John Coffino is an American and international basketball coach. Most recently he was the head basketball coach for the men's senior national team for the Republic of the Maldives, where he guided his team to the gold round of the regional tournament in Bangladesh. Previous to that he was the QSI Tbilisi Director of Playing Development and a Head Coach, Boys Basketball Program. Supervisor of Basketball Coaches, Zaza Pachulia Basketball Academy in Tbilisi, Georgia. In addition to coaching and recruiting Coach Coffino also trains and certifies coaches and runs grass roots youth programmes. Every summer coach Coffino works on overseas basketball camps in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Florida, Massachusetts and New York. Coach Coffino speaks many languages and is active on social media.
Biography
JOHN D COFFINO, born 7 November 1962, in New York City, raised in The Bronx, is in an American and international basketball coach, scout and an athletic mentor who has coached at every level including head coach of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in the NBA development league. Coach Coffino has coached overseas for the last 10 years in several countries including Spain, China, Kenya, Qatar, Republic of Georgia, United Kingdom, Republic of the Maldives and Denmark. Coach Coffino gained a national reputation for his ability to identify outstanding talent and effectively recruit both high school and junior college players having extensive recruiting contacts in New York/NJ area and all of the east coast that stretches across the United States to the West coast as well as internationally.. Coffino has also been a West Coast scout for the NBA with Clibhoops.net Draft Services. Before joining the professional ranks, Coffino worked nine years as a Division I assistant coach at Iona College, Niagara University and at St. Peter's College. Each program grew with his assistance; all three MAAC schools advanced to MAAC Championship games and the St. Peter's team went from last place in the conference to the MAAC Championship game after Coffino joined SPC's coaching staff. Coffino, a graduate of St. Peter's College in Jersey City, began his coaching career at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York where he guided the Viking's to the National Junior College Athletic Association DI Tourney in 1993. While coaching at St. Peter's, Coffino and Wagner head coach Mike Deane were NCAA Tournament analysts on the Wally and the Keeg show on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York City. In April, 2012, Coffino was named head coach of the Albany Legends of the Independent Basketball Association where he steered them to the IBA championship game. Coffino came to the Legends from the Qatar Sports Club, State of Qatar in the Middle East where he was head coach. Prior to Qatar Sports Club Coffino was head coach for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the NBA Development League where he coached Alando Tucker, DJ Strawberry, Carlos Powell, Kevin Pittsnogle, Keith McLeod and Antoine Agudio. Coffino was originally asked to join the Thunderbirds by then head coach Jeff Ruland as an assistant coach. It was a reuniting; Ruland and Coffino were former head and assistant coaches, respectively, for some very good Iona College teams in the late 1990s. As a collegiate coach Coffino gained a national reputation for his ability to identify outstanding talent and effectively recruit both high school and junior college players. Coffino has also been a West Coast scout for the NBA with Clibhoops.net Draft Services, and an NCAA Tournament analyst for ESPN Radio. From 2010 till present he has run and worked several Basketball and Day camps all over the US and internationally. Coffino has been a guest speaker to several Basketball Clinics. In 2011-2012 Coffino worked as Analyst in Aljazeera's Sports Show and Eurobasket Academy.
International Coaching
Coffino coached at Dankind Academy in Nairobi from August 2013 to August 2014 where his team won the NBA championship, before leaving for the UK and Cheshire Phoenix. In June 2014, Coffino was appointed as the head coach of British Basketball League team, Cheshire Phoenix, Coffino was awarded the Molten BBL Coach of the Month award for December 2014 after having led the Phoenix on an eight-game winning streak during the month. Coffino is the best coach Cheshire have had in the last decade In the Summer of 2015, Coffino was appointed as the head coach of BC Sukhumi of the Georgian Superliga. After already coaching at the 2015 edition of the Scorers 1st Showcase Coffino returned there in the 2016 edition of the event and served as the Head-Coach for Team E in July. From 1 July 2017 – August 2017 Coffino was a Head Coach in Europrobasketball Academy. The same year, November 2015, Coffino was offered the position of Director of Player Development and a Head Coach Boys Basketball Program in QSI Tbilisi. High School Boys basketball team coached by Coffino won 1st place in Basketball Classics Tournament in Feb 2015, 2016, 2017,2018 hosted by QSI Tbilisi. From September 2017 Coach Coffino is a Supervisor of Basketball Coaches, Zaza Pachulia Basketball Academy in Tbilisi, Georgia. From May 2018- December 2018 Coffino was the head basketball coach for the men's senior national team for the Republic of the Maldives.
