Paramus Catholic makes Mike Doto new basketball coach by Darren Cooper of The Record
Mike Doto has traded his Cresskill black and gold for Paramus Catholic black and gold.
“The colors are a little bit different,” said Doto with a laugh. “I think it’s old gold with Paramus Catholic, and more of a yellow gold with Cresskill.”
After nine successful seasons at Cresskill, Doto accepted the job as the new head coach of the Paramus Catholic boys basketball team Friday, taking over a team that won just two games last winter.
“I want to thank Cresskill, our superintendent Mike Burke for his support over the years, our athletic director, Beth Del Vecchio and the Cresskill Board of Education for hiring me and supporting me,” said Doto. “I wanted a new challenge. Our competition will be really great. I will have to work real hard to get this team up to speed and try to make us competitive and build a good foundation for the program.”
Doto, 43, won 193 games at Cresskill and three sectional titles. He was named the league Coach of the Year twice.
“We are honored that Coach Doto has joined the Paramus Catholic community,” said Paramus Catholic principal Stephanie Macaluso in a statement. “He firmly aligns with our mission statement which is to develop the Catholic identity within all students. His focus is on developing the team as a whole.”
Doto said he will remain a teacher in Cresskill and is working to put together his staff with the Paladins.
“At Cresskill, we always looked forward to our one chance, maybe in the Jamboree, to play against a St. Joe’s or a Don Bosco, a big school like that, now we will be playing them every night,” Doto said.
When asked what the first step is to get the Paladins going, Doto said he was already thinking about it.
“I think step one is showing them that I am committed to the program and getting our players to improve,” said Doto. “We will start in the next couple of weeks with strength and conditioning and when we get to the open period [for summer practice] we will get in the gym and get involved in some summer leagues. It will be a lot of work for me, my staff and my players. I am looking forward to the challenge.”