Tom Corriveau, basketball coach for Analy High School, dies at 57

Tom Corriveau, a prep sports star at Piner High School in the 1970s who went on to become a successful coach in youth sports over the past two decades, most recently serving as the varsity girls basketball coach at Analy High School, died Friday morning. He was 57.

The Analy community was notified of Corriveau’s sudden death by email Friday.

A longtime friend, Don Jensen, speaking for the family, said Corriveau appears to have died in his sleep, but that the exact cause was not yet known.

“He was happiest when he was coaching,” said Analy Principal Chris Heller, who knew Corriveau for years and watched his younger daughter play basketball under him in the NorCal Academy girls youth basketball program.

Tigers players “adored him,” Heller said.

“His enthusiasm for coaching and his love for doing it always showed,” Heller said.

Corriveau led Analy’s varsity girls basketball program to an undefeated Sonoma County League season in 2013-14, his first year after moving up from junior varsity coach after one year at the helm. The Tigers went 9-3 in league play this season.

“They knew his heart was in the right place,” Heller said. “He did everything right.”

“He had a major impact on our girls basketball program and on our players,” said Analy Athletic Director Joe Ellwood. “His positive energy and enthusiasm was infectious.”

Corriveau wasn’t just focused on basketball.

He was athletic director at St. Rose Catholic School in Santa Rosa for 12 years, according to his NorCal Academy biography.

Corriveau spent years in the coaching ranks at both Cardinal Newman and Ursuline high schools, overseeing basketball and soccer. He was an assistant coach with the boys soccer squad beginning in 2001, according to Cardinal Newman Principal Graham Rutherford. His son, Ryan, led the Cardinals to two North Coast Section championships in 2004 and 2005 and last fall was named head coach of the Cardinals for the upcoming season.

“He was a real big part of our soccer program,” Rutherford said, adding that the elder Corriveau stepped in to assist with the girls soccer team when Cardinal Newman went coed after the closure of Ursuline High School in 2011.

“I have a lot of respect for the care and effort he showed as a coach,” he said. “He always put players first; a very positive man.”

Those who knew him joked about Corriveau’s boisterous presence on the bench - a presence that belied the caring man beloved by players over several decades.

“Tom was just amazing. This has been a very hard day,” said Windsor High’s varsity girls basketball coach Jeff Paul, who led the Ursuline basketball program for years with Corriveau as both a junior varsity coach and later a varsity assistant coach.

“Everybody knows Tom as a loud coach on the sidelines. Once they get past that, once they get to know Tom - his character - he’s there for the kids,” he said.

Like Heller, Paul watched Corriveau coach his own daughter.

“That was a hard phone call to make. It was hard for me to tell her,” he said.

Don Jensen, the family friend, and his wife, Terri, spoke of Corriveau as one of the most fun, energetic and positive men they’d known.

“He’s somebody who will be in people’s memories for rest of their lives; they’ll be telling their grandkids, ‘I had the neatest coach when I was a kid,’?” Terri Jensen said.

She and her husband got to know Corriveau about 25 years ago when Jensen invited him to help coach their young sons’ soccer team. In the years that followed, Jensen continued to coach with Corriveau, first at Ursuline and later at Analy. “He would relate to the kids, get them on their level but still maintain respect. We had a philosophy when you coached: If you win the kids (over) first, they’ll play their heart out for you.”

Corriveau’s care and interest in the kids he coached went beyond the court or the field. He was incredibly generous, Jensen added.

“He gave of his time, his money,” he said. “If we had girls (at Ursuline) who couldn’t afford to go to camp, he’d be the first guy to reach in his pocket and pay the money. Everything was about the kids.”

The other priority in Corriveau’s life, he said, was his wife and kids. “He was passionate about his family,” Jensen said.

Corriveau married a fellow Piner High grad, the former Nancy Tapscott. In addition to his wife and son, Corriveau is survived by his daughter, Denise.

Staff Writer Jamie Hansen contributed to this article.