Blind reassigned at SPC, who’s next?
Hudson’s players in NCAAs; wrestlers’ fine showing
What was rumored and expected for the past month finally took place last week when it was announced that St. Peter’s College men’s basketball coach Rodger Blind was relieved of his duties as head coach and was being reassigned to other duties within the athletic department of the school.
Blind suffered through a horrendous 5-23 season, a year which saw the Peacocks lose their last 14 games. It was a year that was supposed to be a promising one, considering that the Peacocks had advanced to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament finale last year and welcomed back most of that team this year. But the promise never materialized and Blind had to be replaced, especially after the team decided in unison not to attend a scheduled early morning practice following a loss to Manhattan.
Who will be the new coach at St. Peter’s? The speculation is already running rampant. The usual suspect is alumnus Bob Leckie, the current coach at Bishop Loughlin High School in New York, who played for SPC under the "glory days" of former coach Don Kennedy.
Another is current St. Patrick’s (Elizabeth) H.S. coach Kevin Boyle, who is also an alumnus of SPC, but doesn’t have the abundant alumni following that Leckie currently enjoys.
Jersey City native Danny Hurley, currently an assistant at Rutgers, might be another candidate, if he’s interested. The former St. Anthony standout and son of the legendary coach of the Friars would deserve consideration – especially if it would lead to a pipeline to his father’s players.
There are apparently a lot of other interested candidates who have already thrown their hats into the ring – and a host of others who have made inquiries through contacts. Believe me, with all the phone calls I’ve received from interested people wanting their names throw into consideration through this column, there are a lot of coaches who want the job.
However, I was doing some thinking. You know, there’s a coach at Montclair State who recently guided his team to the ECAC New York-New Jersey Division III championship, a guy who led the Red Hawks to a 20-win season, something he was accustomed to when he was the coach somewhere else.
That successful coach with a winning record just might be the perfect guy for the job at St. Peter’s College. That guy’s name is Ted Fiore. Sound familiar?
After all, he was once the perfect coach at St. Peter’s College. Five years later, he remains that perfect coach.
Maybe, by now, someone might step forward and admit that the firing of Fiore five years ago was the single biggest mistake in the school’s history. After all, he still hasn’t been asked to come back to this day as a deserving member of the school’s Hall of Fame. Maybe he can be brought back to his rightly position as head coach.
Yeah, right…
The Peahens of St. Peter’s are Hudson’s lone representative as a team in the NCAA March Madness, also known as the NCAA Tournament.
But there are four other Hudson County natives that will participate in the respective men’s and women’s tourneys.
Three local men, namely North Bergen’s Ricky Apdoaca (Hofstra) and Jersey City’s Rashon Burno (DePaul) and Robert Cheeks (St. Bonaventure), will do their share of dancing this weekend.
Apodaca, who received a lot of local criticism when he chose Hofstra last year over some bigger schools, is seeing a lot of quality minutes for the Flying Dutchmen, who will make their first NCAA appearance since 1977. Freshman guard Apodaca is averaging nearly eight points per game. Hofstra faces Oklahoma State in the first round.
Burno, the former St. Anthony point guard who was the MVP of the Tournament of Champions four years ago, is the starting point guard for DePaul, averaging nearly seven points and five assists per game. Last week, the sophomore Burno had his best game as a collegian, scoring 16 points and collecting 11 assists. DePaul faces Kansas in the opening round.
And Cheeks, also a St. Anthony grad, is seeing limited action with the Bonnies, who also make their first NCAA Tourney appearance since the 70s.
There’s also one local woman, namely Hoboken native and St. Dominic Academy grad Angela Zampella, who will participate in the tourney. Zampella, who averages 10 points per game and leads the nation in assists, will lead St. Joseph’s into the RAC at Rutgers this weekend.
I know that there will be one person who would have loved to be at Rutgers and would have been especially proud this weekend – and that’s Angela’s great dad, Louie, who unfortunately passed away last summer. This weekend, Louie Zampella will be somewhere, looking down on his little girl and will be flashing that broad, proud smile he’s had for years, knowing that his little girl has done good…
The NJSIAA state wrestling tournament was held last weekend at the Continental Airlines Arena and it was a rousing success, with more than 10,000 fans attending the two-day affair.
On Friday night, Hudson County was represented by North Bergen’s 125-pounder Antonio Viera and by three St. Peter’s Prep wrestlers, namely Jason Monaco, Allen Sista and Brian Grzelka.
After winning two rounds to advance to the state quarterfinals, Viera suffered a tough loss in overtime to Kris Monzo of Clifton, dropping a 6-4 decision.
Viera was then eliminated from state medal contention with another tough setback, a 10-7 loss to Mohamad Omara of Ewing.
Although Viera fell to defeat, he more than made a strong showing in the tournament and had nothing to be ashamed of. He completed his season with a solid 28-6 record and graduates as one of the finest wrestlers in the history of the school.
All three Prep wrestlers won their opening round consolation matches on Saturday, then fell to defeat later that day. But earning at least one victory in the state tourney capped a brilliant season for the Marauders and head coach Keith Kelly…
Hudson Catholic’s hockey team will go for some state glory this weekend when the Hawks face Seton Hall Prep for the Parochial state championship. We’ll have more on the Hawks’ state title try, as well as the Peahens in Oregon next week.
Also, we’ll have the Hudson Reporter’s All-Area boys’ and girls’ basketball teams next week as well.