TAMPA, Fla. - Not much gets by Wharton High head coach Tommy Tonelli. 

He has a way of seeing everything and breaking down a play.

And not everyone can play for Coach Tonelli. He asks a lot of his players. It takes a special Wildcat to put on that Wharton uniform.

“You have to have a thick skin,” senior forward Trevor Dyson said. “If you don’t have think skin, you might as well leave right now. He tells you what you need to hear and if you can’t take that, you might as well leave and don’t come back”

He’s been known to yell a time or two. 

“He’s a different human,” Dyson said.

Different? You bet. Not many coaches are also guidance counselors. But Tommy Tonelli is. He accepted that position  25 years ago when Wharton High School first opened.

“They were all worried because of that stigma about coaches,” Tonelli said.

But its very fitting that this once-upon-a-time USF Bulls all-time assists leader assists teenagers through the myriad of problems they face in high school. The pandemic’s made it especially more challenging.

“All the things kids and families have struggled with, it’s caused some real hardships, mental hardships, emotional hardships on the kids and families, so you’re dealing with a lot of mental health issues and trying to help kids work through that,” Tonelli said.

He’s heard stories that would break your heart. But he’s also been able to celebrate success stories. Getting a kid on track to graduate is especially satisfying.

“On a day-to-day basis, my main duty, my main role is to be a guidance counselor and coaching is just a supplement,” he said.

But one look around Tonelli’s office and you see his true passion. Basketball is in his blood. It courses through his veins.

So many memories fill these walls. And one special milestone will take its rightful place among these moments.

The very first basketball coach Wharton High School hired 25 years ago joined an elite club. Years of practices and games leading up to that special moment. Coach Tonelli’s 500th win.

“I’m just happy for the guys, happy for the former players, the coaches.,” Tonelli said. “I’ve been really, really, really, really fortunate to have some really outstanding players and great kids to coach. 

“And that would not have been possible without the efforts and the hard work of those guys. I can’t thank them enough for everything they did to get to this night.”