Garden State Coach Cast MICK HUGHES

I sit down with one of my good friends from college, Ryan Wellner, and we talk about his journey to one of the most fabled college programs in the country; how his older brother's torn rotator cuff prompted his introduction to a career in lax; bringing lacrosse across the pond to southwest England; creating a "trap" mentality within his defenses; his Annapolis landlord who has 8 Super Bowl rings; Zubaz pants; and why his JV lacrosse coach ranks as his favorite. He is a passionate guy, a great family man, and an exceptional human. Young coaches will learn a lot from his journey! I hope you enjoy listening to this episode of GSCC, as much as I enjoyed hosting it!


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In this episode I sit down with Chris "Mong" Mongilia, Director of Basketball Operations @Princeton University. We talk about the origins of his coaching career @River Dell High School; the daily grind of being an Ops guy; building relationships through debate; the challenges of playing in the Ivy League; how to teach offense and defense through breakdowns; his obsession with lay-ups; being intentional with his free time; grinding to get opportunities; and why Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, and Kobe are his three favorite athletes. Mong is a great guy and coaches will get better after giving this episode a listen.


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I sit down with one of my good friends, Matt Shepherd, and we get into what it means that we're now men and we're 40!(Mike Gundy reference); wrestling for his father, Jack Shepherd, @St. John Vianney; being humbled as a Rutgers wrestler; evolving and growing as a coach and educator; eliminating the ego; warming up with a game of dodge ball; making FUN a part of his program's culture; theorizing on NJ's success in terms of producing great wrestlers; tolerating modern rap music; and our mutual love of Vision Quest, The Big Lebowski, and Tombstone. He's a good friend, a committed educator, and a high energy guy who I think any coach can learn from. It was a great chat and worth a listen!


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Coach Jay Graber and I sit down and talk about everything from the lessons he learned as a college football player at Hofstra and Bryant University; approaching his first Freshmen football job at Allentown HS as if it were the most important thing in the world; turning around the next season to take over a program that was on life support as a 25 year old head coach and building it into a perennial winner in his 9 years at the helm (State SJG4 Finals in '14, CJG4 State Champs in '16); coaching Varsity basketball and football -- during a deep playoff run on the gridiron; his favorite Mike Tyson quote; coaching the whole student athlete; why the Joker is his favorite athlete; and some great advice for young coaches.  It was a great talk and I hope you enjoy it!


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I sit down with Lisa and Matt Kukoda: husband and wife coaching duo. In addition to being the Technology Integration Coach in the Manasquan School District, Lisa is also the head girls coach at Manasquan High School where she has established one of the most dominant programs in the state. In her tenure as the head coach, she has amassed 6 state championships, 2 T.O.C. titles,  and 2 Shore Conference Tournament titles.  She was the 2018 NJ.com coach of the year and has built a program around placing a premium on developing high character young women, both on and off the court.  Matt, who is currently the Supervisor of Curriculum & Instruction at Wall Intermediate, has been the head boys basketball coach at New Egypt High School and Wall Township High School. At New Egypt he helped to continue a culture of hard work and did the same at Wall, where he led the team to its first division title in 40 years and laid the foundation for this year's Central Jersey Group III championship team.  In our talk, we get into where their coaching journeys began, granting talented players freedom within an offensive system, being there for each other to talk about coaching conundrums, preparing for the playoffs, their mutual New York Mets fandom,  and some of their coaching quirks. They are both immensely dedicated to being coaches, educators, and role models within their community. This was a great session, and I think coaches of all sports would benefit from giving it a listen.


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I'm joined by Coach J Corby, head Girls Basketball Coach at New Egypt High School.  Corby has coached multiple sports at the high school level since 2001.  He was the head Boys Basketball Coach from 2003-2012 (2 Division titles, 2 Sectional Final appearances) and he just finished his first year as a head Girls Coach, where he guided the team to a Division title and a berth in the Central Jersey Group 1 semifinals.  Since we grew up in neighboring towns (Dunellen and Middlesex) and both graduated in 1995, we talk about growing up and playing pick up basketball during that era, establishing a defense first mentality as a program, coaching University of North Carolina graduate and professional basketball player Desmond Hubert, a fateful missed phone call, why his brother is his favorite athlete, and the differences between coaching boys and girls. He's a great friend and cares a ton about the kids ; it's worth a listen.


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