On Thursday, two days after being officially appointed East Haven’s new football coach, Anthony Lucibello met with his new team for two hours.

He is relishing the opportunity to turn around the Yellowjackets’ moribund program, one that has suffered many losing seasons in the Southern Connecticut Conference. And he wanted to be straight with the players right from the start.

“I told them to cancel their gym memberships. The only place they will be lifting is at East Haven High School,” said Lucibello, 43, a teacher at Whitney Tech. “The East Haven teams I played against while I was in high school (at North Haven) had success. It’s been quite some time since they have been successful, obviously. ...You play together, you go to school together. It’s about building an entire program and the way you carry yourself.”

Lucibello, a Cheshire resident, has been a career assistant at several schools, including North Haven, Guilford, Hyde, Hamden and, most recently, Cheshire.