After spending the last three seasons as the head boys’ basketball coach at Secaucus, Carlos Cueto has decided to resign.
Cueto handed in his letter of resignation soon after the Patriots finished a 14-12 campaign.
Cueto, who was once the highly successful coach at Union Hill before the two Union City schools merged seven years ago, felt that he took the Secaucus program as far as it could go.
“It was tough for me to leave, because I know we have a couple of talented players coming back for their senior years, kids who have been with me since the start,” Cueto said. “But I think my expectations compared to everyone else’s are completely different. It was tough to build a program not teaching there, not being there every day.”
Cueto is a long-time teacher in the Union City school district.
“I thought that the community and the district wanted a program that would be compared with the girls’ program, but that wasn’t the case,” said Cueto, who had to face a Board of Education hearing before the season regarding complaints from parents about his behavior towards players, complaints that were limited to disgruntled parents whose children ended up not even playing this season.
“Some did, but they were few and far between,” said Cueto, a former standout player at St. Anthony and the University of Richmond. “There was always so much other stuff going on.”
Cueto led the Patriots to the NJIC-Patriot Division championship last season in his second year and won 14 games this year with an undersized roster.
“I think the one thing I was able to establish is that the kids came ready to play and play hard every night,” Cueto said. “We were ready to compete. That was the No. 1 priority and we proved that we could compete and win. We won 14 games this year and lost three games at the buzzer. To their credit, the kids played hard every night. I think the one thing I was able to establish is that the kids came ready to play and play hard every night,” Cueto said. “We were ready to compete. That was the No. 1 priority and we proved that we could compete and win. We won 14 games this year and lost three games at the buzzer. To their credit, the kids played hard every night. Once you get that, you can be a winner.”
But Cueto became disenchanted with the backbiting and backstabbing that came from the parents and other members of the community.
“It just got to be too much,” Cueto said. “I made up my mind about a month ago or so and I told the kids. I said that we had a few games left together and let’s see how many we could win.”
Cueto said that he has no current plans about his future in coaching. He is actively involved with the St. Michael’s CYO program in Union City and plans to remain with that long-standing organization.
“But I honestly have no plans,” said the 38-year-old Cueto, a father of a young daughter and son. “I enjoy being with my children. I think I did whatever I could with the program in Secaucus. I just think not being from Secaucus and not being in the school hurt me. I’m leaving with my head held high. I did everything I could possibly do.”
Losing a quality coach like Cueto is a major loss for the Secaucus athletic program. It’s insane to fathom the idea that there are people in Secaucus who can’t embrace excellent coaches like Cueto and girls’ basketball coach John Sterling. (Sterling stayed on.)
The people of Secaucus should be rallying behind coaches like Cueto and Sterling and not causing problems, simply because their son or daughter isn’t getting enough playing time. Because finding superb coaches like Cueto and Sterling is not easy – and now the district has lost Cueto simply because of a lack of full support from the parents.
Well, good luck finding someone of better caliber.
As for Sterling and his team, the Patriots’ season came to an end last weekend when they lost to New Providence in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I semifinals, 47-43, ending their great season at 27-1 and the school’s first-ever Hudson County Tournament championship.
Wonder if there are any people in Secaucus who are questioning Sterling’s contributions this season? It was a spectacular year for the Patriots, one for the ages. There will be a basketball championship banner to add to the walls of Secaucus High…
The team that Secaucus defeated in the Hudson County finals, namely Lincoln, advanced all the way to the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group II title game before falling to Newark Tech. It was another solid season for head coach Tommy Best and the Lions. It’s just a shame that the Lions came up on the short end of two championship games…
It was almost lost in the shuffle at the end of the girls’ basketball season, but a heartwarming moment took place in St. Dominic Academy’s final home game against Hoboken.
In that game, SDA head coach John Hester started senior Toni Giacchi, who missed all of the season after tearing the ACL in her knee last September (incredibly her second ACL surgery, missing all of her sophomore year as well), and allowed her to play long enough to take a 3-pointer. Well, on her third attempt, Giacchi, still not recovered enough to play full-time, made the shot and was quickly replaced. So Giacchi made her final 3-point shot in high school. Such a nice story…
A year ago, when the free agency period opened up in the National Football League, the New York Giants were able to bring home a local product when they signed defensive end Robert Ayers to a contract. Ayers was born in Jersey City, so it was a happy homecoming.
Last Tuesday, the Giants did it again, bringing home another Jersey City native in linebacker Jonathan Casillas, who had won Super Bowl titles with the New Orleans Saints and last month with the New England Patriots.
Casillas was born in Jersey City (his father, Flash Gordon, a Jersey City Recreation employee still lives here), but played high school football at New Brunswick High School, was overjoyed to get a three-year deal with his hometown team.
“It’s hard to put into words,” Casillas said in a conference call. “After so much time away and playing ball in New Orleans and Tampa and New England, being able to come back home and be able to play in front of your home crowd and my family is really a blessing.”…
This week’s Athlete of the Week, Christian Colucci of St. Peter’s Prep, won the state title, but he was not the only Marauder grappler to earn a medal in Atlantic City. Connor Burkert, who was Co-Athlete of the Week last week with his twin brother, Ryan, was the runner-up at 138 pounds. Alec Kelly finished third at 113 pounds and Jose Palomino was fourth at heavyweight. Not a bad run for the Marauder wrestling team…
Hudson Reporter Boys’ H.S. Basketball Top Five: 1. St. Anthony (28-1). 2. Hudson Catholic (24-4). 3. Marist (21-5). 4. Union City (17-8). 5. Dickinson (16-9)…
Hudson Reporter Girls’ H.S. Basketball Top Five: 1. Secaucus (27-1). 2. Lincoln (22-6). 3. North Bergen (15-10). 4. Ferris (17-7). 5. Marist (14-8)…–Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.