FHS adds five to coaching ranks

Fontainebleau High School has selected five new assistant coaches to join the Bulldogs fold, which includes Steve Alfonso, Elmo Altazan, Adam Rowe, Raphael Tillman and Joey Tolis.

FHS athletic director Dan Conlin, in his eighth year in the position, said these coaching hires bring a wealth of experience to the Bulldogs.

“Several of them have head coaching experience, which means they bring an exceptional amount of knowledge. Each will become a definite asset to our athletic programs,” Conlin said.

“They are not only solid coaches with strong backgrounds, but they are more importantly excellent teachers. They were offered jobs at other schools within the parish, but chose to coach and teach here at Fontainebleau High. We are glad they made that choice,” Conlin added.

He said he expects the five new coaches to fit in really well adding their expertise to the already strong coaching staff to continue to help the Bulldogs’ sports programs excel in the future.

Alfonso, 35, joins head boy’s basketball coach Barry Dotson as his assistant and will also work with the FHS athletes as an assistant softball coach as a member of Chris Nelson’s staff. Alfonso said he is looking forward to assisting coach Dotson, who coached him when he played at Millaudon Middle School in St. Bernard.

Alfonso previously served as the head basketball coach for the Archbishop Rummel Raiders in Metairie for the past four years. He posted a 68-42 record with the Raiders, taking his club to the state playoffs three times. He has 12 years of coaching experience at St. Bernard, Archbishop Hannan and Rummel. He graduated from Loyola University in 1996 with a degree in business and finance. He will be working with General Educational Development Test Prep. Alfonso, who is originally from St. Bernard, now resides in Mandeville with his wife Amy, who is an occupational therapist with the St. Tammany Parish School system.

Altazan, 41, made his way to FHS from Northwood High School in Shreveport, where he was the head baseball coach for the past two seasons. He will serve as an assistant coach in baseball and football. Coach Altazan has 15 years of coaching experience, primarily in St. Tammany Parish at his alma mater, Pearl River High School, where he graduated from in 1984. Altazan has nine years of head baseball coaching experience, including two stints at PRHS, (1997-1999 and 2001-2005), and 13 years as an assistant football coach. He also has additional experience as a head swim coach and basketball assistant. Altazan graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University in 1989 with a bachelor of arts. In 1994, he completed the Teacher Education Program at SLU.

He is a member of the FHS Special Education Department. He is married to his wife Debbie and they have three daughters, Liz (27), Trish (24) and Grace (19).

Rowe, 33, joins the FHS coaching staff as the boy’s freshman head soccer coach. He will also assist varsity head coach Budd Ditchendorf and assistant Leonard Tridico.

He has four years of soccer experience including one year at Fontainebleau Junior High coaching the girls’ JV team before transferring to Monteleone Junior High where he served as the boy’s soccer coach for three years.

He graduated from Western Michigan University in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in education and he received his masters’ degree in education from Southeastern Louisiana University in 2005.

He will teach social studies. Born and raised in Grand Haven in Western Michigan he coached water polo for two years. He enjoys playing water polo in a recreational league sponsored by Tulane University.

Rowe resides in Mandeville with his wife Alissa and their 18-month old golden retriever, Carmela.

Tillman, 31, will be an assistant coach for football and wrestling. Tillman has eight years of coaching and teaching experience.

He played quarterback and wide receiver at Rice University under Owls’ head coach Ken Hatfield. He graduated from Rice in 2000 with a degree in health and kinesiology.

He has worked in the Pass Christian Mississippi School System, the Independent School District of Houston and the Catholic Diocese of Galveston as a head football and baseball coach, physical education teacher and assistant principal.

He will teach health at Fontainebleau. He holds a masters degree in kinesiology from Texas Southern University and has a second masters in educational administration from Sam Houston State University. He is from Carriere, Miss. He resides in Lacombe with his wife Charlotte.

Tolis, 32, is the boy’s freshman head basketball coach and will be an assistant for the boy’s varsity squad. He was born in Baton Rouge and raised in Slidell. He is a 1994 Northshore High graduate. He graduated from Tarleton State University (1998) and Centenary College in (2000). Tolis with 10 years’ of experience coached at Centenary College, LSU Shreveport, Tarlton State, Angelina Junior College and Southwood High School in Shreveport. He has been the Commissioner of the Joe Dean Basketball Camp held in Summit, Miss., for the past 11 years. Tolis teaches Option 3 GED Preparation. He holds a bachelor’s of Science and Health and Exercise Studies along with a masters of arts in teaching.

He is married to his wife Jennifer with two children, four-year-old son Kadin, and 10-month old daughter Kalyssa.