano was head coach at Kofa before taking the Yuma High gig.

"What's it add? A whole lot. A different kind of strategy," Neumann said. "He likes the running game, which I like. He likes to press, which is what I like. I've never really pressed since I've been at Yuma Catholic. Louie just brings a whole different outlook, a fresh outlook. I always liked the way his teams played, and it can only help us."

Pisano said a position for him at San Luis fell through, and instead of becoming an assistant down there he returned to Yuma High to teach and took a year off from coaching.

"Me and Brooks just talk every now and then and we had talked during the course of the season this year, and one thing led to another," Pisano said. "He said that he could use some help and I was available since I wasn't coaching."

YC athletic director Rhett Stallworth - who coached football at Yuma High before going to YC - said he was very pleased with the addition, adding it's not the first time some has taught at a Yuma Union High School District school but coached for YC.

And when a coach that's as good a fit for the school as Pisano is, Stallworth said, he had to jump at the chance.

"He's not coaching there anymore. He wants to coach again and he's a Catholic person," Stallworth said. "He's known Brooks and me for a while and we've had a pretty good relationship. It seems it was the right decision for him at the time. It's definitely an asset to have Louie."