Mineola Football Coach Still Going Strong After 25 Years

Sept. 24 was a Saturday of milestones at Hampton Stadium: the 30th Homecoming – which celebrated the – and Dan Guido coaching the first home game in his 25th year as the Mustangs’ varsity coach. 

For Guido it was business as usual: this was about playing and winning a football game. Asked if he attached any special significance to his silver anniversary he replied, “no.” 

While the homecoming parade was getting ready to start winding its way along Jericho Turnpike, Guido was more concerned that two-way standout Joe Massaro, the homecoming king, would miss the start of the game.  

Massaro, who left the parade route early to get dressed and be ready for the game, helped the Mustangs to a . 

Still enjoying his role as a football coach, Guido says he gets satisfaction when the Mustangs overachieve.

“Having various teams exceed our expectations, whether it was a team we thought would win no games that won four or a team we thought would win four or five and played for the championship,” he said.

Guido’s legacy dates well beyond 25 years. He played high school football and lacrosse for Mineola in the 1970s under the legendary Bruce Gehrke, one of the founding fathers of Mineola football. Another who impacted the coach’s life was former head football and lacrosse coach Bob Young, who also worked as Guido’s assistant before he retired.

“Bob Young had a big influence in how I coach,” Guido said. 

Dan Guido said his late father, Daniel, was “a big influence in how I act and handle myself and in making sure whether I win or lose to always do the right thing.”

That the younger Guido has that approach should come as no surprise. Over the course of a 40-year career, his father was the police commissioner in Nassau, Westchester and Suffolk counties, as well as Yonkers and Stamford, Connecticut.

He was known as a "tough, no-nonsense, nonpolitical police professional,” former Suffolk County executive Patrick G. Halpin said, praising the elder Guido’s integrity.

In his own way, the younger Guido — one of six siblings — has a no-nonsense approach in football: expecting players to be at practice on time, to come prepared, to push each other and to conduct themselves professionally.

Sometimes it is not so easy.

“I still enjoy coaching as much as ever. It is the non-coaching aspects of coaching that wears me down,” Guido said. “I enjoy the kids, I think I work just as hard, if not harder, than I did when I started and I hope to do so for a few more years.”