2023 Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame Inductee: Jay Sirianni

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Jay Sirianni

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Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame

And then there were three.

With the 2023 induction of Jay Sirianni, there are now three Siriannis in the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame. Jay joins his father, Fran (Class of 2018), and older brother, Mike (Class of 2022) as inductees of the CSHOF.

The Siriannis were born to coach. Jay, like his dad, has established himself as one of the finest coaches in the storied history of Southwestern Central School athletics. Mike is the incredibly successful football coach at Washington & Jefferson College. The youngest Sirianni, Nick, is building quite a resume as the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League.

Jay Sirianni was born in Jamestown in 1975. He graduated from Southwestern Central in 1993 and Mount Union College in 1997.

As a high school athlete for the Trojans, Jay earned 8 varsity letters in the sports of football, basketball and track and field.

He followed his brother, Mike, to Mount Union College where he played basketball and football for the Purple Raiders. He was a quarterback on the 1996 Division III National Championship Mount Union football team.

Jay was the head football coach at his high school alma mater from 2003 to 2014 compiling a sterling 101-26 record at the Hunt Road school. He led the Trojans to back-to-back New York State football championships in 2008 and 2009, and was the state runner-up in 2011. SWCS was Section VI champions in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011, plus the Post-Journal named Jay its Football Coach of the Year four times during his tenure.

Sirianni has served on the Section VI football committee since 2009 and has been its chairman since 2020.

He has been the head track and field coach at Southwestern since 2016 and has compiled an amazing 42-3 record. The Trojan boys team was the league and county champions in 2017-2019 and 2021-2022. Only Covid-19 in 2020 has prevented a six-year run. SWCS was the Section VI champs in 2021 and 2022.

Sirianni has coached other sports as well. He was the assistant boys basketball coach at Southwestern for three years, including 1998 and 1999 when they were sectional winners. He has served as a girls basketball assistant coach from 2002-2006 and from 2021 to the present helping his wife, Kay, who is the head coach. The Lady Trojans won sectional titles in 2004 and 2005.

Jay coached the Southwestern boys’ modified basketball team from 2009 to present and was a youth football coach from 2015-2021.

Sirianni is a history teacher at Southwestern and resides in the Town of Busti.