Slice of life: East Boston coach football assistants volunteer to fill out staff

East Boston head football coach John Parziale doesn’t have the budget to maintain a full staff of paid assistants, so he provides the next best thing: free pizza at legendary local establishment Santarpio’s.

The offer has allowed Parziale to entice to Nate Rivera, Shawn Tortorici and Juan Murcia to join the staff as unpaid volunteers. They join paid assistants Brandon Ciaccio and Tyrone Figueroa as the gang of six you see on the East Boston sidelines every week during the high school football season.

“You just can’t expect to compete against the suburban schools with just myself and two assistants,” Parziale said. “I’m very lucky that these guys (Rivera, Tortorici, Murcia) are here to help and want to give back. Without them it would be tough to run practices with 35-45 kids.”

The recurring theme among the assistants is giving back. No one epitomizes that more Ciaccio. A 2006 graduate of East Boston, he joined the staff shortly thereafter and has held a variety of different titles under former head coach John Sousa and Parziale. He commutes 40 minutes every day from Peabody and does it with a smile on his face.

“I’m an Eastie guy, my father grew up next to Santarpio’s and my mother grew up in Chelsea and I lived in Jeffries Point,” Ciaccio said. “For me, there is a bond with me and the school. If it weren’t for coach Sousa, I’m not so sure I would have gotten out of there.

“I drive to practice every day from Peabody and I do it because I want to give back to the school that gave me so much.”

Probably the most decorated assistant is Figueroa. A three-sport standout at East Boston High, he went on to play Framingham State before returning to his alma mater where he is an algebra teacher. Tommy Lasorda was fond of saying he bled Dodger Blue, and Figueroa would echo that sentiment about bleeding Eastie Blue.

“You always feel like that once you’re a Jet, you’re always a Jet,” Figueroa said. “I look at coaching as giving back, reliving what we did when I was here and work to try and get these kids to play in a Super Bowl like I was fortunate enough to do.

“Football is a special sport. When you see the kid with the rare talent here, you want to do everything possible to see that kid do the right thing and see it through.”

Rivera was happy coaching his younger brother Elijah in the East Boston Pop Warner when Parziale got wind of it and approached Rivera to help out with the high school football team. He didn’t need to get his arm twisted to join the group.

“I love football and I love coaching,” Rivera said. “I love coming to practice, working with the kids and helping them out.”

Tortorici didn’t need much prodding. A varsity performer from 2004-08, the lure of football and East Boston High School was more than enough to bring him to the sidelines.

“I love football and I love Eastie, simple as that,” Tortorici said. “They gave me a chance to give back and that’s something I really liked to do.”

Murcia played for Parziale, graduating in 2011. He put his experience to good use, mentoring the players as a defensive line coach.

“It’s different as a player as opposed to being a coach,” Murcia admits. “I try to take my experiences as a player and relay that to the players on this team. I love the sport and I love the opportunity to able to do that.”

Following most games, you can see this group occupying one of the side rooms at Santarpio’s rehashing events that transpired a few hours earlier. It isn’t solely restricted to football as Parziale tends to hear about the fact that he’s the only member of the staff who didn’t attend East Boston (Malden Catholic).

“Oh they bust my chops about that all the time,” Parziale said with a laugh. “But as I’ve said many times, I am so very lucky to be able to have these guys here with me.”