NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass.-The head coach of the New Bedford boys' volleyball team for the past 21 seasons will become the new head women's volleyball coach at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Steve DeRossi, who has led his team to eight state championships during his tenure, will succeed Jocelyn Costa, who stepped down to enter a program at Quinnipiac University that will result in her becoming a physician's assistant.

DeRossi has a career record of 378-57 at New Bedford HS. He was named Massachusetts Coach of the Year in 1994, thrice led his teams to medals at the Bay State Games (gold-1992, silver-1989 and bronze-1988), and had his team named Team of the Month by Volleyball Monthly in September, 1987 and by Volleyball magazine in November, 1997. Under DeRossi, New Bedford High School has qualified for every state tournament since Massachusetts recognized boys' volleyball in 1989. He has served as a coach and as co-director of the Whaler Volleyball Camp since 1992, serves as head coach for the Coastal Region in the Bay State games in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992, and was the Boys Volleyball Coach for Massachusetts in the Mizuno High School All-Star Series in 1994. He has also served as a clinician at numerous clinics.

One of only two school principals who were active coaches in Massachusetts, DeRossi felt the time was right to make the move. "This is something I've wanted to do for the last 10 years, but my commitment to the New Bedford public school system made it difficult," said DeRossi. "As of July 11th, I'll be retired. The timing is perfect. I enjoyed being an administrator, but volleyball has always been a passion of mine."

DeRossi, who said 85 per cent of the players he coached at the Whaler Volleyball Camp were girls, said that there were several keys to his success. "You need to be well organized and have people skills," said De Rossi. "We want to have success through teamwork. We try to get the players and coaches together to create what we all want."

"I'm very comfortable with Steve taking over the position," said Costa. "He comes from a really strong program, and has a very good reputation. I think he'll do a great job, I think the team will respond well, and it will be a positive experience for them."

UMass Dartmouth Director of Athletics Louise Goodrum was also pleased that DeRossi was joining the staff. "We're very excited to bring Steve DeRossi aboard, with his years of coaching and developing volleyball players, and his obvious passion for the sport," said Goodrum. "I believe that our program will continue to grow and be more competitive within our conference."