When you love something so much, it’s very difficult to leave.
Brother Rice ended the final season of the Al Fracassa era with a perfect 14-0 record and the Division 2 state title after a 38-21 victory over Muskegon November 29 at Ford Field.
Quarterback Alex Malzone was 20 of 24 for 263 yards and four touchdowns.
“When you’ve got good athletes, you can win,” Fracassa smiled. “They make you look good.”
“It feels great with this being Coach Fracassa’s last year,” said Malzone. “To give him a third one meant a lot to us and him, especially going undefeated, getting that Catholic [league] championship, and the state championship. It’s just a great feeling to send him out like that, great coach, great man.”
Fracassa is not leaving the cupboard bare for his successor. “We’re in good shape,” he said, noting that Malzone and wide receiver Grant Perry are coming back. “We have a few others coming back for a good nucleus. We had a very good JV team.”
Fracassa has won nine state titles, but this marked his first undefeated team in 30 seasons.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “I had hoped for one. We had one in 1974 and 1977. In 1977, we had no players that got a scholarship to a Division I school. I call them my termites, because they’re so little. There’s good things about every team I’ve had. It was a great year, a great three years. Don’t know many coaches that can win a state championship three years in a row. It’s awesome. Learned that word from my kids.
“My wife never comes to games. She used to come, but she’d get so nervous she’d beat everyone up next to her,” Fracassa joked, “Today, she came with my daughter, who flew in from Omaha. It was nice for them to see us play and have a great victory.”
But Fracassa admitted it will be tough to leave. “I wish I was young enough to coach some more,” Fracassa said. “I’ll still love football. It’s done a lot for me. It’s given me a scholarship to Michigan State. I enjoyed being an athlete. I learned so much at Michigan State when we had a 28-game winning streak. Biggie Munn and Duffy Daugherty were my coaches. They taught me so much. They would say the difference between a good team and great team is something like a little extra effort. Biggie Munn used to to say that every day at practice.”
Fracassa said the realization that this was his last year after 57 years of coaching “has hit me during the whole season. When I’d go home every night, I couldn’t believe this was going to be my last year. I tried [not] to think of it. Football kept me busy. But it’s here and time for someone to take over.
“I had a great coaching staff. My defensive and offensive staff, five of those guys played for me. We were all together as a family. They’re great coaches. They did an outstanding job coaching my boys. They coach. They did most of the coaching. I did most of the yelling. That’s my job. Their job was to prepare the team and they did a fantastic job.”