Plassio leaves Peters Twp., hired at West Mifflin
Rocky Plassio got to the point of wondering if his time as Peters Township High School’s baseball coach had come to end.
After contemplating that question this spring, the veteran coach decided it was.
Plassio, who coached for seven years at the school, submitted his resignation.
Fortunately, for him, a new opportunity came to the fore and after going through the application and interview process he has become the new baseball coach at West Mifflin.
“As coaches, when we’ve been doing it for a long time, we must ask ourselves is my message getting through? Am I making a difference, connecting in the way that you hope for? When you start to have doubt creep in along those lines, you must do some real tough self-reflection and see if this is the right fit for you or not,” Plassio explained. “Unfortunately, I just came to that conclusion that it was time.”
Under Plassio, the Indians advanced to the WPIAL championship game in 2022. Peters Township advanced to three WPIAL semifinals (2021, ’22 and ’25) in his six coaching seasons. The 2020 season was lost to the pandemic.
Prior to Peters Township, Plassio was the head coach at Washington for nine years and Baldwin for three years.
“To many on the surface,” Plassio said, “it looks like I left Peters Township for another opportunity, but the reality is I had been contemplating the decision to leave Peters Township. I had finally made that decision, and it just so happened that another opportunity came available, presented itself and facilitated itself in that direction from that point on. It wasn’t about leaving Peters for West Mifflin; it was me making the tough decision that I was going to leave Peters and my time there was done.”
Mark Elphinstone, who took on the athletic director position earlier this year, has had to deal with coaching departures. Peters Township recently hired a new girls soccer coach.
As for a successor for Plassio, the process is in place.
“We’re just looking for somebody to continue to build on what we have – the building blocks that have been there and kind of take it to the next level,” Elphinstone explained.
“It hasn’t been bad. It’s just some stuff with the timing. We were hoping to have baseball done by now, but with some stuff with fall sports the – the girls soccer coach stepping down, we had to make sure fall coaches were all in place. Then we moved on to baseball and then girls lacrosse will be next.”
As for Plassio, he’s excited about his new challenge with the Titans.
“I’m proud of what we accomplished at Peters Township,” Plassio said. “I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be Peters’ baseball coach. I gave my all to everything I could, as it pertained to Peters Township, baseball, and that includes not just the high school program, but the community as well. I don’t have any regrets whatsoever. Obviously, you’d like to have a gold medal around your neck, but we were in the running quite a few times.
“I’m looking forward to coaching the West Mifflin players. I feel like this brings me back to my roots of like at Wash High. This isn’t about me. A lot of people think that with my coaching style and the makeup of these kids, this could be a successful time at West Mifflin.”