Riverview High hits 'refresh' with new athletic director

Most people at Matt Borriello’s age have just started their respective careers. They’re learning what it means to work for a living and trying to climb the corporate ladder.

Some, like future lawyers or doctors, are continuing their education before stepping into the workforce. There’s also people who remain unsure of what direction to take in life.

Borriello chose a path which few others his age have trodden.

At 26 years old, he’s the new athletic director for Riverview High School entering the 2026-27 academic year. He officially started June 1 and succeeded Rod Dragash, who stepped down in May after nine years to spend more time with family.

The Montgomery, New York, native has spent just over two months getting comfortable in the Rams’ athletic department. July 27 marked the start of football, girls volleyball, golf, cross country and swimming, as outlined by the Florida High School Athletic Association.

This is Borriello’s first appointment as an athletic director, but a lack of experience in such a position didn’t make him hesitate when the job became available this past spring.

“When this job opened up, I thought I’d be a really good fit,” Borriello said. “I know I’m going to work my butt off and it’s going to be awesome. I love being able to impact these kids’ lives.”

He first came to Riverview ahead of the 2023-24 academic year as a social studies teacher, hoping to help transform the lives of students as they grew from freshmen to seniors.

It’s that transformational aspect of the profession which attracted him most. He hasn’t forgotten the mentors who guided him at Mount Saint Mary College and Valley Central High School.

Being part of the Rams’ community has enabled him to pay it forward.

“Any opportunity to help a team or help other teachers or anybody on campus — he doesn't have to be asked. He just does it,” said Mark Sobolewski, the Riverview baseball coach. “He's a guy that really cares about the kids and their experience throughout the whole school.”

Photo by Jack Nelson

Baseball is what Borriello knows best. Much of his childhood was synonymous with the sport, and it would eventually underline his educational journey.

He pitched for Mount Saint Mary of NCAA Division III in Newburgh, New York, from 2019-23. With the Knights, he posted a 4.86 career ERA over 163.0 innings pitched. 

Once hired at Riverview, he immediately jumped into coaching, starting out as an assistant on junior varsity. For 2025, he moved to the varsity staff as pitching coach, but then became the team’s director of baseball operations for 2026 when Sobolewski was hired.

He’ll remain in that role moving forward. Despite how busy he’ll be as athletic director, Borriello knows he’s “going to go crazy” if he isn’t coaching baseball in some capacity.

In his time with the program, he’s learned that every student-athlete is going through something off the diamond, and he always has the power to make their day better.

“I don’t know if they ate breakfast. I don’t know if their girlfriend broke up with them today. I don’t know what their math quiz was like,” Borriello said. “It’s helped me with this, because I can see an athlete and maybe they are having a bad day. Maybe it’s a fist bump from their athletic director and a smile — maybe they haven’t gotten that all day.”

Even before Riverview or Mount Saint Mary, baseball has proven to be a valuable teacher in his life. It’s ultimately, as he pointed out, a game of failure.

Players can average three or four hits in every 10 at-bats and be considered successful. Statistically, though, they fail more often than they succeed.

Those who carry a batting average better than .300 over a decade or so often end up in Cooperstown as inductees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“You show up every day, you fail, but you just need to put your head down and go. And it doesn’t matter what other people say: It matters what you do,” Borriello said. “That’s exactly what we bring to the athletic department.”

Photo by Jack Nelson

Baseball is just one of several programs he now oversees as athletic director. The school is home to reigning champions in multiple sports.

Girls swimming won its fifth consecutive FHSAA Class 4A state championship in 2025. Girls cross country features rising junior Madison Muller, who won the 4A title last year.

As Borriello goes about managing athletics in year one, he’ll look to assistant athletic directors Josh Smithers and Dave Catalfino for support.

Smithers coached Riverview football from 2017-24 and is now the team’s defensive coordinator. Catalfino, meanwhile, coaches girls track and field as well as girls weightlifting.

“He's a younger guy, so there was a little bit of skepticism in the beginning with that, but he has shown that is a non-factor,” Catalfino said. “He's just been working really hard and trying to make things as smooth as possible, so he’s been doing an outstanding job.”

Other athletic directors in Sarasota are in their 40s or 50s. Borriello, though, doesn't feel weird about being in this position four years before his 30th birthday.

He was a captain for Mount Saint Mary baseball from 2022-23. At Valley Central, he was a captain of both the baseball and boys basketball teams.

To him, this is just a different type of leadership — captain of the athletic department.

“I know it’s a big job, but I’m extremely confident in myself,” Borriello said. “I know what I can do.”