4/29/2011 - Pope John Names New Basketball Coach
The Pope John basketball players were gasping for air as the sweat poured off of them.
The Lions were working their way through an array of strength and conditioning drills in the old gym at the school that would have made a drill instructor at Parris Island proud.
As the Lions were given a water break their drill master, in no uncertain terms, let the members of the squad who attended the workout know that this will be the new way of life for PJ basketball.
And thus a new chapter in Pope John boys basketball was started as former St. Anthony (Yes, that, St. Anthony) assistant Jason Hasson began his tenure after being hired by the school last week.
Hasson replaces Mark Young who stepped down after a successful tenure including last year’s 15-7 season and second-place showing in the American Division of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference.
Hasson, an Altoona, Pa. native and former point guard for St. Vincent College, said he wants to bring his winning pedigree from the national champion Friars to Sparta and bring the Lions to the next level.
“The foundation is here to be successful,” said Hasson, who spent three years coaching under Hall-of Famer Bob Hurley in Jersey City. “Our goal is to win the (Non-Public) A championship. I’m excited about the opportunity here at Pope John.”
Hasson has an unbridled enthusiasm for the game of basketball and hoops is in his blood. Hasson, who is just scratching 29, is the son of coach and, according to Hurley, is a basketball lifer even at a young age.
“He has no hobbies but basketball,” the legend said. “I think this is a great hire for Pope John. I hate to lose Jason because he has been very helpful to the school and the program.
“He has been great with scouting and working with the individual players,” added Hurley who guided the Friars to a perfect 33-0 mark this past winter and another national championship. “He will bring great energy to Pope John and we will miss him.”
I asked Hurley if there will be a possible PJ-St. Anthony showdown in the near future and he kinda of laughed and said he wanted Hasson to get on his feet first in his first head coaching gig.
“He is a Hall-of-Famer and the greatest high school coach ever,” said Hasson, who was an assistant at Manhattanville College prior to coaching at St. Anthony, of Hurley. “It was just a tremendous opportunity to coach under him and I’m very grateful.”
Hasson said he was not approached by Pope John but that he saw the ad for the job opening and he applied. He said he talked to Hurley about it and the coach gave him his blessing and the administration at Pope John came away very impressed, said AD Mia Gavan.
“Being at St. Anthony and who his mentor was, that was something we looked at,” said Gavan. “He was very active in their practices and he has great energy and enthusiasm for basketball.
“More importantly, his philosophies fit with Pope John’s academically and athletically,” added Gavan who said that over 20 coaches applied for the job. “We are excited to have him here.”
Like Young before him, Hasson is a firm believer in tough man defense, describing his style as “hard-nosed, grind-it-out defense.”
On offense he believes in giving his players freedom on that end of the floor and with the players he has back that philosophy should prove to be successful.
Pope John has a nice group returning in guards JaQuan Bryant, Noah Brown and Glen Gavan and athletic big man Malachi Moore in the middle.
One key person from last year’s team who may or may not be back is top assistant Eric DuCharme. Gavan said the staff has not been named.
DuCharme, a former star player at Newton, had a nice run as the top man at Kittatinny before coming to PJ last season.
Although nothing is confirmed, I have been told that DuCharme has an interest in the Newton job now that long-time coach John Davey is no longer coaching the Braves after two stints with the school.
Newton AD Kurt Weaver said the school has not named a replacement yet.
Newton went 8-16 and 1-9 in Freedom Division last year, but the Braves have a good group back as well. Nate Sammans leads the returnees and the Braves should be much more competitive next year.
In my view, DuCharme would be a perfect fit with the Braves. He played for Davey and he knows the demographics of Newton having grown up in the district.
As for Hasson, he would be wise to hire an assistant who knows the area and has head coaching experience as he begins his head coaching career. I was once told that that the best assistant coaches are ones who were former head coaches. And I believe that to be true.
The Lenape Valley boys basketball job is also open, according to Lenape Valley AD Don Smolyn. Dan Moylan stepped down after leading the Pats to their best season in four years with a 14-11 mark and 6-4 record in the Freedom.
The Pats topped Wallkill Valley for their first state win in four years before losing a heartbreaker to defending North 1, Group 2 champion Pequannock 46-43 in the quarterfinals.
Smolyn said the school is in the process of looking for a new coach.
All right, so what do I think of the new hire at PJ?
Well, for the second time in a month, Pope John has plucked the tree of a national power in hopes of planting the seeds for similar success. Did the Lions pick wisely? We will find out.
After selecting former Don Bosco assistant Brian Carlson to lead the football team, going with a St. Anthony assistant follows the pattern that the Lions are no longer satisfied being a regional power.
And like it or not folks, it is the school’s prerogative to hire whomever it wants and what direction it wants the athletic program to go. Unfortunately it may feed the flame of the already red-hot debate of public schools versus private.
But if the Lions stay within the rules, and I see no reason why they wouldn’t, they can do whatever they want.
The 2011-2012 school year will be a historic one for Pope John. And to quote Rev. Monsignor McHugh, president of the school, after hiring Carlson to replace Hall-of-Fame Vic Paternostro, you can’t blame him for being a little “shaky.”
ODDS AND ENDS…It is always nice to hear good news about former players I covered over the years. One of my favorites was former Sparta star pitcher Michelle Krupna.
Michelle’s dad, Walt, informed me that Michelle, a Ph. D candidate in the department of Microbiology and Immunology at New York Medical College, has received a pre-doctoral trainee grant from the American Heart Association, the first student in the department’s history to be honored.
Way to go, Michelle. One day I hope she will be able to mow down heart disease like she did to SCIL hitters when she dominated the circle for the Spartans back in the early 2000s.
On another note, my best wishes to Walt, who is battling some health issues. Take care of yourself Walt, Sparta softball games wouldn’t be the same without you.
Unfortunately, I end this blog on a sad note. Former Vernon athletic secretary JoAnn Duggan succumbed to cancer this week after a long, valiant battle.
JoAnn was a sweetheart to deal with and was always courteous and extremely helpful with all the questions I would bug her about concerning reschedules or rosters.
I will always be thankful to her and I will always remember her kindness when I needed a huge favor.
In the SCIL’s final year, I would update the football standings and write a roundup for each game for our website every Saturday. Our goal was to get everything online by 5 p.m. and I always did until one Saturday I ran into trouble.
Tara Petrolino, who is doing great at MSG Varsity, by the way, and I were set to call the SCIL soccer finals at Vernon. Tara brought her laptop, but there was no Wi-Fi and there was no way I could get the scores up.
But JoAnn, who was working the gate for the games and coordinating parking as well, took the time to let me into her office, use her computer and I was able to make the 5 p.m. deadline.
She saved the day for me. She was busy enough doing what she was doing that I would have totally understood if she said no. But not only did she say yes, she did it with a smile on her face.
I will never forget that.
I very much appreciate all the hard work all the athletic secretaries do and without them we couldn’t do our job here at Mugs Media. Rest in peace, JoAnn.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
|
