By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The six of them all once wore Bridgewater State uniforms as student-athletes.
Joe Verria (football), Carrie Kuprycz Consalvi (softball), Michael Caruso (swimming & diving), Yasmina Carvalho (women's soccer), Matt McLaughlin (men's basketball) and Frank Cammisa (wrestling) made their marks while competing for the Bears.
Three of them -- Verria, Consalvi and Cammisa -- earned spots in the Bridgewater State University Athletics Hall of Fame.
Carvalho was a three-time All-Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference selection; McLaughlin was the most valuable player of the 2010 MASCAC tournament; and Caruso was a two-time captain and winner of the school's Lee Harrington Unsung Hero Award.
Now, all six are together as BSU head coaches, running the programs they were once part of while attending the school.
It allows the six to have a unique perspective, being in charge of teams they learned so much about while participating in the respective sports as undergraduates.
"You have that personal experience and relationship with the campus, with the school," said McLaughlin. "It makes it easier to be more passionate and personal about it when you have recruits here."
Verria has been at Bridgewater State since the 1970s when he was a standout defensive lineman and a member of the track & field team.
"To come back and coach here is a rewarding experience," said Verria. "Not many people get the opportunity to come back and coach at the school that you graduated from and make a difference.
"I want to see the program succeed, just like all of us who went here."
Said Caruso: "We truly love our programs. It's extra special because we were once athletes in them."
Here's a look at the six one-time student-athletes who are now head coaches for the teams they once were members of:
JOE VERRIA, Football
After finishing his Bridgewater State football career in 1979, Verria tried out for the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers. He returned to the campus in 1988 to serve as a defensive coach for Pete Mazzaferro.
Verria soon became the defensive coordinator, and after being an assistant for 28 years, was named the head coach in 2016. He is the program's first full-time coach.
"The love I have for Bridgewater, it's a place that gave me the opportunity to play football and get a degree," said Verria. "It's family. It's home for me. I live in the area, five minutes away. It's been a great experience. I love all the time that I've been here.
"The first thing I say to (recruits), and I try not to date myself, but I say that I played here. I met my wife (Maryann) here. My son (Ryan) played here and had a great career here."
Verria said that other coaching opportunities had popped up through the years while he was an assistant, but he never wanted to leave the school that he graduated from more than 40 years ago.
"Being at home, being where you played and graduated from, it meant something," he said. "I wanted to give back what I gained from being here."
The Bears are 44-29 in Verria's seven seasons as the head coach, winning at least seven games four times.
CARRIE KUPRYCZ CONSALVI, Softball
After being the starting catcher as a freshman at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, Consalvi transferred to Bridgewater State and helped the Bears advance to the NCAA Division 3 World Series in 1998 and 1999.
She was a three-time All-MASCAC and All-New England player and earned All-America second-team honors playing for coach Dee Dee Enabenter. The 2001 graduate hit .387 with 21 homers and 38 doubles in 130 games, and Bridgewater State was 109-30-1 in Consalvi's three seasons.
Consalvi, who is a nurse practitioner in cardiology, guided Taunton High School to state Division 1 championships in 2021 and 2022. But when the head softball coaching job opened at BSU for the 2023 season, Consalvi jumped at the chance to return to her alma mater.
"It means everything to me," said Consalvi of being back at Bridgewater State. "I am who I am today because of Dee Dee Enabenter. There's just no ifs ands or buts. Her and the program mean a ton to me.
"I had a wonderful job at Taunton High School with the cream of the crop, Division 1 high school athletes. I just won two state championships there and was probably on my way to winning another there. The opportunity was kind of put before me to come back to Bridgewater. I said it was probably the only other coaching job out there that I would have left the Taunton job for.
"It was my alma mater and it meant so much to me. Best years of my life were no doubt spent on that field. We were a powerhouse. It was fantastic."
The Bears went 15-27-1 last spring and have reached the NCAA tourney just once in the past seven seasons.
Consalvi is determined to bring success to her former team.
"This is where I want to be," she said. "I want to make Dee Dee proud and I want to make our program proud. It means a ton to me. It's a dream to be back here. We were always nationally recognized when I was there and I'd like to do that again."
Consalvi, who met her husband, Dave, at Bridgewater State where he played football, has fond memories of her time in the softball program and at the school.
"When you go out to recruit, I take a lot of pride in BSU, everything it's given to me," she said. "You're an athlete, but you're also there to obtain a good education and hopefully become a productive member of society at some point.
"That was all given to me, the life lessons of how to work with others, how to have a sense of pride in something you're part of. That university and that softball team gave that to me.
"When I go out and look for athletes, I want them to buy into the whole university and the whole program. I want to meet their educational needs and set them up for success in life. I also want them to be passionate about the game and for them to understand that the program means a lot."
MICHAEL CARUSO, Swimming & Diving
The 2002 Bridgewater State graduate returned to campus as the head coach for the 2011-12 season. He had coached at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind. from 2002-08 and in the town of Concord before getting hired at BSU.
"You have a vested interest," said Caruso of coaching the program where he once was a team member. "It's more than just a paycheck or a stepping stone for a career. For me, it was an opportunity to come back here and try to build a vision I had as a student-athlete.
"I always believed we could be a better program. We had some good programs back in the day, but the stability we have now and the talent we have now, we're living some of those dreams and being able to steer in that direction."
Caruso once had visions of being a football coach, but then had success as a swimmer in college and went in that direction.
Now, he can tell stories about what it was like swimming for the Bears when he meets with high school athletes who are being recruited.
"You share the stories, the similarities, things that were different," he said. "You remind them this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it goes by quickly. That never leaves us.
"You snap your fingers, you're a freshman and all of a sudden you're a senior. Just enjoy the time because it's fleeting."
Now in his 13th year, Caruso is thoroughly enjoying coaching at his alma mater.
"I always said if I got the job here, they're either going to have to kick me out or I'm going to have to die here," he said.
YASMINA CARVALHO, Women's Soccer
The 2010 graduate was a two-time captain for the Bears and became an assistant coach at Stonehill College and UMass Boston. She was hired as the BSU head coach in 2014 and has gone 86-66-16.
Carvalho said she had positive experiences academically, socially and athletically at Bridgewater State and wants her players to get the most out of their four years.
"I would say the No. 1 thing is I tell them about my personal experiences and sharing those stories and having them understand BSU is the perfect mixture of getting an education and playing for a really competitive athletic program," said Carvalho, the school's intramural coordinator. "But also there's enough time to have a social life and enjoy those parts of Bridgewater as well.
"Sharing those personal stories with recruits allows them to connect with our university. I'm not just saying it because I'm a coach. I'm saying it because I'm actually a product of the school."
Carvalho said being a former player gives her added incentive to make sure the Bears keep a winning tradition going.
"That's one of the biggest pressures I feel as a coach, trying to live up to the expectations that were given me to a player and making that better and better every year,'' she said. "I always say that everyone wants to win a championship, but one of my top things is making sure the program that gave me so much that I do my best to give back and then some."
It was only five years after graduating that Carvalho was back on campus, running the women's soccer program.
"I was more shocked than anything," she said. "I was very young. Then it was humbling in that, wow, I guess I made a bigger difference here on campus as a student than I thought. They had that much trust in me by putting this type of program in my hands at such a young age."
MATT McLAUGHLIN, Men's Basketball
After playing one season at Clark University, McLaughlin, a 2010 graduate, transferred to Bridgewater State. He had 518 points, 351 assists, 212 rebounds and 145 steals in three seasons with the Bears.
The 2008-09 teams McLaughlin started at point guard for set the program record with 22 wins and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
McLaughlin was an assistant coach at Wheaton College and was an assistant on the BSU women's staff for seven years before joining the men's staff as an assistant under Joe Farroba. This is his second season as the head coach, going 18-8 a year ago.
"I'm obviously very grateful for the opportunity," said McLaughlin. "I loved it here when I was here. To be on a team that was very successful and set some records and to be able to see that success and come back and coach, that's a dream come true. That's a pretty cool opportunity. It's extremely special.
"It was awesome playing here. I had a lot of fun. I still have best friends from teams I played on, been to weddings, stay in touch with them. It's cool when they come back and I'm able to be the coach and they're at the games watching. That's pretty special."
McLaughlin played in two NCAA tournaments, including the Bears' Sweet Sixteen run in 2009, and is hoping to get the Bears into the postseason once again.
"I have a lot of respect for coach Farroba," he said. "It's very cool to take the torch from him. He put his heart and soul into this program.
"I don't see myself leaving here. This is a place I call home and I care a lot about it."
FRANK CAMMISA, Wrestling
Cammisa, a 2010 graduate, is the only BSU wrestler to compete in the NCAA Division 3 Championships four years. He ranks third in wins with 110 and second in pins with 46.
A four-time All-New England wrestler, Cammisa was a BSU assistant for four seasons before becoming the head coach in 2014.
"It's the only place I ever wanted to coach. It worked out well," he said. "I knew I wasn't going to go to the Olympics. The next step to stay involved in the sport would either be officiating or coaching and I'd rather be a coach."
Cammisa and his two assistants, Fox Maxwell and Edwin Morales, all advanced to the national tourney during their BSU careers.
Cammisa was a standout wrestler at Danbury High in Connecticut and made an immediate impact when he arrived at Bridgewater State.
"I came in from a very strong high school program," he said. "I was trying to bring the atmosphere I came from, one of the best programs in New England for high school, to Bridgewater. I was leading by example on the mat.
"I had a unique experience wrestling at Bridgewater. I had three head coaches in four years. There was a lot of turnover at that time. One of the things I took away is I wanted there to be more stability in the program and I'm in my 10th year as the head coach.
"(Being an alum), I think it definitely does help sell the program. I take a lot of pride in that."