Paul Koretzki, longtime cross country and track coach, dies at 84

Paul Koretzki and Anna Minetti, coach and runner, would have the same little exchange before every meet.

“Do well,” Koretzki would tell her.

“I will,” Minetti would respond.

“And he’d take no other answer, and I loved that more than anything,” Minetti said.

And if it didn’t go well, he’d just tell her next time would be better.

The senior captain will surely miss the support and guidance from her coach with the Shoreham-Wading River girls cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams. So many will miss Koretzki. He took over those girls running programs in 1980 and was in his 65th year of coaching on Long Island, leading his teams to more than 1,000 victories.

He was in charge of community programs in the Shoreham-Wading River district, too, including youth track.

So the news hit hard that this beloved figure also known as “Coach K” had died on Saturday from natural causes at the age of 84.

“Just a real loss,” said Gerard Poole, who is Shoreham-Wading River’s superintendent of schools. “A lot of tears here [Monday] from staff. We had our mental health team together for the students, but we also had some support for staff who were deeply impacted by his loss.”

Boys cross country coach Bob Szymanski, Koretzki’s longtime friend who’s also involved with coaching the girls track and field teams, called Minetti to tell her of Koretzki’s death and asked her to let the rest of the girls cross country team know. So she informed fellow senior captain Caroline D’Andrea. Like Minetti, D’Andrea runs on both the cross country and track teams.

“I didn’t believe it at first,” D’Andrea said. “ . . . I was crying a lot Saturday night when it happened. And then all of Sunday, I was, like, devastated.

“He was like my grandpa. He cared about me like I was one of his kids. He cared about all of us like we were one of his kids.”

Even after they moved on with their lives.

“When these students leave him and move on to college and careers, he was so impactful that they stayed in touch, and he cared to know how these students ended up,” Poole said.

Coaching meant so much to the Rocky Point resident.

“It was his life,” said Kevin Koretzki, Paul’s son. “He didn’t want to stop. He wanted to keep going, always wanted to help kids get better.”

And he was good at it.

“I think he just kind of found the potential of what every kid could do,” said Krista Watson, Paul’s daughter. “He was a teacher as well, and a good teacher does that. He found their strengths and ran with that, literally ran.”

Born in Brooklyn and raised mostly in Levittown, Paul Koretzki attended Island Trees High School and then Hofstra. He played baseball, basketball and football and later took up soccer while in college. His coaching run began in 1960 with the Oceanside Middle School soccer team.

He moved on in 1964 to Brentwood High School where he taught math for more than 30 years and served as the boys JV and varsity soccer coach, as an assistant boys basketball coach and as the boys outdoor track coach.

The six-time marathon runner really left a large mark after taking over the girls cross country and track and field teams at Shoreham-Wading River. He claimed coach of the year accolades in Suffolk more than 135 times. He was twice named a state cross country coach of the year.

“I just know that Paul was larger than life in the Shoreham district,” said Eric Bramoff, its new athletic director. “ . . . Just being an educator, he was someone that I would aspire to be like.”

Former Wildcats assistant football coach Hans Wiederkehr called him “an absolute legend there.”

Koretzki owned a winning career record with every team he coached at Shoreham-Wading River and Brentwood. He had more than 70 league and 30 county titles to his credit, plus two state titles.

“The best way to describe Paul is he had no ego,” said Wiederkehr, whose daughter, Corinne, was coached and tutored in math by Koretzki at Shoreham-Wading River. “He just wanted to help other people.

“Everybody kept track of his wins. I don’t know if that really meant much to him. But helping the kids do as best as they can, that was more important to Paul than a record.”

In 2020, Koretzki received a big honor — induction into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame. At that point, his Shoreham-Wading River and Brentwood teams were a combined 1,002-163-26.

“Just knowing Paul, I think it was just his ability to relate to the kids,” said Mark Passamonte, who was Shoreham-Wading River’s athletic director for the past 10 years and is now the interim AD at Plainedge. “He was a mentor to them.”

Koretzki was predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Mary Joan. Besides his son and daughter and their spouses, he’s survived by five grandchildren.

The wake is Thursday from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at O.B. Davis Funeral Home in Miller Place. The funeral will be private.

Last week, Koretzki was in the hospital. But he showed his usual dedication. He called Minetti following the cross country team’s first dual meet.

“You ask how he’s feeling; he doesn’t want to hear it,” Minetti said. “He just wants to hear how the team did, and that’s all he cared about."