This year, there will be a new face added to the boys’ basketball coaching staff as previous JV coach Jordan Bean steps back into a volunteer position, while Zaccary Velikaneye takes on being the new JV coach.

Bean has been coaching JV for the past eight years, starting in 2018. He is also a Spanish teacher at the Morgan school and has been teaching at Morgan for 5 years, and previously taught at Eliot, the middle school, for 5 years before that. Last year, he and his wife had a baby, Luca, and this year he decided that it was important that he be home for his son and his wife.

“Sometimes life gets just a little crazy, and sometimes you just gotta take a step back, and it was really driven by my son, and just being able to help out more around the house and to be there for my son, and for my wife,” said Bean.

This time a year ago, his son was only about two months old and wasn’t walking, slept more, and had a much simpler schedule than he does now. Now he walks, crawls, and has a way stricter schedule.

“Taking care of a newborn versus taking care of a toddler is just a totally different game,” said Bean.

Though he is stepping away from the position, he is still going to be volunteering when he can to help the team. He is aiming to be in the gym, helping out around two days a week.

“I still want to do my best to be involved, especially for that senior class. Just to have seen them go through the whole program. Whenever there’s a group, you always think of your seniors first, and just how hard it is to step away from a team,” said Bean.

The job was put up, and Velikaneye was the only one to apply for it. They still had a customary interview and went along with the process, with the committee consisting of head Coach Rossi, Thomas Cossgriff, the sub Athletic Director, and Assistant Principal Chris Luther.

Velikaneye, 25 years old, currently works at Hale Ray High School and is working to become a para educator and get his certification in special education. He graduated from Hale Ray in 2018 and was on the basketball and baseball teams. Velikaneye went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree at Eastern Connecticut University, graduating in 2022, majoring in Secondary Education and Mathematics.

“I had met him on a few different occasions, at other basketball games, and so he wasn’t a complete stranger,” said Head Coach Frank Rossi.

Velikaneye played AAU for Coach Strong, one of the volunteer coaches, so there was previously a connection between the coaching staff and him.

“He came in for the interview, and he just answered all the questions the way I would have answered them.

I think it’s rare that you find a young coach who wants to grow and eventually become a head coach someday on his own. That was one of the things that attracted him to our program, the ability to work with Coach Bean, Coach Strong, and myself, experienced coaches that could help him grow and learn as well,” said Rossi.