Buscetto Baffled By St. Bernard Separation

The baseball team's best pitcher and the softball team's catcher don't want to attend Saint Bernard any more, and veils of possible legal action against the school await.

Those are some of the ramifications revealed Friday in former Saint Bernard athletic director and baseball coach Bill Buscetto's first public comments since he parted ways officially with the school Monday.

It's been a brutal summer for Buscetto, beginning with his unexpected firing in late June and ending Monday when he turned down the school's offer of job  reinstatement, which included a $16,000 paycut and the relinquishing of his baseball coaching duties.

Buscetto spoke on WXLM 980 AM radio in New London with host Lee Elci this morning about the past, present and future. Like most area observers, Elci was astounded that Buscetto was fired in the first place considering he had posted an outstanding record as baseball coach, led the athletic department to two consecutive Michaels' Cup state awards for excellence and donated his own money to build a $75,000 softball field at school.

Plus, Buscetto directed this success during a difficult time after the former baseball coach, Mike Garvie, was arrested during an Internet sex sting scandal.

Buscetto figures he was released because of a personal conflict with outgoing headmaster William McKenna, who fired Buscetto a week before he left the position. The school was not also reportedly happy with some pointed emails he directed to a few disgruntled parents of players unhappy with playing time.

"I assure you I did nothing illegal or immoral," Buscetto said. "If I had, do you think the church would have made an offer to have me come back?"

When you weigh Buscetto's positives with minuses, it's hard to fathom why St. Bernard was unhappy with his job performance let alone to the point of releasing or demoting him. In his first year coaching in 2009, he led the Saints to the Class S championship game. Last season, an underclassman-dominated team won the ECC Small and lost in the ECC Tourney Final by a run.

St. Bernard's baseball team was also the only area squad to take a week-long trip to Florida during spring break. Buscetto's family and college connections made the trip possible.

"Bill brought a lot of passion and energy to Saint Bernard," said alumnus and former football All-State pick Mark Malchiodi, whose son Jon is a three-sport athlete. "It's unfortunate he's not in the picture any more because enrollment is down at the school and now we stand to lose some more students. Bill was a Saint Bernard alumnus, loved the school and was effective in raising funds. Now that's gone."

Willie Rios said his son, Willie Jr., will not return to St. Bernard as a result of Buscetto leaving. Rios was the team's best pitcher as a freshman last year. Buscetto said his daughter, a softball captain, does not want to return for her senior year.

"I said it would be okay for her to go back to St. Bernard, but she says she doesn't want to go back now, and that's sad," Buscetto said.

Buscetto made a point to thank the groundswell of support he received from parents, athletes, coaches and alumni after his dismissal. But despite the protests calling for St. Bernard to reinstate his job, the school only responded with a low-ball offer of athletic director duties and no coaching. Buscetto, who coached at Stonington High for eight years before taking the St. Bernard job, was not interested in the demotion.

"The faculty, staff, students, friends of St. Bernards, coaches wrote some beautiful letters on my behalf," Buscetto said. "All of these people who wrote all of these things, people who pay the bills at Saint Bernard, I don't want to say they were ignored, but if 98 percent that want me back weren't listed to, that's where the school loses a little bit of faith."

Despite the puzzling dismissal, Buscetto was willing to mend fences if he received his job back, but "he was unwilling to accept the job with the stipulations that St. Bernard spelled out for me."

Buscetto knew his relationship with McKenna was strained due to primarily a lack of communication. He had never received a letter of job performance dissatisfaction.

"I hadn't spoken or had contact with him in the last three months of the semester," Buscetto said. There is some speculation that some in the Saint Bernard hierarchy were upset that they did not have the final say on the construction of a new softball field or they did not want one built at all. Saint Bernard has never had an on-campus softball field until Buscetto used his own money to reconstruct a vacant pasture. The field was dedicated in April to former long-time employee Carmella "Sis" Guerin.

Buscetto used an analogy to relay his frustration at slow-moving protocal at the school.

"If I email you, saying the roof is leaking and there is no response, I'll email you again then again," he said. "If there is still no response, then I'm going to go ahead and fix the roof."

Now someone else is going to have to step in and fix an unhappy athletic department. Unnamed sources say there may be some legal action forthcoming, but for now Buscetto will keep busy working at his family restaurant in Waterford, Filomena's, running his baseball camp and attending his daughter's final athletic contests.

But they won't be at Saint Bernard.