October 1, 2020 

­­The Rhode Island Interscholastic League congratulates the following individuals, who have been named National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Rhode Island Coach of the Year in their respective sports for the 2019-20 school year:

     WARWICK, R.I. (February 27, 2020) - The Rhode Island Interscholastic League Principals’ Committee on Athletics, at its meeting on February 26, 2020, unanimously voted to appoint current Rhode Island Interscholastic League Assistant Executive Director Michael P. Lunney to the position of Executive Director of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League. His official starting date will be August 1, 2020.

    Lunney will succeed Thomas A. Mezzanotte, who last November announced his retirement at the end of the 2019-20 school year after serving 16 years as Executive Director.

     “It has been a pleasure working with Mike for the last nine years,” Mezzanotte said. “He has helped the league grow and expand and develop in many positive ways. Through his leadership, the league will continue to provide educational based athletics and serve the needs of our student-athletes. He will do a tremendous job.”

PHOTO/CAROLYN THORNTON, RIIL

Members of the PCOA congratulate Mike Lunney moments after unanimously voting to appoint him as the new RIIL Executive Director, effective Aug. 1.

     Lunney has served in his current position as the RIIL’s Assistant Executive Director since 2011. Prior to that, he served for 16 years as the Director of Athletics and Student Activities at Portsmouth High School, where he also served two stints as the Patriots boys basketball coach, from 1995 to 1998 and from 2006 to 2011.

     Rhode Island’s first athletic administrator to serve on the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Board of Directors, Lunney was the recipient of the 2016 NIAAA Distinguished Service Award. That same year, he was presented with the Men Who Make a Difference Award by the Women’s Resource Center of Newport.

     While an AD, Lunney served stints as RIIL Sport Director for golf and baseball and sat on numerous other RIIL committees. He has served on the Officials Advisory Committee and Coaches Education Committee for the National Federation of State High School Associations and has also served as president of the Council of New England Secondary School Principals’ Association.

      Lunney’s vast experience in his prior positions proved to be invaluable when he came on board at the RIIL, Mezzanotte said.

     With his ability to see different issues through an athletic director’s eyes, “that brought a tremendous perspective to this organization,” Mezzanotte said. “There was no question about that. He stands for what he believes in and that’s the mission of this organization. I’ll be very happy, and I think our colleagues in New England and nationally are very happy that Mike’s taking over … They’re very happy about that, and they should be.”

PHOTO/CAROLYN THORNTON, RIIL

Current RIIL Executive Director Tom Mezzanotte, right, discusses the special working relationship he has had with Mike Lunney over the past nine years.

     A member of the Bristol High School Athletic Hall of Fame, the 52-year-old Lunney was a three-sport athlete at the former Bristol High School in the mid-1980s, earning All-League honors in football, basketball and baseball. He went on to be a four-year varsity letterman for the University of New Hampshire men’s basketball team.

     Months after graduating from UNH, Lunney became assistant men’s basketball coach at Roger Williams University and then in 1992 became the youngest head men’s basketball coach in the NCAA.

     While coaching at Portsmouth, he was named the R.I. Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year three times, guiding the Patriots to two R.I. State Championships (the Class B title in 1996 and the Division II title in 2010), three league championships (1997, 2006 and 2010) and two Providence Journal Dick Reynolds Sportsmanship Awards (1996 and 2009).  

     Lunney lives in Portsmouth with his wife Donna and daughter Jill, who is a senior at Portsmouth High School and will be attending the University of Rhode Island’s Nursing program as an Honors student in the fall.

    “My connection to the League dates back to the early 1980’s as a three-sport student athlete at Bristol High School,” Lunney said. “I’m a product of the RIIL and those participation opportunities had a profound impact on my development as an athlete and person. I believe in our mission, which is to provide educational based athletic opportunities for the more than 36,000 students that participate in our league annually. The role of our office is to work on behalf of our member school Principals to provide them the education, support, and guidance needed to administer their athletic programs. I’m proud of the many accomplishments that the RIIL has made under Tom Mezzanotte’s leadership and share his passion in continuing to adapt, evolve and improve the organization into the future.”  

PHOTO/CAROLYN THORNTON, RIIL

Becoming emotional at times, Mike Lunney, left, described the passion he has for the RIIL and his firm belief in the organization’s mission. “If you told me that I would one day be in this position … never. To me it was never about trying to get to this position. It was just about serving the organization.”

PHOTO/CAROLYN THORNTON, RIIL

Mike Lunney, left, shares a lighter moment with RIIL Executive Director Tom Mezzanotte, center, and PCOA Chairman Sean Kelly at Wednesday’s meeting.

      WARWICK, R.I. (August 25, 2022) – The Principals’ Committee on Athletics unanimously approved the nomination of Narragansett High School principal Daniel F. Warner to the position of PCOA Chairperson, at its August meeting held at the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Office. With Mr. Warner’s ascension to Chair creating a vacancy for the PCOA’s Assistant Chairperson, the PCOA also unanimously approved the nomination of Toll Gate High School principal Candace Caluori to that position.

     The Principals’ Committee on Athletics serves as the governing body for the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, a private, non-profit voluntary organization of principals, whose mission is to provide educational opportunities for students through interscholastic athletics. The RIIL membership consists of 73 public, private, and parochial high schools, as well as alternate education/charter schools. The League sponsors athletic activities in 30 sports with more than 36,000 young men and women competing each year. 

      A member of the Principals’ Committee on Athletics since 2004 and the PCOA’s Assistant Chairperson for the last three years, Mr. Warner was honored as 2007 School Administrator of the Year by the Rhode Island Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and 2009 R.I. Principal of the Year by the Rhode Island Association of School Principals. In addition to serving on the PCOA, he has chaired the RIIL’s Sportsmanship Committee and served as a co-director of football.

     The principal at Toll Gate High School for the last six years and its assistant principal for six years prior to that, Mrs. Caluori served on the PCOA from 2001 to 2005 and re-joined the board last year. Formerly a physical education teacher and successful boys and girls volleyball coach for more than a decade, she previously served as the RIIL’s sport director for girls tennis for a number of years. 

     Mr. Warner succeeds Sean Kelly, who submitted his resignation as PCOA Chairman after stepping down from his position as principal of Cranston High School East to work in Central Administration in the Cranston School Department. RIIL Executive Director Michael Lunney presented Mr. Kelly with a plaque recognizing and thanking him for his 10 years of dedicated service to the Principals’ Committee on Athletics, including the last three years he has served as the chairperson.

April 12, 2018

     The Rhode Island Interscholastic League is pleased to announce its partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. Getting set to launch “Traffic Safety is a Team Sport” program.