Joe Montano laughs when he thinks back to his first game as Red Bank Catholic’s coach.
It was back during the 1990-91 season when Montano became the Caseys’ coach when he was 27 years old. His first game at the helm was on Opening Night against a Middletown North team that returned four starters from the previous year.
It didn’t take long for Montano to notch his first win as RBC’s coach as his squad defeated Middletown North by nine or 10 points, and Montano said he was shocked his team came away with the win.
The then-rookie head coach was riding high, thinking coaching girls basketball was going to be a smooth ride.
He realized the following morning that he was incorrect in his initial assessment.
His second game as RBC’s coach was against St. John Vianney. Montano’s result in that one? A 40-point loss.
“After the (Middletown North) game, I said, ‘Wow. This coaching girls thing is easy.’ And then the next day, we had a 10 o’clock game against St. John Vianney, and we lost by 40 points, and I realized it’s not that easy,” Montano said while chuckling.
There haven’t been many games, if at all, similar since that humbling loss to St. John Vianney more than three decades ago. Montano has achieved success he didn’t think he could coaching girls basketball.
His long and distinguished career can add another milestone to his impressive résumé.
Montano became the sixth girls basketball coach in New Jersey history to win 700 games after No. 6 Red Bank Catholic defeated Scranton Prep (Pa.) 44-36 on Saturday afternoon.
Montano, now 60, joins an elite list of basketball coaches in the state to reach the milestone. The list includes the state’s all-time winningest coach in Pascack Valley’s Jeff Jasper, Holy Angels’ Sue Liddy, Union Catholic’s Kathy Matthews, Shabazz’s Vanessa Watson and Middlesex’s Kevin Harper.
“I don’t think it put extra pressure on us, we just knew we had to win and that’s what we did, so we’re just super excited for him. He’s an amazing coach,” said Red Bank Catholic senior Casey Prior, who has played for Montano all four years. “He’s tough but he loves us all and he shows that. We know throughout our entire lives, during the season, out of the season, through all of our things he’ll help us with whatever we need and we just all love him.”
The 700th win is the latest accomplishment for Montano that includes two Tournament of Champions titles, six Shore Conference Tournament championships, eight state championships and dozens of division titles. He became the Shore Conference’s all-time winningest coach in 2020 when he passed former Rumson-Fair Haven coach George Sourlis, notching his 654th win.
Not bad for a coach who initially applied to become the Raritan boys basketball coach before he took the RBC job.
Montano, who was the RBC JV coach at the time, applied for the Raritan gig, as did Dick McCallum – a longtime Shore Conference coach who at the time was the RBC girls basketball coach.
Montano and McCallum were finalists, and the job went to McCallum after Montano was told he crushed his interview but didn’t have the varsity head coaching experience.
Montano turned to RBC boys varsity Joe Nappo, who told him to take the girls job now that it was open.
“I said, ‘Girls? I’ve never coached girls. I wouldn’t know what to do,’” Montano said. “He said, ‘Coaching is coaching, and you need experience. Take the girls job.’ So, I was like, well, I’ll do it and try to get some experience.
“Thirty-two years later, I’m still going.”
A 1995 file photo of Red Bank Catholic girls basketball coach Joe Montano.Ed Curry, The Star-Ledger
Montano is now at the point where he’s coached generations of players.
Colleen Prior, the mother of current senior Casey Prior, was a sophomore on Montano’s first team. The Priors are the first mother-daughter duo Montano has coached during his time as RBC’s coach.
Colleen helped establish the foundation on which RBC stands on now as one of the top basketball programs in the state.
“He hasn’t really changed in all the years,” said Colleen, a math teacher at RBC. “I hear Casey come home from practice and talk about his practices and all of those things. I think the game itself has elevated over the years, but I think who he is in and out has stayed consistent through all the years. … Probably the thing that sticks out the most to me is it’s more than just what happens on the floor every day.
“He would pick up the phone for any of his players. He would go to bat for any of his players. He’s a coach during those four years, but he’s there to support forever.”
Montano has garnered respect among his peers with the way he’s run his program and the success he’s had coaching.
“First off, he’s such a gentleman. He conducts himself with dignity and class always,” Jasper said. “His beauty is that he understands that this game is a heck of a lot more than about x’s and o’s because it’s all about relationships with kids. A guy like him, who is a demanding coach, a detailed-oriented coach, doesn’t get the respect he gets from his players unless he really knows how to nurture those relationships.
“He’s like the master of that.”
Montano said there’s been plenty of moments throughout his career that he looks back on fondly.
Beating St. John Vianney in 1995 meant that Red Bank Catholic could compete with the state’s most storied basketball program.
A matchup against Christ the King (NY) and legendary coach Vinnie Cannizzaro during the 1995-96 season in which Montano took his team to their gym and lost a close game. Montano said he still thanks Cannizzaro to this day because that loss got them ready to win the program’s first T of C in 1996.
And the 1999-2000 Red Bank Catholic team that went 31-0, a second T of C and stands among the state’s greatest teams.
But what Montano values most is the relationships he’s built over his three decades. He said those are more important than all the wins he’s accumulated.
“To me, it’s been a wonderful ride,” Montano said. “Just so many quality kids that I’ve been able to interact with and enjoy the passion of the sport with and all of the coaches. I’ve had so many really good coaches. It’s been a really great time. It really has.”
- Jeff Jasper, Pascack Valley — 1,089 wins*
- Sue Liddy, Holy Angels — 776 wins*
- Kathy Matthews, Union Catholic — 750 wins
- Vanessa Watson, Shabazz — 720 wins
- Kevin Harper, Middlesex/Bishop Ahr — 708 wins*
- Joe Montano, Red Bank Catholic — 700 wins*
*denotes active coaches
The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now and be among the first to get all the boys and girls sports you care about, straight to your inbox each weekday. To add your name, click here.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
You can reach Luis Torres at ltorres@njadvancemedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter @ByLuisTorres.
Credit: Source link
