By Matthew Sotlar / The Jambar
Youngstown State University’s Mike Latessa, the first National Championship athlete with a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degree, was honored by the YSU women’s basketball team Jan. 15.
Latessa, executive director of The Rich Center for Autism, said he did not initially anticipate staying to complete all three degrees.
“It’s been amazing because it’s not something that I anticipated doing,” Latessa said. “There was a gap between each one. I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in 2002 and my master’s degree in 2006 … and then my doctorate was just in December [2024] in educational leadership, so there was a career shift and a change between all of those.”
While working on a bachelor’s in Business Administration in Accounting, Latessa was an offensive lineman for the YSU’s undefeated football team under Head Coach Jim Tressel. The team ultimately won the 1997 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship.
“It was quite the experience,” Latessa said. “Being a local kid here in the area and watching YSU succeed and win national champions in the early part of the 90s, you begin to think, ‘Well, maybe that’s something I could be a part of.’”
Latessa said it was his love of coaching and sports that got him interested in education over accounting.
“Taking a step back before graduating, I had played football in high school and I had played football in college here at YSU, it was always an important part of my life,” Latessa said. “When I graduated, I went to work in the accounting field, and after a few years I kind of missed it, so I started volunteering and getting involved a little bit with coaching.”
Following a period of career exploration, Latessa settled on becoming a school counselor.
“I actually came back to career services on campus, did the assessment, and was pretty confident that I didn’t want to be a classroom teacher,” Latessa said. “That’s where the counseling was highly ranked on my assessment, and I did a little bit of investigating and decided to pursue school counseling.”
With three degrees in total, Latessa worked with the Rich Center for nearly six years. For his achievement, he was honored with a customized jersey from the YSU women’s basketball team, who wore Rich Center-themed shirts during its game.
Latessa said he was not expecting to be awarded and only thought he was participating in a pre-planned jersey handoff.
“I got a text from Jake Ellis, [community engagement and event coordinator at YSU.] He said, ‘They need you before the game, they’re going to do a jersey handoff,’ and I just assumed that made sense. So I walked out there and it got a little weird when I got to center court and no one was joining me. Then they started talking, and I was like, ‘Oh man, they got me good.’”
He added some advice for students to help them succeed.
“Stay the course and be adaptable to change,” Latessa said. “There’s nearly 22 years in between my bachelor’s and my doctorate, and it’s never too late to make a change if that’s what you want to do.”