He served in the 95th Infantry of the United States Army in World War II, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

Cazzetta was promoted to replace John Castellani as head coach at Seattle in 1959, where the team had received a two-year postseason ban due to NCAA violations.

Cazzetta resigned as coach of the Pipers after team owner Gabe Rubin refused to grant him a raise (specifically a $10,000 raise and $2,000 in moving expenses) in order to help move his wife and six children, as the franchise was leaving Pittsburgh to become the Minnesota Pipers.

As it turned out, the owners' refusal and move were both mistakes, with the team returning to Pittsburgh as the Pipers after only one season in Minnesota.

[12] Cazzetta worked a variety of jobs after leaving the Pipers, serving as a sales representative for shoe companies (Converse and later Puma) before becoming a professor in the Sports Management department at the University of Massachusetts.