North Allegheny basketball coach Dave DeGregorio retires after 31 seasons at 4 schools

By: John Grupp
Monday, June 30, 2025 | 11:38 AM

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After three decades as a boys basketball coach, Dave DeGregorio knew saying goodbye would never be easy.

“It was a difficult decision from the perspective of working with this group of kids,” he said. “I really like this group of kids. But like my wife said, ‘That will be every year.’ That never changes. That’s the part that made it difficult.”

The 60-year-old DeGregorio, who coached the past four seasons at North Allegheny in his second stint at the school, told his players June 26 that he was retiring.

DeGregorio, who also stepped down as an NA physical education teacher, compiled an overall record of 509-258 in 31 seasons at North Allegheny, Pine-Richland, North Catholic and South Allegheny.

“No. 1, Dave is an awesome human being,” NA athletic director Bob Bozzuto said. “He’s a great educator and a great basketball coach. He got us back in the development phase, from seventh grade through JV. Our kids competed, and they competed hard. I think he got us ready for success in the future. We’re sorry to see him go, but he’s earned it.”

DeGregorio coached North Allegheny from 2004-2016, going 232-76 with five section titles, but his second stint wasn’t as successful. North Allegheny went 7-15 last season, including a cellar-dwelling 2-12 record in Section 1-6A. It was the third consecutive losing season for a program that hadn’t had two straight such seasons since 1997-98. DeGregorio’s four-year record in his return to NA was 41-49.

DeGregorio, while still mulling his future, coached the Tigers during the 2025 Pittsburgh Basketball Club summer league in June. He broke the news two days after the team’s June 24 loss in the playoff quarterfinals.

“I wasn’t sure,” he said. “I wanted to give the kids my best until I made a decision.”

DeGregorio caught the coaching bug from his father, Joe, a highly successful college and high school coach. The younger DeGregorio held various positions, including as a graduate assistant under Naismith Hall-of-Famer Lefty Driesell at James Madison, before landing his first head coaching job at South Allegheny in 1992.

“With Dave, it wasn’t a question of whether he would become a head coach but when he would become a head coach,” said former Central Catholic coaching legend Chuck Crummie, whose staff included a young DeGregorio for a couple of seasons in the late 1980s. “We knew that it would happen sooner or later.”

DeGregorio had success everywhere he coached. He spent five seasons at South Allegheny, winning the program’s only section title (1997) in a 53-year span from 1966-2019. He followed with seven seasons at Pine-Richland, taking the Rams to the WPIAL finals for the first time in program history, before arriving at North Allegheny for his first stint.

“Coach DeGregorio was great,” said former Pirates second baseman Neil Walker, who played for DeGregorio at Pine-Richland from 2001-04. “He did an unbelievable job of galvanizing the basketball program at Pine-Richland and putting it in a really good place. He did a great job of toeing that line between being a mentor figure, but also a guy who really taught you a lot of things. Not just about the game of basketball, but life. I really enjoyed my time playing for him.”

In between his stints at NA, DeGregorio spent two seasons at Hampton as an assistant and three seasons at North Catholic as head coach, which allowed him to coach his sons, Isaac and Owen. His North Catholic teams reached the WPIAL championship game all three seasons, winning the title in 2020, after which he was named the PIAA Class 3A Coach of the Year.

DeGregorio is confident he is leaving NA basketball in a good position, and the next coach will inherit a program poised to rebound from its recent struggles.

“Our numbers are up,” DeGregorio said, “and I feel good about where the program is going.”

The job opening is expected to attract a wide range of applicants to the WPIAL’s largest school district.

“We’re looking forward to the next phase, and I know we will have some great candidates to take over the program,” Bozzuto said. “They see great potential here, and we’re looking forward to the next challenge.”

Tags: North Allegheny