Despite Controversial End, Turco Accomplished What He Set Out to Do at Joes
NOTE: Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been going through a great deal of personal and professional issues of my own over the past few months. I recently started a new job, and I’ve been taking care of a family member. Nevertheless, I’m not dead. I have been seeing football games for GMC Gridiron. I’ve also been reading what has transpired at St. Joseph’s for the past month or so, and wanted to post something in regards to it.
Over the past 24 hours, there has been a lot of controversy, emotion, and debate on social media as to what happened to now former head coach, Dave Turco at St. Joseph’s. On Thursday, MyCentralJersey.com reported that the 12 year head coach of the program was not rehired, and was replaced by former alum, hoops star, and assistant coach, Mike Thompson. It is the end of an era, and a great era for St. Joseph’s it was.
Could it continue with Thompson? Perhaps, but it will be tough. Keep in mind that GMC Hoops Player of the Year Letrell West, GMC Hoops Defensive Player of the Year, Malachi Walker, and Mike Granda graduated in June, and Richard Greaves and Zach Martini, two of the three prized freshmen from this past season’s championship team, transferred to Rutgers Prep during the summer.
The MyCentralJersey article indicated former St. Anthony’s head coach, Bob Hurley, and East Brunswick head coach, Bo Henning “have offered to make themselves available to assist during the transition.” St. Joseph’s JV and Freshmen teams did reach their respective finals before losing to Piscataway. And, after what happened in 2016-17, and the fact that this is St. Joseph’s, anything is possible. Let’s put that aside though for a second and focus on what Turco managed to accomplish at St. Joseph’s.
Like him or not, Turco set out to do what he said he would do when hired at St. Joseph’s. In an interview with the Home News-Tribune at the start of the 2005-06 season, his first year at the school, Turco indicated that one of his goals was to make St. Joseph’s a state power. In spite of what happened over the past several seasons, Turco still managed to do that. Prior to Turco’s arrival, St. Joseph’s had never won a state championship, losing to Seton Hall Prep in the state finals in 1993, 1998, and 1999. Even with the likes of Jay Williams and Brian Wilson, the Falcons weren’t able to break through.
Turco guided St. Joseph’s to three straight NJSIAA Non-Public A State Titles. The first would be the most significant since the Falcons were able to vanquish their nemesis, Seton Hall Prep in March 2012 behind the tandem of Quenton DeCosey (played at Temple, and now plays professionally in Italy), and Karl Anthony-Towns (played at Kentucky, and now stars for the Minnesota Timberwolves). The victory over the Pirates was actually the second one that year. On the first Saturday in January 2012, the Falcons rallied to defeat Seton Hall Prep at the SFIC Festival at Kean University in a game that established Joes as the favorite to win Non-Public A.
Those Falcons, which also included Stonehill graduate, and St. Joe’s assistant coach, Danny Brix, were unable to go all the way though. St. Joseph’s would lose to Plainfield in the Tournament of Champions Semifinals at the Rutgers Athletic Center. The Falcons would get two more cracks at the TOC title in 2013 and 2014 with the trio of Towns, Wade Baldwin IV (played at Vanderbilt and now with Memphis Grizzlies), and Marques Townes (now plays at Loyola of Chicago), where they would lose to Roselle Catholic in the finals, and then get the only TOC gold ever for the Greater Middlesex Conference by holding off Newark East Side after fighting off a fierce rally to defeat Linden in the semifinals. Turco’s goal of being the top of the heap in New Jersey had been achieved.
Let’s also not forget that Turco had made St. Joseph’s into a powerhouse in the GMC. For many years, the Falcons were the bridesmaids of Middlesex County and the Greater Middlesex Conference, always coming up short in the tourney finals. Joe Koslick, Ryan Moglia, and Mike DeRocckis helped the Falcons finally broke through in an epic overtime final over South Brunswick in 1993. Mark Taylor, Jay Williams, Brian Wilson, and Co, did make Joes more of a power later on in the decade with three straight finals appearances in 1997, 1998, and 1999. But, it would be Turco, who made the Falcons a GMCT dynasty with 10 straight finals appearances and 7 titles including a record five straight.
The only GMC school that would break the record setting Falcons grip on the GMCT Boys Basketball Championship were the 2014-15 Colonia Patriots, coached by Chris Chiera, who is now a Vice Principal at Woodbridge High School. Perhaps the most satisfying of those nine Joes titles though was last year’s squad that went 26-2, won the GMC Red, and rallied from a 14 point late first half deficit behind the superb second half performance by West to defeat GMC Hoops pre-season number one, Sayreville in the 2017 GMCT Championship. Turco proved everyone that he could do it without talent, and in light of everything that has just transpired, he did manage to go out on top there.
Although the 2016-17 St. Joseph’s Falcons would fall to Bishop Eustace in the Non-Public A South semifinals, they were a group much like the UCLA Bruins of 1964 and 1965, where they didn’t have a superstar, but a great team that made it fun to go see St. Joseph’s games again. The come from behind wins at South Brunswick, versus Neptune, and Sayreville were magical, and even more enjoyable than watching the Big Three of Towns, Baldwin, and Townes play because you knew most times or not, that those dominant teams would win. In 2016-17, it wasn’t written in stone that this Joes team could win. As a matter of fact, when I came down to cover the game against Eustace in the Non-Public A South semifinals, some loyal St. Joseph’s fans never envisioned what would take place last season. Some indicated perhaps 15 wins at best.
What Turco accomplished last year surpassed what he did in his first three years at St. Joseph’s. In year one, he took a team that lost Andrew Bynum (Los Angeles Lakers) to graduation, a team that had overcome much in 2004-05 to reach the GMCT final only to lose at the buzzer to South Plainfield on a shot by Marquis Jones, to win over 20 games, travel down to South Jersey with top returner Sean Baptiste (FDU) to defeat Holy Spirit of Absecon in an epic four overtime battle before losing to CBA in the 2006 Non-Public A South Semifinals. Then, the following year, many forget that a St. Joe’s team with Steve Rennard as a freshman and the likes of Lamar Fisher, Paul Konopacki, Darrell Carroll, and Kyan Hines, started out 0-3 including its last ever loss to Edison in December 2006 to again win 20 games, defeat Holy Spirit in overtime in the state playoffs, and succumb to a second half rally to lose to CBA again in the sectional semifinals in March 2007.
Then, in 2007-08, the first year, St. Joseph’s reached the GMCT Finals in the Turco era, the Falcons, which were taken to the limit before defeating arch rival, Bishop Ahr in overtime in the Quarterfinals at Middlesex County College, not only upset defending champion and second seeded Piscataway in the GMCT Semifinals at South Brunswick, they totally dominated the contest. Those Falcons led by Rennard and Nikko Vastola, would fall in the Championship Game to a Cardinal McCarrick squad led by Mike Burwell and Julio Rosario. Like last season, Turco overachieved with those teams, and you could see that he and the Falcons were getting closer and closer to their goals set from day one in 2005-06.
As far as legacy goes there will be some debate. True, Turco matched the mark of MCT/GMCT Championships set by legendary Perth Amboy head coach, Bill Buglovsky in the early years of the tourney. However, Buglovsky was undefeated in MCT/GMCT Championship games, and more importantly, accomplished all of that at a public school in a time where the public schools were on more equal footing with the non-public schools. Turco, who won his first GMCT championship at his alma mater of Carteret, won the rest at St. Joseph’s, a non-public school. Regardless, in today’s world, where it is so hard to repeat, and with players transferring at epidemic levels, Turco’s achievements at St. Joseph’s should not go unnoticed, especially in Middlesex County, where such a dynasty had not occurred since those Perth Amboy team’s of the late 60s to mid 70s.
In addition, Turco is not done by any stretch of the imagination. Although the decision not to rehire him this late in the off-season makes it difficult to get a head coaching job at another school, Turco is still young, and you can expect him to be back coaching somewhere at some point. His son Andrew plays hoops at Monroe, and he may take some time to just enjoy his son playing. However, with his proven track record, it is hard to imagine Turco not emerging somewhere else to coach. In that same interview with the Home News-Tribune prior to the start of the 2005-06, Turco did indicate aspirations of coaching on the college level. Nevertheless, when the 2017 GMC Hoops Awards do come out, Turco will be honored as Coach of the Year, and Jerry Smith will be honored as AD of the Year.