Sometimes the right coaching opportunity isn’t necessarily the easiest one. Sometimes it’s about going somewhere you believe you can make a difference.
For longtime Pittsburgh basketball coach Rico Abbondanza, the next chapter of his coaching career will take him into the Pittsburgh City League as the new head boys basketball coach at Brashear High School.
And for me, this one is a little different to write about because Rico isn’t just another coach whose career I’ve followed.
He’s my friend.
I’ve known Rico and I’ve known how seriously he takes basketball, teaching the game and helping young players develop. So when I heard he was taking over at Brashear, my first thought wasn’t simply about wins and losses.
I wanted to know what he sees. What made Brashear the right opportunity? And what does he believe the program can eventually become?
He’s Been Around Basketball
Abbondanza isn’t walking into Brashear trying to learn how to coach. He’s already spent years around the game and has experienced basketball from several different perspectives.
He served as an assistant at Bethel Park under former University of North Carolina standout Dante Calabria before eventually taking over the Black Hawks program himself.
But coaching is about more than drawing up plays.
It’s about relationships. It’s about understanding personalities. It’s about knowing when to push a kid and when that same kid needs somebody to put an arm around him.
And when you’re coaching high school basketball, you’re dealing with young men at an important stage of their lives.
That’s one reason I’m interested in seeing what Rico can build at Brashear.
A Different Challenge
Brashear represents something different.
The Bulls are coming off an 8-14 season in 2025-26 and reached the City League semifinals before falling to Allderdice.
But records only tell you what happened before. They don’t determine what happens next.
Taking over a program gives a coach an opportunity to establish an identity from the beginning.
How are we going to practice? How hard are we going to play? How are we going to defend? How are we going to treat one another? What does it mean to put on a Brashear uniform?
Those things have to come before championships.
Pittsburgh City League Basketball Matters
I’ve always believed Pittsburgh basketball is at its best when programs throughout the city are strong.
The City League has produced too many great players and too much basketball history for us not to care about the health of every program.
And Brashear has an opportunity to build something.
That doesn’t happen overnight.
There are going to be growing pains. There will be games where things don’t look the way Rico wants them to look yet.
That’s coaching.
But establishing a culture isn’t about one game or even one season. It’s about getting kids to believe in what you’re building. Then getting the next group to believe. Then eventually reaching the point where the players themselves are protecting the standard.
That’s when you’ve created a program.
Now It’s Rico’s Turn
Every coach eventually wants an opportunity to put his own fingerprints on a program.
Your philosophy. Your culture. Your expectations. Your style of basketball.
Now Rico gets that opportunity at Brashear.
And knowing him, I know he’s not going there simply to collect wins. He’s going there to build something.
So instead of me telling everybody what Rico Abbondanza wants Brashear basketball to become, I decided it would be better to let him explain it himself.
DrewSchifino.com sat down with the new Brashear head coach to talk about why he accepted the job, what he learned during his coaching journey, what kind of basketball he wants the Bulls to play and what he hopes to build on and off the court.
Q: Rico, first off, congratulations. What attracted you to the Brashear job, and what made you feel like this was the right opportunity for you at this point in your coaching career?
Rico Abbondanza: Brashear was an attractive opportunity for me because I’ve been a teacher here for more than 10 years. This will be my first coaching opportunity where I’m integrated into a basketball program that is also part of my everyday life. I’m in the school building day in and day out, which gives me an opportunity to be around the players beyond just practices and games.
Q: You’ve been around basketball for a long time and have coached in different situations. What did you learn from those experiences that you believe has prepared you for this opportunity?
Rico Abbondanza: I think coaching, in general, is a constant learning experience. You’re always improving your philosophy, finding new ways to motivate young people and coordinating with your staff to help players grow and create a positive environment around basketball.
Q: You spent time coaching alongside Dante Calabria. What did you learn from Dante about coaching, managing personalities and running a basketball program?
Rico Abbondanza: I was very fortunate to spend so much time around Dante and his coaching. He was around some of the highest-level coaches you could possibly learn from, including Coach John Miller, Dean Smith and Larry Brown, and you can see that influence in his daily routines in the gym and his tremendous knowledge of the game.He teaches nonstop as a coach, and his in-game adjustments are second to none.
Q: When you first started seriously looking at Brashear, what did you see in the program that made you believe there was something there to build on?
Rico Abbondanza: Being honest, I haven’t had the opportunity to see many Brashear games over the years because I was deeply rooted in another program for the last five years, and that occupied a lot of my time. But as an experienced skills-development trainer, I believe I can help develop players between the JV and varsity levels. Hopefully, that development will also help build confidence within our players.
Q: Every coach wants his team to have an identity. When somebody watches Brashear play under Rico Abbondanza, what do you want them to immediately notice about your team?
Rico Abbondanza: Intensity. Win, lose or draw, I want us to raise the intensity on both sides of the floor, especially on the defensive end.
Q: You’ve always believed in playing fast and getting players involved. What will your offensive philosophy look like, and how important will pace, ball movement and unselfish basketball be?
Rico Abbondanza: Everyone has to be a ballhandler, and everyone has to be able to score. If guys don’t know that they’re expected to score and perform well, they can struggle mentally when the team needs them the most. I think building confidence throughout the entire roster is essential.
Q: What type of defensive identity do you want Brashear to develop?
Rico Abbondanza: I want our defensive identity to be about making catches uncomfortable. During every possession, if we can’t make players uncomfortable when they touch the basketball, then we’re already not reaching our goal defensively.
Q: City League basketball has its own history, rivalries and style. How excited are you about becoming part of that basketball culture?
Rico Abbondanza: I’ve taught in Pittsburgh Public Schools for more than 23 years, and I was raised around it even before that because of my dad and his career during the legendary Perry football years. That’s what inspired me to choose teaching as a career and, more specifically, teaching and coaching in the Pittsburgh Public School system. So being part of City League basketball means a lot to me.
Q: High school coaching is about much more than basketball. What standards are you going to establish for your players when it comes to academics, accountability and how they represent Brashear away from the court?
Rico Abbondanza: Mentoring and trying to help players overcome the challenges that life presents starts with helping them overcome the challenges they face in school. It’s about improving yourself in every way possible — academics, behavior, relationships with people and representing yourself in a positive manner. I want our players to take pride in their contributions both on the court and inside the school.
Q: Relationships have always been a major part of coaching. How important is earning the trust of your players before asking them to completely buy into your system?
Rico Abbondanza: It’s very important. If players don’t have faith in what is being built, that can have a residual impact across the rest of the team. That’s one of the biggest benefits of being able to see these players every day outside of the gym and throughout the school building. Those relationships don’t have to begin and end with basketball.
Q: Recruiting players isn’t part of high school coaching in the traditional sense, but getting kids in your own building excited about basketball is huge. How important will it be to build the program from the youth level up and make kids want to play for Brashear?
Rico Abbondanza: It’s critical. One of the biggest struggles I see in the City League is the absence of a ninth-grade program. In some cases, younger players simply aren’t socially ready to integrate into a varsity-age group, and they can feel uncomfortable or unwelcome socially. I think one of the biggest changes that could have an immediate impact on basketball throughout the City League would be implementing a ninth-grade team at every school.
Q: What have your early conversations with the players been like, and what have you learned about the group you’re inheriting?
Rico Abbondanza: We’ve only been able to get together a handful of times for preseason conditioning. We also have potential players who are still participating in other sports right now. But with the players who have been attending consistently, there has been a nice, positive atmosphere and a lot of good work being put in.
Q: What’s the biggest thing you believe has to change or improve for Brashear to take the next step as a program?
Rico Abbondanza: I say this about any program I’m involved with: Games aren’t won during the season. They’re won in the offseason, especially during the summer months. We didn’t have the opportunity to establish that this past summer, but teaching our players to do more on their own and giving them skilled routines and habits they can follow will be a major factor in becoming known as a basketball school.
Q: You’re competitive, so I know you’re not taking this job simply to participate. What are your expectations for Brashear, both immediately and over the next few years?
Rico Abbondanza: I honestly don’t have any preset expectations at the moment. I’m just taking things one day at a time and one workout session at a time.
Q: Finally, when people look back several years from now at the Rico Abbondanza era at Brashear, what do you hope they say you built there?
Rico Abbondanza: That one is simple to answer: “City Championships!”