He’s a long way from his hometown, but Brian Bilzi is still using many of the skills he learned on a Huntington High School lacrosse field as he goes about coaching the Park City High School team in Utah, which capped off a perfect 19-0 season by winning the state championship this past spring.
Mr. Bilzi graduated with Huntington’s Class of 2003. He went on to play defense for the Manhattan College varsity lacrosse team and earned an undergraduate degree in history.
“I moved out to Park City in 2009,” Mr. Bilzi said. “I spent the first few years out here teaching skiing at Deer Valley Resort, which is where I met my wife, Samantha. She’s from Philadelphia and spent a season working at Deer Valley. She now works for the US ski team and recently got back from the Olympics. During the summers I spent a majority of my time coaching lacrosse. I first got involved in Park City lacrosse through Mike Acee, a fellow Long Islander who is the founder and director of a club called 212 lacrosse. 212 competes in tournaments out west against teams from all over the country. 212 opened the door for other coaching opportunities, including coaching the Utah national team and West Coast Stars, a club that competes in recruiting tournaments and is comprised of the best players from every state West of Colorado.”
Mr. Bilzi and Samantha were married last Saturday in Utah. “While I love the coaching and will do it as long as I can, my primary job is with Colliers International, a commercial real estate company, where I work on a commercial real estate investment team,” Mr. Bilzi said.
The Blue Devil alum played at Huntington under head coach Paul McDermott. “My longest running and primary coaching job has been with Park City,” Mr. Bilzi said. “I spent two season as a youth coach, winning back to back state titles. After our second championship I was brought onto the high school varsity staff, where I served as defensive coordinator for two seasons, before becoming associate head coach before the 2018 season. We just wrapped up a 19-0 season, which ended with winning Park City’s first ever Utah state championship.”
Mr. Bilzi was married last Saturday on a ranch up in the mountains surrounding Park City. Lacrosse in Utah is starting to really take off. The University of Utah will begin fielding an NCAA Division I lacrosse team in 2018/19.
