Sean Bruso has Georgia on his mind, joins coaching staff in Rome City School District
- Joe Kraus
- 23 hours ago
- 4 min read
Lancaster veteran assistant now the offensive coordinator for Wolves’ eighth-grade state champion program
Sean Bruso was already living his dream guiding young men through football. But there was still a bigger goal he wanted to chase.
Relocating for a coaching and teaching position was in the back of Bruso’s mind for at least five years as he looked at opportunities in Florida and New Hampshire. But each time, Bruso stayed and became a trusted varsity assistant coach in nine years at Lancaster, winning five Section VI titles, making four Far West regional appearances and one state runners-up trip.
But a trip to the Glazier Football Coaching Clinic in Atlanta in February shifted Bruso’s approach completely. By the time he came home from the Peach State, Bruso knew his lifelong larger pursuit of coaching in a big-time football state is what he wanted.
Now, Bruso is taking the next step of his career as an educator and as a coach, just months after completing a master’s degree in school counseling at Canisius University.
When school returns in August, Bruso will be a school counselor in the Rome City School District and serve as the offensive coordinator for the Wolves’ eighth-grade program, which won the Georgia Middle School Athletic Association Division B state championship last year.
Along with coaching a team directly, Bruso is now part of the overall Wolves program’s coaching staff, where their varsity team won back-to-back state championships in 2016 and 2017 and 106 games under 10-year coach John Reid. Bruso is packing his bags and leaving Western New York on June 5, his 36th birthday, but his approach towards his new job is similar to his time with the Legends.
“I’m just going to go down there, day by day and do my best for them and try to make their district a little bit of a better place,” Bruso said. “And really (Reid) said that was the expectation for me is bring something to make us better, make us a better program. And it’s funny, because that’s really the standard at Lancaster. … So, having that kind of a mindset going in there, and just working as hard as I can, day to day, it’s going to be fantastic.”
Since starting his coaching career under former Maryvale coach Bob Mullen nearly two decades ago, Bruso’s knowledge of the game offensively has made a valuable asset to coaching staffs at North Tonawanda, Alden, Springville and Lancaster. From providing hours of video analysis to reading articles about the game of football, Bruso’s desire to educating himself and others about the sport has helped in each role.
Now orchestrating the Wolves’ offense, the play-calls won’t be exactly what he experienced with the Legends, which scored over 40 touchdowns in three of the last four seasons. But with a high-paced, fast-tempo approach with an emphasis on opening lanes in the middle, Bruso compares the new system to what teams like Tennessee and Baylor previously ran in the Southeastern Conference.
“It gives the kids a lot of freedom to take ownership of the offense and allow them to kind of go out there and make a lot of plays,” Bruso said. “So, it puts a lot of stress on defenses. It’s just a natural fit for me because it’s really unique the way it works. But having used elements of it at Lancaster gives me a pretty good feeling heading into this job. The learning curve shouldn’t be too, too difficult.”
But it wasn’t just his ability to teach the formations that made Bruso stand out in Western New York athletics. It was also his positive guidance in the locker room that helped him build trust with the players, no matter which sport he was involved in.
Bruso was also a volunteer assistant coach with North Tonawanda basketball from 2012-15 and was on the coaching staff for Lancaster Federation hockey the past three seasons.
The time spent drawing formations and scenarios with the quarterbacks, the words of encouragement after tough defeats and finding a connection with every player on the team.
“Sean is just a great role model and a great professional,” Lancaster football head coach and athletic director Eric Rupp said. “… He cares about them as people and individuals. And he’s always there for them. So, whether it’s talking about life or academics or family issues, Sean is someone that the kids have always felt comfortable around and he’s helped a lot of our players through a lot of different situations.”
Pics Courtesy of Sean Bruso Facebook Page
In addition to coaching, Bruso worked on high school football broadcasts for Time Warner Cable. He was also a regular on WGR's Inside High School Sports with host Tony Caligiuri and the late Roger Weiss.
Feature Image Courtesy of Bill Cansdale