Boys Basketball – Coach of the Year: Tom Stead, Matawan

When Tom Stead took over the Matawan boys basketball program after an exceedingly successful tenure as the head coach at Holmdel, he and those familiar with his work figured better days were ahead for the Huskies program.

That turned out to be true, but not before the Matawan boys basketball team and Stead endured their worst days together.

Stead and his Huskies program broke out this season by winning their first division championship since 1965, reaching the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time since 1965, and winning an NJSIAA sectional title for the first time since 1957. For leading Matawan to its best season in some 50 years, seven years after an 0-24 season, Stead is the 2014 Shore Sports Network Coach of the Year.

Over Stead’s first four years, Matawan posted four losing seasons with a cumulative record of 23-76, including a nightmare, 0-24 season in Stead’s inaugural season with the Huskies in 2006-07. Dating back to the previous coaching staff, Matawan went through 14 straight losing seasons from the 1996-97 season to 2009-10.

Since that last losing season – in which Matawan finished a respectable 12-14 – Stead has led the Huskies to a record of .500 or better every year, culminating in the team’s best season in nearly a half-century this year.

“It’s pretty sweet going from 0-24 to a sectional final in seven years and doing it the right way with great kids,” Stead said after his team beat Spotswood in the Central Jersey Group II semifinals.

During his time at Holmdel, Stead led the Hornets to two NJSIAA Group II championships and saw the potential to build something similar at Matawan despite the string of 10 straight losing seasons that he inherited. The Huskies began to live up to Stead’s initial expectations last year by upsetting Red Bank Catholic and Christian Brothers Academy to reach the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals after barely qualifying for the tournament.

The deep tournament run was the foundation for a 24-5 season with a Class B North and Central Jersey Group II championship. The Huskies also did it primarily with players who live in the Matawan sending district and who have played in the program since their freshman year. Senior Austen Planes – who moved to Matawan from Union City for his junior year – was the lone player in the regular rotation who jumped into the program.

“From the first day I got here, these guys made me feel like part of a family,” Planes said. “We see ourselves like a family, and I think that’s what’s made this year so special.”

Matawan has also missed out on players over the last several seasons. St. Joseph-Metuchen alumnus Jimbo Long started three seasons at point guard for the Falcons – who won the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions this year – played in the middle school program but elected to attend St. Joseph instead of enrolling at Matawan. The Huskies also lost three-year starter KaShaun Barnes last season for disciplinary reasons before watching Barnes resurrect his career at Manchester this season.

While 2014 represents a high point for the Huskies under Stead, the foundation for another run next year remains with junior guards Jason Dunne and Joe Piscopo, as well as a student body and community that came out in full support of their basketball team for nearly the entire season.

“It’s special here because four years ago there were 31 people in the bleachers and nobody cared,’’ Stead said following the sectional final win at home over Rumson. “I could’ve walked away, but I just always felt there was always something here that could be done. These kids are all in. They got through it, they deserve it, and they’re state champions.”