The Seneca Valley boys basketball team is surrounded by many questions as it looks toward the 2004-05 season.

Victor Giannotta became the answer to the most pressing inquiry.

Giannotta, who coached at Peters Township the last three seasons, was approved by the Seneca Valley School Board Monday night to be the Raiders new coach.

"I'd say 25 to 30 coaches applied for the position," said Seneca Valley athletic director Terry Henry. "After the first set of interviews, I felt Vic had a great knowledge of the game of basketball. I believe that's one of his strongest assets.

"And we wanted a guy with previous head coaching experience," he added.

"The size of (Seneca Valley) was intriguing," Giannotta said. "But sometimes size isn't the main factor when dealing with high school athletics.

"But I just kind of looked at Seneca as a sleeping giant," he added.

In three seasons at Peters Township, Giannotta compiled a 34-39 record, including an 0-2 record in the playoffs.

The Indians went 0-12 in Section 5-AAAA play in 2001-02.

The team rebounded to make the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs the next two seasons. Peters Township was ousted by Latrobe in a play-in game last season.

Giannotta said his experience with a struggling program can aid him at Seneca.

"Hopefully, my first year at Seneca isn't as bad as my first year at Peters," Giannotta said. "But you're not going to turn it around over night.

"You've just got to stay positive and work hard," he added. "We need to get the community involved, get the administration behind us and get students into those seats."

Giannotta replaces Rob Naylor, who coached the Raiders the last two seasons. After finishing a respectable 12-11 in Naylor's first campaign, Seneca dropped to 2-21 last season, losing all 12 of its Section 3-AAAA games.

Giannotta, 38, went to St. Francis Prep High School in New York City before attending Hunter College (N.Y.).

He went to graduate school at the University of Dayton and later coached high school basketball in the Southwestern Ohio city.

He came to the WPIAL as the head coach at Sewickley Academy for eight seasons before joining Peters Township.

"As far as the varsity assistants, that is undecided as to whether they will join me in the move," said Giannotta.

Giannotta will take either a physical education or an in-school suspension position at Seneca.