Wildwood Catholic Academy Boys’ Basketball Coach Anthony Raffa Done After One-Year
Anthony Raffa's tenure as the head coach at Wildwood Catholic Academy has ended after just one season at his alma mater with no reason given.
Raffa, who replaced Dave DeWeese and was a part of his coaching staff before being named head coach back in August of 2021, went 10-13 in his only season with the Crusaders.
DeWeese’s coached the Crusaders for 18 seasons, going 324-176 three South Jersey and four Cape-Atlantic League championships and and three South Jersey Non-Public B championships.
Raffa of course was one of the greatest players in Crusaders history, scoring 1,893 career points , leading Wildwood Catholic to South Jersey Non-Public B titles in 2006 and 2007. Raffa averaged 30.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 4.2 steals as a senior.
He played his college basketball at Coastal Carolina University and went on to play professionally overseas before returning home to help coach at Wildwood Catholic.
Raffa isn't the only change at Wildwood Catholic, the school is also maming a change in its administration, hiring of Michael Rennie as the new Athletic Director. He'll be replacing Michael Saioni, who had been in that position the past five years.
Saioni sent out this statement regarding Raffa:
Wildwood Catholic Academy and Anthony Raffa have parted ways with regard to the boys basketball program. I want to thank Anthony for his service over the last year and wish him well in the future. Replacing retired Coach David DeWeese is no small task and we are extremely excited to take the program in a new direction with the hiring of our next coach. The search is underway with many great candidates coming forth. We are looking very much forward to announcing a new leader of our program in the near future!
Wildwood Catholic is set to return one of its more productive players in sophomore guard Rashee Bell.
The Crusaders have been one of the top programs in the Cape-Atlantic League recently, but now need a new leader.