Fallo to coach at Ossining 

For Will Fallo, a 2010 Lakeland High School graduate, the opportunity to lead Ossining's boys basketball program fulfills a longtime coaching goal while giving back to the community he now calls home.

Fallo said several factors drew him to the position, including his ties to the community, the program's strong basketball tradition and the opportunity to compete in Section 1's highest classification.

“I had several influential coaches growing up so it’s always been a personal goal to lead a high-school program and attempt to pay it forward to the next generation of student- athletes,” Fallo said. “I'm humbled to have been chosen to guide the program moving forward.” 

Ossining will play in a league with Mount Vernon, which has won 13 state titles and 34 Section 1 championships, as well as New Rochelle, White Plains, Scarsdale and Mamaroneck, which won its first Section 1 Class AAA title this past March with a 61-44 victory over Mount Vernon at the Westchester County Center.

Fallo said his short-term goals are to build relationships with the players and establish daily habits centered on working hard and being great teammates.

“Long-term goals would be to develop a culture where players are proud to wear the ‘O’ on their chest and their experience in our program equips them with the right character and habits to be successful in whatever they choose to pursue after they leave us,” Fallo said. “On the court we hope to be perennial contenders in Class AAA.” 

Fallo was an assistant boys basketball coach at Lakeland from 2018 to 2024 under his father, head coach Steve Fallo, who also coached girls volleyball, girls basketball and softball at Lakeland.

“Practically every day growing up was spent on a field or in a gym watching my dad with his teams so being able to coach with him was a dream come true,” Fallo said.

Fallo said his father’s biggest lesson was the importance of putting people first, emphasizing that coaching goes beyond plays and practices.

“What I learned from my dad was how to put people first. His relationships with players, coaches, officials, etc. is something I've tried to emulate,” he said. “There's so much more to coaching than what plays we run or the drills we do in practice; in reality coaching is 90 percent about the relationships with our players and the culture we create.” 

Will Fallo was an assistant coach at John Jay College in Manhattan this past season and, in his spare time, also assisted his brother, Tim, with the Yorktown JV boys basketball team.

“It was just for the one season over at Yorktown but I'm really glad I did it,” Will said. “We lucked out with an awesome group of young men to work with, this was a team that improved drastically over the course of the season and had a lot of fun in the gym on a daily basis.”

Fallo said he has enjoyed watching his brother Tim develop as a coach while coaching Yorktown teams in multiple sports. He also credited coach Mark Pavella for welcoming the two Lakeland graduates into the program and allowing them to contribute during the season.

As a student-athlete at Lakeland, Will played attack for the Lakeland/Panas lacrosse team from 2008 to 2010. The latter was one of the best seasons in Rebels history.

It was a season that saw Lakeland/Panas earn its most recent Murphy Cup victory, its traditional rivalry game against Yorktown. The Rebels then defeated the Huskers 8-7 on a goal by Will in overtime in the Section 1 Class A championship game at White Plains High School.

“It’s really special because I view that goal as a culmination of all the efforts of the great players and teams that came before us,” said Will, who went on to play lacrosse at Nazareth University.

He added that “so many were deserving of winning and ultimately laid the foundation for our 2010 team to be successful.”

Will said the Lakeland/Panas lacrosse program is built on a strong foundation and supported by an alumni network that remains deeply invested in its success.

“The level of the excitement I witnessed from everyone around a Murphy Cup win and Section 1 title is something I'll never forget,” he said. “I'm honored to have played a small role in all of that.” 

That Rebels squad, under coach Jim Lindsay, reached the state semifinals, where it faced West Islip, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation.

On an unassisted goal by All-American junior midfielder Conor Prunty, the Rebels cut West Islip’s lead to 9-7 with 8:56 remaining in the third quarter before falling to the eventual state champions, 20-10, at Hofstra University.