Fiore looking to bring
stability to Mustang football
Marlboro’s new
head coach
won at Spotswood
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
John Fiore’s first task upon becoming the head coach of the Marlboro High School football program had nothing to do with football.
"I want to put some stability in the program," the former Spotswood head coach explained. "I’m looking to turn things around and I’m going to be around here for a while."
Fiore knew that the Mustangs, especially the seniors, had heard it all before. After all, he is the school’s fourth head coach in the last four years. Why should things be any different with him? Because, when Fiore makes a commitment, he stands by it.
"My four captains from Spotswood came by during a practice and told our players that I had kept my promise to them," said Fiore. "I had told them I would be there for them."
And he was. Last fall, Fiore and his captains helped lead Spotswood to its first state playoff victory in 24 years, a 49-48 thriller over Delaware Valley, when Fiore made a gutsy Tom Osborne-like decision of going for two and the win. The Warriors went 9-2, matching the 1980 squad’s record for wins in a season.
Having done what he set out to do at Spotswood, Fiore looked to return to the Shore Conference.
Shore-area football has always been special to Fiore. He starred as a wide receiver at Neptune High School in the mid-1980s and was a captain under legendary coach John Amabile. He was the offensive coordinator for Gene Blanco at Freehold Township in the late 1990s before becoming the head coach at Spotswood.
"I wanted to get back to the Shore Conference," Fiore remarked. "It’s [Freehold Regional] a great, great school district to work in. The district has been supportive, providing me with quality coaches.
"I’ve taught in the district before at Freehold Township," he added. "It’s the perfect situation for me."
Fiore is well aware of the daunting challenge awaiting him. In fact, that was part of the allure of the position — to win at a place where you’re not supposed to be able to win (six winning seasons in 36 years).
With a long-term commitment to the program, he’s confident that, in time, Marlboro can become a respected team on the gridiron. After all, Fiore pointed out, it’s been done before. As he noted, only one school from the Freehold Regional District has won an NJSIAA playoff championship (Central Jersey Group IV), and that was Marlboro (1994).
Fiore’s first meeting with the Mustang players went well.
"They are great kids, nice kids," said Fiore. "Just what I expected. I can see the fire in their eyes. They want to be taught football. They want to be successful and they’re willing to put in the work."
The summer workouts, which started June 17, have been attended by 55-60 players each day. That’s a good start for the Mustangs, who return only 13 seniors.
Fiore compares the situation he’s moving into at Marlboro with the one he faced at Spotswood. The Warriors had gone through a number of down years, with a revolving door of coaches and lean season followed by lean season. Spotswood, however, had won before (1980), when Spotswood played for the Central Jersey championship) which was all the proof that he needed that the school could win again.
"There are similarities," Fiore pointed out. "There wasn’t that much success at Spotswood since 1980. A lot of coaches didn’t stay there. The first thing was to change that attitude.
"I enjoy a challenge," he added. "It [winning] can be done. You have to get everyone involved."
In addition to the players and school administration, the community has to be involved as well. Fiore has already reached out to Marlboro Pop Warner. On Aug. 20-22, he and his coaching staff will run a players’ clinic at the Pop Warner fields.
In his four years at Spotswood, Fiore had unprecedented success. His teams went 31-10-1, made the playoffs three times, won a GMC division title and won that thrilling playoff game with Delaware Valley.
After starring at Neptune, Fiore went on to play college football at Montclair State University. When his football career was over, he went into the business world — the car business with his father. He soon realized that his true calling was to be a teacher and a coach.
"I went to my father [Patsy Fiore] and told him if he fired me now, I ‘d go back to college and finish my student teaching," said Fiore. "I’m the only person my father ever fired."
Fiore taught in Wyckoff and was an assistant coach at Paramus High School. He would move to Freehold Township High School, where he would be Blanco’s offensive coordinator. He left after a year to be the wide receiver coach at New Jersey City University. After two years, he became the head coach at Spotswood.
The only reason that Fiore left the Freehold District, he said, was when a teaching position opened up at Spotswood. He thought that it was important for him to be in the same building as his players.
Having taken Spotswood on a steady winning course it had never been on before, Fiore looked back to the Shore area for his next challenge, and it came in the form of Marlboro High School. Having taught and coached in the district before, he knew what he had left behind and was more than pleased to return to the Regional District as Marlboro’s head coach.
Upon getting his position, Fiore heard from his old coach. Coach Amabile called him to tell him he was available if he (Fiore) wanted to pick his brain.
The conversation that followed surprised him. Amabile wasn’t drawing up any plays on the chalkboard.
"For the first three or four hours, we didn’t even talk about the Xs and Os," he pointed out. "He talked about politics, parents and recruiting. Coaching is like running a big organization. You have to have quality people working for you."
Fiore has a coaching philosophy, but he is not inflexible with it. He coaches according to his personnel. The goal on both offense and defense remains the same, but how the team goes about getting there isn’t always the same.
"Offensively, I want to make people defend the entire field, width and length," he remarked. "On defense, I like multiple fronts and to bring pressure. You put your best players on the field."
Fiore takes more than his football seriously, as his Mustangs will find out with a mandatory 11/2 hour study hall once a week.
"I believe in academics," he said.
As a coach, Fiore said he is very accessible to his players.
"I will always answer the question why," he noted. "I’ll give you the answer."
There is an almost eerie connection between Fiore and Marlboro going back to high school. He caught his first scholastic touchdown pass against Marlboro on the very field he will now be roaming the sidelines. When he was coaching at Freehold Township, then-Marlboro coach Tom Mulcahey registered his first career win. Mulcahey will be coaching the freshman team at Marlboro this year.
Fiore feels that his new position offers a unique opportunity, and if he is able to duplicate the success he had at Spotswood, Marlboro’s football program may finally have some much-needed stability.