Interview with Bill Basel, Head Coach of Chaminade High School Football program. Mr. Basel (Class of 1958) has been the head coach of his alma mater’s varsity program for 22 years and the head coach of the junior varsity program for 18 years.
1) Can you tell me about the rivalry between your school and St. Anthony’s from a coach’s point of view?
Basel: I think, in football, the rivalry is simply two good football teams. The league that we play in, the Catholic High School Football League, is really well-balanced. There are so many outstanding football teams. I think the rivalry, Chaminade-St. Anthony’s, is more in sports like lacrosse, maybe basketball. I think lacrosse has been a great one. I think in football, it’s just two good football teams, two good schools, two good programs. The rivalry is just that I think that’s the way it’s looked like in football. It’s a little different in lacrosse because the balance in their league is not quite; it’s primarily Chaminade and St. Anthony’s as two dominant schools in lacrosse. But it’s a natural rivalry because we’re two Catholic high schools in Long Island, even though we’re all-boys and they’re coed. There are a lot of guys who maybe have sisters that go to St. Anthony’s and they know each other from playing in the off-seasons and things like that. It’s a great rivalry; one where both programs respect each other and the coaching that the kids see on both sides, not only from St. Anthony’s but from Chaminade, is outstanding.
2) What does this kind of rivalry mean to these players?
Basel: I think it’s not so much that any time we play St. Anthony’s that the whole season hinges on that particular game. What happens is that both sides bring their level of play up a notch. Because they know the type of intensity the game will be, it just makes for an outstanding game, no matter what it is. No matter what sport, they go at each other on the field or in the gym or whatever.
3) With this rivalry, is preparing for a team like St. Anthony’s any different than preparing for all of the other teams you face? If so, what’s the preparation like in that case?
Basel: In the Catholic High School Football League, there is such a balance of the people that you play and the caliber of football, that we would prepare for St. Anthony’s just like we would prepare for anybody else. The practice week ahead that we would prepare for Anthony’s would be the same as we would for anybody else because of the caliber of play that we face week-in and week-out. There’s really no easy game, and I’m talking football, there’s really no easy opponent in the league, so that you’d prepare for them just like anybody else.
4) In your years as a varsity football coach, what were some of the more memorable games that jump out at you from this rivalry?
Basel: I think over the last few years, St. Anthony’s has had some outstanding programs. They’ve won the Catholic League the last seven years in a row. We’ve had some very good games, some tight games. A game that comes to mind is the championship game a few years ago. We lost 34-32 and the championship to them. That’s what the rivalry has been about. Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for them, they’ve gotten the better of us for years. The games have been close, the games have been intense, they’re hard-fought clean games, and the competition’s been terrific. That was in 2003 maybe or 2004.
5) With all of the success that St. Anthony’s has had, you as a rival must be feeling a little frustrated about that. Do you kind of feel that way?
Basel: I don’t know if it’s frustration. It’s more like you go with what you have, you prepare as best you can, and as long as the kids play to their maximum, you’re happy with that. Anytime we play St. Anthony’s, our kids have performed as best they could. There have been some years they’ve had better athletes. To their credits, their athletes have performed the way they should.
6) You’ve had alumni football players, one of them was in the NFL for a brief period, if I recall.
Basel: Correct. That was J.P. Foschi, who played for the Oakland Raiders.
7) I think there was someone who played for the Detroit Lions.
Basel: That’s one of our coaches. Coach Stephen Boyd is our strength and conditioning coach and our linebackers coach on the varsity. He played for the Lions for seven years.
8) With alumni like that, how do they remember the rivalry and see it from an alum’s point of view?
Basel: I think they all look at it as after they graduate, they come back for the games, and obviously they’re rooting for Chaminade to win the games when we do play them. As I said from a coaching standpoint, it’s a great rivalry where kids respect each other and coaches respect each other. The games are very well-played on both sides of the ball.
9) With the respect you have for St. Anthony’s, there is really no bad blood I assume.
Basel: There’s really no bad blood between the two schools, I think it’s just a mutual respect for each other because the kids know each other. They play on teams outside of the season. Some of them are from the same towns because our kids and Anthony’s kids come from all over; they just don’t come from Mineola and South Huntington. There is a mutual respect I think on both sides.
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