Daniel Hand and Cheshire's football teams will set aside their rivalry for a few minutes Friday night to honor a coach who has spent his life bouncing between both sidelines. Mike Ciotti, a Hand alumnus turned Cheshire assistant coach, will walk onto the field for the coin toss before kickoff at 7 p.m. at the Surf Club in Madison, as he continues treatment for Stage 4 cancer, according to CT Insider.
The tribute comes as Ciotti, now a Cheshire football assistant coach and Hand football alumnus, undergoes an aggressive treatment regimen that blends conventional chemotherapy with integrative oncology, according to CT Insider. That integrative care includes IV treatment, protein boosting, peptide boosting, and immune-system support, and it comes with a steep price tag: weekly sessions cost roughly $5,000 and are not covered by health insurance, according to a GoFundMe campaign launched to help cover Ciotti's medical expenses.
Ciotti had a four-centimeter brain tumor removed in June and has since completed two months of chemotherapy, the report notes, with very few side effects along the way. He has reported that four doctors told him they did not know how he had survived his illness. Despite everything, Ciotti recently jogged 100 yards at practice, something he had not had the strength to do in more than a year, per the same account.
A Family Name Built Into Hand Football
The Ciotti name is woven into the foundation of Hand football. Mike's father, Larry Ciotti, started the program in 1971 and went on to serve 19 seasons as head coach, compiling a 141-41-2 record with four Class M state titles and seven state championship game appearances, according to the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance. Larry later spent more than two decades coaching at Yale, and in October 2024 he received the organization's Gold Key Award, one of the state's oldest and most prestigious athletic honors, recognizing his 50-plus years of coaching at both schools.
Mike played for Hand in the mid-1980s, winning a state championship with the Tigers in 1984, earning all-state honors in 1985, and graduating with Hand's Class of 1986 before heading to Yale, where he played center and earned All-Ivy honors in 1990, according to the station's report. He later served as a Hand assistant coach from 2006 to 2017, helping lead the Tigers to their 12th state championship and earning Connecticut High School Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year honors in 2017, before joining Don Drust's Cheshire coaching staff. Ciotti was also inducted into the Madison Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, which notes he spent 21 years coaching in Madison Youth Football, including four years as league president, and launched the Coaches Coaching Coaches program to align youth strategies with Hand's varsity team.
Two Programs With Championship Pedigree
Hand enters Friday's game with a 4-0 record, while Cheshire sits at 3-1, having won last year's overtime meeting 28-27. Since its founding in 1970, Hand football has amassed 15 state championships and a 75 percent winning percentage across 54 seasons, including titles in 2023 and 2025 under head coach Erik Becker, per Tiger Pride Football. Cheshire, meanwhile, reached the CIAC Class L state championship game in December, finishing as runner-up to New Canaan under Drust, as reported by Cheshire Sports Media. Ciotti helped coach Cheshire to that Class L final in 2025 even as he battled his illness.
Becker, speaking about Friday's tribute, said Mike means a great deal to Hand football and the program, a sentiment that underscores how deeply Ciotti's influence stretches across both sidelines despite his current role with the rival Tigers. The two teams will hold a halftime ceremony at midfield, where Ciotti's parents, Larry and Barbara, along with his wife and children, will join him on the field.
A Family Motto Carries the Message
Mike’s favorite saying, “Eat the Bear,” symbolizes overcoming adversity. Ciotti has said Cheshire's players give him energy to keep fighting, and he has described feeling really good despite everything he has endured.
Outside of football, Ciotti owns a sports construction and equipment business in Madison, where he lives with his wife, Licia, and their four children, Kenny, Joey, Gina, and Ali, according to the Madison Athletic Hall of Fame. Friday's game offers a rare pause in a hard-fought Southern Connecticut Conference rivalry, bringing two programs and a lifetime of Ciotti family history together at the Surf Club to honor one of Madison's own.
