Meet Fran Pentino: Pomperaug High School’s swimming coach
SOUTHBURY, Conn. — One thing you can’t miss whenever you see Fran Pentino during meets is his trademark dress code: a white long sleeve shirt with a red tie. Just as you can’t separate his dress code from him during meets, you can’t separate Pomperaug High School from him.
“You dress for success,” Coach Pentino said regarding his wardrobe for meets. “If I ask the kids to dress professional for meets, then I better do it.”
Pentino has been the head coach of the school’s swimming team since 1993, when he was just 23 years old.
In the last 28 years, Pentino has been one of the best things to happen to Pomperaug High School, most especially the swimming team (Panthers). The experience he gathered from 1988-1992 when he swam for Southern Connecticut under Coach Bruce Hutchinso was all he needed to take the Pomperaug High School swimming team to another level.
He has become one of the most successful swimming coaches in the history of Connecticut high school swimming. This is not because of the number of years he spent being a coach, but because of his impact on the swimmers he coached and the number of trophies he has brought to the high school trophy cabinet.
From 2007 to 2016, he led the Panthers to 10 consecutive Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class State Titles. He has won the title 18 times since taking over the swimming team 28 years ago.
In the past 14 seasons, Coach Pentino has led the Panthers to 13 Southwest Conference titles, only losing out in one. Eight of these titles were won consecutively. In all, he led the Panthers to 18 Southwest Conference titles after 28 years. In 2008, he guided the Panthers to their first State Open Crown, and the second one came in 2010.
One reason for his many successes is how he makes his swimmers feel about themselves. He makes them see that they can do anything for themselves both in and outside the pool.
“Coach knew how much I wanted it,” Anthony Bruno, one of Pentino’s past swimmers, said after recording massive success at the 2004 state meet. “So he just told me to go out there and get it.” Bruno went on to earn an All-State honor for his performance that season.
In the year 2020, Pentino was honored with a lifetime achievement award by Pomperaug High School for all his contributions to swimming and the to the school as a whole. The school’s pool was named after him. It is called Francis J. Pentino Pool.
Words alone cannot adequately and truly appreciate Pentino for his 28 years of service to the children who have passed through the Pomperaug swimming and diving team. He is very loved and has many successful young men who are indebted to him for his massive impact at the Francis J. Pentino Pool.
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.
