Arguably the greatest coach in Massachusetts high school football history retired on Wednesday. John DiBiaso retired from his position as head football at Everett High School after a 25 year run of dominance. DiBiaso complied a 304-75-1 in 30 years as a head coach at St. Patrick’s, Weston and Everett. 252 of those wins came at Everett. He never had a losing season while guiding the Crimson Tide.

When you think of the pantheon of Massachusetts High School football coaches, names like John Lee, Armand Columbo and Ken LaChapelle come to mind. DiBiaso is in that class. In fact, you can make the case that he is the greatest coach in state history. Only LaChappelle and Columbo have more wins than DiBiaso but both men coached more than 40 years.

Naysayers will point to the talent that DiBiaso had at Everett and say that was the reason he won. Yes, talent was a big part of his success but DiBiaso was also a great coach. He ran a system on offense that enabled him to adjust to his talent. DiBiaso was an old school double wing coach but when more athletic kids started coming through the program, DiBiaso began blending the double wing with the spread offense to take advantage of his talent. Now schools like Holliston, Franklin (under Brad Sidwell) and Milford have adopted a similar approach.

Everett had success before on the gridiron before DiBiaso took the job in 1992 but he took the program to the next level. Everett football represented all that was good about public school football. DiBiaso built a program that could compete with other public school powerhouses like Brockton but more importantly, he built a program that could compete with the Catholic Conference. Most notably, Xaverian. The Everett, Xaverian rivalry became one of the best rivalries in the state with the two powerhouses routinely meeting in the Super Bowl.

Coach DiBiaso was a players coach who genuinely cared about his players and their families. He was viewed as a father figure of sorts in the community. He spent 39 years of his life working at Everett High School as a teacher, coach (football and basketball) and athletic director. During that time, he touched many lives and that is why he is beloved and revered by his players. “Dibs” as he is affectionately known as will be remembered as an old school coach who taught and coached for the right reasons. There are not too many of those coaches left. That is why we should appreciate coaches like John DiBiaso.