NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Westchester’s only all-boys K-12 Catholic institution to make the “Best Catholic High Schools in New York State” and “Best Private High Schools in New York State” on Niche.com, Iona Preparatory School has named Steve Alvarado of Bedford Hills as its new Varsity Basketball Coach.
“Iona Preparatory has built a number of very competitive, successful athletic programs over the years, with basketball chief among them,” Athletic Director Bernard A. Mahoney said. “We are pleased to announce that Steve Alvarado will continue that evolution as our next head coach, and look forward to our young Iona men being led by Steve and his staff in the years to come.”
This is a promotion for Alvarado, who has held the role of head coach for Iona Prep’s junior varsity team since 2012, and is also a program director and the 10th-and-11th-grade coach with the New Renaissance AAU program. Mr. Alvarado is the Founder and President of SNG Capital Partners, Inc., located in Purchase, N.Y.
“Our current Centennial celebration has given us much cause to reflect on our last 100 years of excellence, and what we would like to be in the next century,” Iona Preparatory President Brother Thomas R. Leto said. “And what we endeavor to be is the standard for Catholic education in the Northeast, with superior academic, athletic and spiritual programs. I am confident that Coach Alvarado will bring a similar programmatic approach to our basketball teams across the board, from the Lower School to the Upper School, in building upon the championship pedigree that is already in place.”
During his time leading the junior varsity, Mr. Alvarado’s teams won two NY Diocesan Divisional Championships in 2015 and 2016 as he coached the team to back-to-back NYC Catholic AA Championship game appearances. The second appearance resulted with a victory and Iona Preparatory’s first AA Basketball Championship win in the school’s history.
“I have been honored to coach the Iona men of our JV program for the past five seasons, and even more so now to be named the next varsity coach,” Alvarado said. “I’m extremely excited to continue building Iona Prep’s basketball program, top to bottom, into a perennial powerhouse that routinely attracts scholar-athletes and graduates students into the best colleges and universities in the country.”
Prior to his time at Iona Preparatory, Mr. Alvarado served as a head coach and assistant with various youth teams in the region. He has also volunteered with various youth programs throughout NYC and Westchester, including the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester (serving on the Board of Directors), St Patrick’s CYO (Bedford), Tri-County Basketball League, Family Reach Foundation, NY Gauchos, New Heights NYC and New Rens Basketball.
Mr. Alvarado has been active in charitable endeavors that benefit youth in the Greater NY Metropolitan Area for over 25 years. In 1999, he founded the First Estate Funding Corp Youth Foundation. The mission of the Foundation is to provide tuition assistance for at-risk youth to place them into stronger high school academic environments; in particular, those B-level students who don’t normally have access to scholarship money and would be able to achieve their full academic potential in a private school setting. To date, the Foundation has helped 17 students achieve high school graduation. The Foundation also currently supports student athletes with academic assistance, and provides grants to assist with travel expenses to tournaments and camps that could assist them with collegiate scholarship opportunities.
Mr. Alvarado graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, where he was a three-year starter and Co-Captain of a PSAL NYC semi-finalist. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. Mr. Alvarado currently resides in Bedford Hills with his wife, Patty, and triplet 16-year-old boys, Jordan, Xander and Tyler.