Remembering Kevin Wiercinski: ‘We lost one of the all-time greats’

Legendary Lawrence Academy coach Kevin Wiercinski (left) died on Aug. 14 after a battle with cancer. (Lawrence Academy)

Mike Hart will never forget the 2018 NEPSAC Class AA playoffs. The St. Andrew’s coach had a loaded team that season headlined by future pro Cole Swider, but there was a moment during a practice before their quarterfinal matchup against Lawrence Academy that ticked him off.

“My guys in practice are like, ‘Coach, who do we think we’ll get in the semis?’” Hart recalled.

Hart knew better. He knew that Kevin Wiercinski was coming to town.

Hart blew his whistle, put his team on the line and had them start running. He gave them an earful about not looking ahead.

A few nights later, Wiercinski’s Spartans traveled down to Barrington, R.I., and gave Hart’s Saints fits. St. Andrew’s ultimately prevailed, 67-48, but it wasn’t as easy as the final score indicated. Lawrence star Joey Luchetti, who went on to play football as a tight end at Boston College, dominated with 28 points and 18 rebounds. Hart said the Spartans “kicked our ass” on the boards despite having a handful of players over 6-foot-8.

“It was Kev,” Hart said. “He got his kids to believe, they played that damn man to man defense and they just out-toughed us. …

“I told the guys, how dare you not respect an opponent, and not only an opponent, but with a Hall of Fame head coach.”

That game spoke volumes of the legendary coaching pedigree of Wiercinski, 53, who died on Aug. 14 after a courageous cancer battle. The winner of three NEPSAC championships and more than 400 games, and a coach of two NBA lottery picks, Wiercinski was a fixture of New England basketball for nearly three decades. He was a pioneer for NEPSAC, and a beloved figure in the Lawrence Academy community. More than anything, he was a one-of-a-kind leader who went above and beyond in his duties and always put kids first.

“We lost one of the all-time greats,” Hart said.

“There’s a big hole now in New England basketball,” said Lawrence Academy coach Mike Foustoukos.

“An incredible human being with an unbelievable spirit and positivity about him,” added Worcester Academy coach Jamie Sullivan.

Wiercinski was hired by Lawrence Academy in 1997, when he became the basketball head coach and a history teacher at the school. But he eventually took on many different roles. One year, when Lawrence lost its athletic director and soccer coach right before the year began, Wiercinski stepped up to do both. He became the history department chair and taught a sports journalism class in which he brought his students to the Big East tournament every year.

“When we had some faculty members who had to go on leave, he was always the first person to offer to pick up a class, even if it was something he had never taught before,” Foustoukos said “And he just did whatever was needed to make sure learning was still happening.”

Wiercinski was something of a throwback. Hart admired how he fulfilled his school duties in the same manner and with the same commitment that he coached basketball.

“Kev was the triple threat,” Hart said. “He was the traditional NEPSAC coach triple threat. Teacher, coach, dorm. … If they needed something on campus, Kevin was there.”

Hart emphasized how important of a figure Wiercinski was to NEPSAC, especially as the league grew during the early 2000s. During meetings, he was “always that calming voice of reason,” Hart said, when they were making decisions about the future of the league. And he always had one priority in all of his ideas and opinions.

“The big thing with Kevin was: Is it good for the kids?” Hart said. “That was his big thing. Yeah, we have good talent, we have good coaches, but what we do has to be good for the kids.”

When NEPSAC formed Class AA, Lawrence Academy was the only ISL school that wanted in. And Wiercinski’s teams more than held their own, even if it didn’t always have the same level of talent that other schools in the class had. Even at the AA level, Wiercinski endorsed multi-sport athletes. And while he had several high-major talents over the years – including Shabazz Napier and Antoine Wright – he won games and championships with multi-sport players who had a defensive edge.

“He had all these multi-sport kids who just came to the game, played defense, rebounded and he taught them,” Hart said. “Just an unbelievable teacher of the game, especially on the defensive end. One of the best defensive coaches you’ll ever see at all levels. …

“(It was the) same old, same old. He comes walking into the gym (with) a couple players you know about and then just these kids, you don’t know who they are, and they defend and they make shots. You come in averaging 83 points a game and it’s 59-57 and you sneak out of there with either a win or a loss.”

Hart said Wiercinski doesn’t get thought of in the same breath as other legendary NEPSAC coaches, and that should change.

“Everyone forgets him, it just kills me, because the guy won four New England championships and had two lottery picks and he should be talked about with the Jere Quinns and everyone else of the world, and he’s not,” Hart said. “It’s because of his quiet, unassuming nature.”

Wiercinski cared deeply about his colleagues and helped them in any way he could. When Wilbraham & Monson coach Mike Mannix became the Class AA commissioner, Wiercinski was always there for him. Sullivan will always remember how Wiercinski helped him through personal difficulties.

Sullivan’s dad, known as ‘Grampy,’ was sick with Alzheimer’s in 2019 and he would take him with him to games as he took care of him. He remembers the NEPSAC Scholastic Showcase held at Milton Academy that year, when Wiercinski helped take care of Grampy. He bought Grampy a Curious George T-shirt, because he had become enamored with cartoons and comics in his condition. When Grampy died during COVID, Wiercinski was there at the wake to give his support alongside other coaches.

“Kevin probably prodded people to be there,” Sullivan said. “Just an incredible human being. … He saw that I was struggling. My dad’s sick, I’m trying to balance. My dad was absolutely the happiest person in the world to be with his son.”

It mattered to Wiercinski to get to know people and create a community. Hart credited him with the strong camaraderie that exists today between Class AA coaches. During showcase events, including the St. Andrew’s Holiday Classic, Wiercinski would find local bars and restaurants and organize coaches coming together after long game days. Most of the conversations didn’t even include basketball.

“It’s all the stuff we don’t think about,” Hart said. “People hanging out, talking to each other, eating pizza, staying in the hotel. He wanted people to hang out. Screw basketball, (it was) how’s it going, tell me about your family, tell me about your kids. That was him. He saw more than basketball, and a lot of guys are so obsessed with coaching that they forget about it.”

In 2023, when Wiercinski stepped aside as the head basketball coach to have a more flexible schedule for his family, he didn’t stray too far away from the court. Like he always did, he made sure Foustoukos knew he was there. Wiercinski essentially became an assistant coach as he sat on the bench next to Foustoukos, and rarely missed a game over the last two seasons.

“Our first year, we had some tough losses and he was just always there, would always send a text hours later when he knew I would be up breaking down film,” Foustoukos said. “He’d be like, ‘Hey, I’m so relieved I don’t have to be up until 3 a.m. every night. I know you are but if you need anything, feel free to call.’”

Added Hart: “He’s one of the few head coaches who can move one seat down on that bench and accept it. … You know ego-driven coaching is, and he just was a guy with no ego.”

Foustoukos didn’t know Wiercinski well before taking the job, but he as he learned more about him and his knowledge of the game, that changed quickly. He attached himself to Wiercinski’s hip to learn everything he could. Their desks were next to each other, and they’d chat for hours as Foustoukos peppered him with questions. Wiercinski welcomed all of it.

“The guy was a basketball savant and connoisseur and you wouldn’t know it because he just cared about you and how you were doing so much,” Foustoukos said.

Foustoukos learned so much from Wiercinski: how to build a basketball team, coaching nuances and the importance of creating relationships. But it always came back to the kids.

(He) always did the right thing,” Foustoukos said. “It was just always about being a good person.

“He balanced (everything). He always wanted to do the right thing, keeping it in perspective that it’s high school and we’re doing it in the best interest of the kids all the time, and holy (expletive) do we want to win this. …

“It’s really difficult for me to think of Lawrence Academy without thinking of Kevin Wiercinski.”

That extends to New England basketball, too.

“He was part of the fabric of the human being portion of coaches in New England, that care about their school, take tremendous pride in their schools, are teachers at heart,” Sullivan said. “Just a teacher at heart, but a coach and mentor and somebody who cared deeply about their players and their success off the basketball court as much as their success on it. That’s him.”