Brian DeGaetano started wrestling in 8th grade at Half Hollow Hills High School East for National Hall of Fame coaches Sal Difazio, Joe Pennachio and Tom Magnani. DeGaetano was a 2x League runner- up and was selected team captain his junior and senior year.  Brian was also an amateur boxer earning All-Metro region and in 1985 won the MSG Junior Golden Gloves Championship. Coach DeGaetano continued his wrestling at SUNY Oneonta. Once again, he was coached by National Hall of Fame coaches Al Sosa and Jim Scheer.  

Brian started his coaching career as an Assistant Coach to John Thomas at Great Neck North HS (District  team) for three seasons. The team improved dramatically. They began to have year-round wrestlers and the results followed. They won their first GNN Holiday tournament, and had 25 county qualifiers including 3 League champions and two All-county wrestlers. When Brian left for Bellmore-JFK, the team he left behind had an outstanding season with 3 All-county wrestlers including Ali Vahabzadeh, who  reached the County finals. Coach John Thomas molded Brian into the coach he is today. There was no better mentor to have for a first-year coach. Coach Thomas was a master motivator and knew how to get the best out of every wrestler. Every day after practice, Coach Thomas shared his wisdom with Brian and prepped him to become a head coach. Coach DeGaetano received a Physical Education teaching position at Bellmore – JFK HS in 1994. He had the good fortune of getting to work with master clinicians  & Hall of Fame Coaches John Schaefer & George Munnich . In 1995, After 4 years of being an Assistant coach under some of the best coaches on Long Island, Brian was now ready to take over the JFK wrestling program. His first order of business was to hire an outstanding Assistant coach. Rich Anderson  was the man for the job. For the next ten years, Brian, Rich and longtime coach George Munnich brought Kennedy back to the top of Nassau County.  

Now entering his 30th season at Bellmore JFK HS and 33rd  year coaching wrestling in Nassau County,  Coach has led the Cougars to a 387-141-3 Dual-Meet record. The Cougars have won 31 invitational  championships, 16 League and Qualifying tournament championships, have made the Dual meet  championships every season including seven top 8, three final 4 finishes and a county final appearance  in 2007. The Cougars finished in the top ten of the section 8 tournament 11 times and the top 20  fourteen times. Under Coach DeGaetano 356 wrestlers have earned All-conference honors, 85 wrestlers won Conference championships, 86 wrestlers earned all-county including 6 county champions and 16 runner-ups. 15 wrestlers have qualified for the state championships, with six wrestlers earning All – state honors. 88 wrestlers have won invitational championships including 4 NYS freestyle/Greco Roman  championships. Travis Sickle ‘01 earned All American honors twice.  Robert Person ‘13 earned All-state honors 2x and was a 3x NYS Qualifier. For his efforts, Brian is a 9x Conference Coach of the Year recipient and in 2022, received the LIWOA Sportsmanship Award.  However, what Coach is most proud of is the Alumni Club which he and some Alumni established in 1996. What started out as a way to fundraise for the team has turned into so much more. Over 500 former wrestlers are connected with the team. It has kept the Cougar wrestling family strong and given our wrestlers a sense of pride with knowledge that they belong to something special. Coach DeGaetano has been married to his wife Michele for 26 years and they have two sons, Thomas & Nicholas. Thomas (wrestling) & Nicholas (Baseball) were standout athletes for Walt Whitman HS. Without the tremendous support of his wife & kids, none of this would have happened. His wife Michele is a Senior Executive Recruiter for LLH and sat on the Board of Education for the South Huntington School District for 9 years. Thomas (23) who is a Cornell graduate is currently working for NBC Sports as a planning analyst & Nicholas (21) is currently a Senior at the University of Tennessee