Justin Piergrossi and His "Skyline Way"

For 20 consecutive years, the Skyline College men's basketball program has enjoyed the navigation of Coach Justin Piergrossi. He operates his program with an emphasis on team, family and the always keeping the big picture in mind. So much so, Piergrossi developed his program's own mission statement titled "The Skyline Way."

That being: "We prioritize development above all else. It impacts every decision we make in our program. Our goal is to impact the long-term success of our players on and off the court. We start by recruiting people, not players. We have been privileged to coach some great kids in our program, who became outstanding young men."

Such a focus is succeeding:

• 223 of Piergrossi's total of 249 recruits have been from the school's geographical designated recruiting area.
  
• 96% of Piergrossi's players who completed two years earned an A.A. degree.
  
• A member of Skyline's program has been named the top men’s basketball student-athlete in NorCal by the CCCMBCA for four years running. That has never happened before.

With Piergrossi providing educational and basketball opportunities to local and regional prospects, he is fulfilling what is a long ignored community college mandate. His on-court emphasis on offensive spacing and ball movement, leading to greater three-point efficiency, prepares his players to add and sharpen various skills four-year recruiters find attractive.

Piergrossi possesses a Sports Management and Finance undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business as well as a Master's degree in Sports and Fitness Management from USF. He played his high school ball in his home state of Connecticut, coached back east in various positions before being hired to assist Phil Matthews at USF. It's not a surprise that working as an academic mentor was among his duties during his five-year stint on the Hilltop.

The following will catch readers up on the current status of many of Piergrossi's former student-athletes:

Current Pros (all local talents, five from public high schools:

• Justin Gutang (Burlingame HS) - just signed a multi-year deal in South Korea
• Simon Enciso (Terra Nova HS) - a Philippine Basketball Association champion, just had his own shoe designed
• Toyoshige Kano (Riordan HS) - just signed a multi-year deal in Japan, straight out of Skyline
• Clayton Ladine (Burton HS) - has played the past two seasons in the 1^st division in Iceland
• Jake Salinero (Half Moon Bay HS) - just signed his second pro deal
• Antonio Hughes (Lowell HS) - heading to England to play professionally and get his master’s degree in Psychology

For this past season, all 6 of Piergrossi's sophomores who wanted to continue their playing careers are moving on:

• Toyoshige Kano (Riordan HS) - signed professionally in Japan
• DeAndre Minor (Carlmont HS) - signed with Cal Maritime Academy
• Dominic Wilson - (Riordan HS) - signed with Northwest University (WA)
• Julius Alcantara - (Serra HS) - signed with Menlo College
• Ryan Wilson - (Serra HS) - committed to UC Santa Cruz
• Ofek Sirkis - signed with Grand View University (IA)

Quite the number of Skyline Men's Basketball alums are in positions serving Bay Area communities:

San Francisco Police Department

• Rodney Freeman (Wallenberg HS)
• Ronney Freeman (Wallenberg HS)
• Alexander Austria (St. Ignatius HS)
• Pierre Battle (Westmoor HS)
• Antonio Aguilar (St. Ignatius HS)
• Justin Heckford (Oceana High)

San Mateo Sheriff’s Department

• Dan Johnson (Burlingame HS)

SF Fire Department

• Mario Flaherty (Mills HS)

Dallas Fire Department

• Shawn Echols (Mills HS)

Other Notable Alums that played for Piergrossi at Skyline:

• Paul Phangureh (Mitty High) - Deputy Finance Director for City of Napa
• Devin Williams (Price HS) - Founder/CEO of IntheLab
• Tom Kroner (Lowell HS) - Staff Attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid
• Gerald Colvin (Terra Nova High) -Territory Account Manager for Keurig Dr. Pepper
• Agustin Arroyo (Half Moon Bay HS) - Investment Advisor with Charles Schwab
• Matt Fochtman (Mills High) - Developmental Special Education Teacher
• Wai Min (Westmoor High) - Cyber Security Support Specialist at Visa
• Randall Young (El Camino High) - Physical Therapist at Sutter Health
• Matthew Cesca (Capuchino HS) - Senior Manager, Integrated Experiences/Broadcast at Salesforce
• Filip Popovic - (Serbia) VP of Engineering at ZoomInfo
• Dan Afeaki (Capuchino High ) - Recruiter Shifamed