New coach Gabby Baldasare excited to fill big shoes with North Allegheny girls basketball

By: John Grupp
Saturday, October 12, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Gabby Baldasare found herself in coaching limbo this spring when she resigned after two seasons with Pine-Richland girls basketball.

But one phone call from Spencer Stefko changed all that.

Stefko, the highly successful North Allegheny coach who stepped down unexpectedly after the 2023-24 season, recommended Baldasare pursue the job opening he left behind.

“I’ve known Spencer since I was very, very young,” Baldasare said of the fellow Vincentian graduate. “I wasn’t planning to coach this year. I was going to help out at Hampton. He was like, ‘It could be worth throwing your name in the hat.’ That was kind of how I got started with that process. It was one of those things where all the stars aligned.”

Baldasare was hired in late June to replace Stefko, who went 222-29 with five WPIAL titles and one PIAA championship in nine seasons at North Allegheny. Stefko and his wife welcomed their first child in February, and he wanted to spend more time with his family.

“They are definitely big shoes to fill,” Baldasare said. “It’s intimidating. Obviously, you don’t want to be the person that comes in and ruins the program. But he has built the culture. It’s amazing. Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep the ball rolling.”

Baldasare, 31, has assembled her staff, held open gyms and has her Tigers playing in a fall basketball league in preparation for the upcoming season.

“Let’s face it. She is coming in after a living legend,” North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto said. “It wasn’t just simply Xs and Os. We had to have the right person who would fit the bill in terms of what the team culture here is like at North Allegheny girls basketball. Gabby did that.”

Bozzuto had come to know Baldasare from her days at section rival Pine-Richland and also when she coached with Stefko at a WPIAL vs. District 10 All-Star game in Clarion in the spring of 2023.

“She is very, very dedicated,” Bozzuto said. “She’s young. She’s experienced. She relates really well with young people. We are very, very excited to have her.”

Baldasare went 19-26 at Pine-Richland, including 8-14 last season, with two first-round playoff exits. She stepped down to begin “looking for the next adventure.”

“Things happen for a reason,” she said. “You always end up where you are supposed to.”

Baldasare was a first-team all-state senior at now-closed Vincentian in 2011 and played four seasons at Niagara. She got into coaching in the summer of 2020 after moving home from North Carolina when newly hired Moon girls basketball coach and former AAU teammate Meghan Mastroianni reached out looking for a middle school coach.

“I never really thought about coaching,” Baldasare said. “I said, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing, but sure.’ It took me all of 10 minutes being in a gym with kids to realize this is definitely where the passion lies for me. It just kind of kept going from there.”

Baldasare, whose coaching staff consists of former Pine-Richland assistant Diamond Linn and longtime WPIAL coach John Fiorentino, inherits one of the top programs in Class 6A. North Allegheny went 23-4 last season, its 12th consecutive 20-win season, losing to Norwin in WPIAL Class 6A finals.

Baldasare took over open gyms in mid-July — Stefko had run things before the hiring was official — and the Tigers are playing in the Rize Sports Fall League in Leetsdale. There have been 20-plus players at every open gym as the Tigers break in a new starting lineup.

“We’re all just kind of learning and growing together,” Baldasare said. “We are getting better every time we are in the gym together.”

Tags: North Allegheny