New Egypt High School junior varsity boys basketball coach Tom Cassidy Jr. has been looking forward to the game at his gym on Feb. 19 since the season’s schedule was completed.
Junior varsity, first and foremost, is a primer for young players to get familiar with the faster high school style to prepare them for the varsity squad. The game on Feb. 19 will have a championship feeling on both benches, however, even though both teams’ records are hovering around .500.
When New Egypt takes on South River High School, it will also be Cassidy vs. Cassidy. In a rare occurrence in high school sports, the game’s coaching matchup will pit father against son.
“All I want to do is win,” the younger Cassidy said. “If anybody said it’s not about winning, they’re lying. “I asked my dad, ‘What kind of drills are you drawing up?’ And he’d say, ‘I’m not telling you.’ He knows what I’m coaching,” he added. “My job is trying to get the upper hand. If I can implement things he’s never seen before along the way, I’ll try that.”
Cassidy will coach opposite his dad for the first time against the team he coached for six seasons before going to New Egypt. He is in his second season at New Egypt, going 19-4 a season ago and losing by one point in the finals of a tournament in Monroe.
Not only do father and son share a love for the game and for each other, but they both also work in law enforcement. Tom Jr. is a patrolman for East Brunswick, and his dad is a detective sergeant in Sayreville.
South River is a familiar opponent for the younger Cassidy. Prior to coaching at New Egypt, the he enjoyed success in South River, helping that high school program enjoy strong seasons by grooming its players for the future. He had brought his dad aboard as his assistant coach, but when he left to become New Egypt’s junior varsity coach last season and rejoin lifelong friend Matt Kukoda, who was appointed varsity coach, Cassidy’s dad became head coach at South River.
“He was upset that I left,” he said. “My dad cares so much about coaching. We both have strong attitudes. We lay into the players because we care about them, about making them better.” This game will be more than a fatherson showdown; it’s a family feud.
Kukoda called Cassidy his “right-hand man — the guy I rely on — and it’s the first time I’ve admitted that, with the good, constructive criticism of plays.”
Kukoda played with and against Cassidy on many youth basketball teams in their years growing up. When they played on the same AAU travel team based in Sayreville, they were coached by their dads.
“We played good, hard basketball on that team,” said Kukoda, whose dad, Arthur, also was one of the coaches of the team they played on in their early teens. “The way we were both brought up as individuals and as basketball players reflects how we were on and off the court.”
Kukoda said those ideals carry over for both of them today as head coaches.
For a while, Cassidy and Kukoda played against each other for their elementary schools — Cassidy at St. Stanislaus Kostka School in Sayreville and Kukoda at Immaculate Conception School of Spotswood.
“I was the better scorer, and I’d bust his chops,” Cassidy said about the postgame meetings with Kukoda, who was a solid player on defense. “We always had close games that’d go either way. That’s how we got to be good friends. We always went at it.” After that, they joined forces on the Sayreville AAU team from 1997 to 2000, with their dads coaching.
“It was fun,” Cassidy said. “We used to go in car pools to different places. I remember us going to play St. Patrick’s, and we beat them.”
At the time, St. Patrick’s continued to rank as one of the elite high school programs in the state.
“Thank God we got back together,” Cassidy said. “Matt got the job at New Egypt last year and said for me to come aboard. This is his life.”
After solid seasons in recent years, including Kukoda’s first season a year ago, New Egypt’s varsity team is rebuilding. It’s a situation that Cassidy empathizes with, because junior varsity teams just like his rebuild virtually every year. In fact, J.V. teams often lose their best players along the way when they are called up to the varsity team.
There will be few secrets, the younger Cassidy admits, when his team and South River tip off. Point guard Kyle Prouty and shooting guard Anthony Renaldi, both freshman, are leading players for the Warriors.
“If I call a timeout, I’ll be drawing up plays he drew up 15 years ago,” Cassidy said, referring to his dad. “We laugh about that. All these years, the game’s still the same.”
This one will have a familiar feeling when it’s game time.