The war raging within Bob Turco isn’t about how to coach his Monroe Township High School boys basketball team to another win. It’s whether to coach at all.
After the state tournament currently under way, Turco concludes his fifth season and has already coached the Falcons to unprecedented heights — a 22-4 record, GMC White Division title, a berth in the conference tournament championship game, and a top seed in Central Jersey Group IV against West Windsor Plainsboro South. The school administration would dearly love to return Turco to the job he accepted a half decade ago.
Bob Turco’s thoughts are 100 percent focused on preparing his team for the tough road in the states, but he also knows he has to make a decision about his future. His son is entering seventh grade in the Monroe school district where he lives, and he knows he needs to be there for his son — as a father first, and maybe as coach.
“I love living and coaching in Monroe,” Turco said Monday. “It has been one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I’ll always bleed purple. I’m proud of what my players have accomplished the last five years. There’s only two other programs in the GMC, St. Joseph and Colonia, which have won more games. They are coached by my two mentors, my brother Dave and Ken Pace. I’m confident Monroe basketball is well respected throughout the GMC and the state.”
When Turco speaks about his future, you sense that while the Falcons have exploded on the area basketball scene during his tenure, there is more Monroe can achieve. That desire comes from having worked side by side with his brother and Pace for most of the 18 years he has coached basketball.
“Oh, there are differences between Dave and me,” Turco admitted about the GMC champion Falcons. “He’s all about preparation and needs to know everything about his opponent and make sure the kids are well schooled on who they are playing.
“Me?” he continued, “I work on my team’s strengths and try to improve weaknesses so we become better and develop more basketball knowledge. Then we can worry about our opponent.”
That’s why Turco candidly admits that when his Falcons met his brother’s Falcons for the GMC championship Sunday at Woodbridge, it was a bittersweet moment.
“Yes, we lost the game [65-45],” Bob said, “and the way it happened scared me, because I thought not playing at the Louis Brown Athletic Center but at Woodbridge [due to the game being postponed on Friday] would take some of the awe out of being at the RAC. But that didn’t happen, and all I can say is we’re having some knock-down, bang-out practices to get back into the flow of things.”
One of Turco’s greatest dreams was bringing Monroe into the spotlight of Middlesex County basketball by playing in the GMC championship. Shortly before tipoff Sunday, he looked across the court and saw his brother.
“I said to myself, ‘This isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be,’ ” Turco said. “You have to understand how close we are.”
How close the Turco brothers are can be summed up with Bob asserting the pair has never had a fight.
“Family get-togethers are great,” he said. “My father, who was a high school football coach, talks basketball. During the season, we always converse and constantly bounce things off each other. And it’s no different in the offseason.
“The GMC final outcome does not change anything between us,” continued Turco. “Dave sent a note encouraging me not to dwell on it. He said Monroe lost to the best team, the best coach, and I’m still his best friend.”
Turco has turned his attention to the Central Jersey Group IV tournament where, as top seed, the Falcons are guaranteed to play at home as long as they continue to win. The slate becomes increasingly difficult as possible match-ups occur with two quality Burlington County teams, Rancocas Valley or Pennsauken, before a potential final game with second-seeded Trenton. In the other half of the bracket are third-seeded East Brunswick and seventh-seeded Sayreville, a team Monroe edged in overtime to gain the GMC final.
The tournament concludes soon enough, and Bob Turco will turn his attention to preparing for next year at the end of the month when he and his son take a trip to Florida.
“My parents live down there,” he said, “and our family will visit them and also see some spring training baseball. It’s a long plane ride, and we’ll have a lot of quality time to talk about a lot of things.”
Coaching Monroe Township High School boys basketball will likely be one of the topics.