Longtime Hilton Head Prep athletic director retiring at end of year

Longtime Hilton Head Prep Athletic Director Rich Basirico is retiring at the end of the school year, the school announced Wednesday.

Basirico has been at the school for 42 years as a coach and then later as athletic director. Erik Mathisen, Prep’s director of its baseball academy, teacher and coach will replace Basirico this summer.

Mathissen has been a coach for over 12 years. He holds numerous coaching certifications and has extensive marketing experience.

“While I look forward to retirement, I will surely miss coming to school each day. I have been blessed to be a part of the May River/Hilton Head Prep family and I truly value the many lasting friendships that I have made at school and in the community,” Basirico said in a release. “As I look back, I am reminded of the many outstanding student athletes who represented our school and how much I have enjoyed coaching and teaching each of them. I can honestly say that I am grateful for each morning that I have had the opportunity to start the day at Hilton Head Prep.”

Basirico was the athletic director, head basketball and baseball coach at Prep’s predecessor school, May River Academy. Then when May River and Sea Pines merged to form Hilton Head Prep in 1985, he stayed on as athletic director and basketball coach.

“The Hilton Head Prep community has been fortunate to have Rich as an integral member of our community,” Hilton Head Prep headmaster Jon Hopman said. “Coach, as he is so lovingly referred to, is one of the most genuine, honest, and well respected educators I have ever been privileged to work beside.”

During his 26 years as basketball coach, Basirico won more than 500 games, 14 conference championships and five state championships. He has served as President of the South Carolina Independent School Coaches Association and has been selected to coach the South Carolina-Georgia All Star Basketball game three times.

Basirico also coached football, baseball and softball during his career and was inducted into Hilton Head Prep’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.

“Coach Basirico inspired his players to pursue success and taught the dedication and persistence it takes to get there. But his lessons weren’t all about winning,” former Prep player Perry Hodge said. “Coach stood beside us through our failures and taught us how to deal with adversity head on. It’s Coach B’s voice I hear when times get tough. Coach Basirico’s retirement marks the end of an amazing career, but his impact on his students will endure.”

For more than 20 years his former players have held an annual golf tournament in his honor raising money for college scholarships named the 4D Scholarships which are awarded annually based on the Hilton Head Prep player’s commitment to the 4 Ds - Desire, Dedication, Determination and Discipline. In 2012, Hilton Head Prep endowed a scholarship titled The Richard A. Basirico Scholarship, given annually to a student to attend Hilton Head Prep who most represents academic excellence and moral integrity.

In 2007, his former players and supporters honored Basirico by raising over $350,000 to name the basketball court in the newly constructed Joseph B. Fraser Jr. Field House.