By Justin Feil, Packet Media Group
After almost 30 years with the Hillsborough High School wrestling program, Steve Molinaro is stepping down, but not going too far away.
The Hall of Fame head coach will instead move to head coach the Hillsborough Middle School team.
“I don’t want to totally step away from the program, but in my mind it was time to ease up on the coaching end,” Molinaro said. “I’m still going to teach at the high school, but as far as coaching, I wanted a little more flexible schedule.”
Molinaro was an assistant at the high school for three years before taking the head coaching position that he held for 25 years. In 25 years, his teams earned 267 wins. This year, the Raiders were 16-9 with a mix of experience in their lineup. They reached the Group V state tournament before being knocked out by eventual finalist Old Bridge, 39-20.
Molinaro stepped down after much consideration following the season.
“I’ve been kicking it around with my wife the last couple seasons on when’s the best time,” Molinaro said. “It was never going to be easy, and it’s still not after talking to some of the kids.
“I’ve been coaching high school wrestling for 29 years, 25 as head coach at Hillsborough. I was an assistant for three years prior to them letting me step up to the head job. It was time in the sense that I’m starting to have time with my grandkids. It’s a little selfish.”
Molinaro has four grandchildren and stepping down from his high school coaching position will allow him more time with his family.
“I’ve been getting spoiled spending some time with them,” Molinaro said.
For three decades, Molinaro has been spending his time helping to grow the Hillsborough program and develop its wrestlers into stronger men. In 2014, he was recognized for his achievements with induction into the New Jersey State Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Molinaro’s team won District 18 team titles six times and won the Somerset County Tournament three times.
At the time of his induction, Molinaro noted the climb it had been with the Raiders: “We struggled for along time. It’s a community, and you try to compare it to the traditional powers — South Plainfield and Phillipsburg. You try to find the common denominator. You can make anything out of a community, and we did. It took a while to get good at all three levels. I had a lot of good coaches and good help in recreation and middle school.”
Now Molinaro has a chance to bring his coaching experience to the middle school program and help anew generation of wrestlers in the program. It will keep him connected and helping the program, and it will work out with his work-family balance.
“I didn’t want to walk away 100 percent,” he said. “I still wanted to contribute to the program if I could. There was an opportunity to help out at the middle school so that will leave me a little less of a time constraint, especially during the holidays with the way things are structured over there. I can still contribute and open the door for maybe a younger guy to take the helm.”
Molinaro is still working to find an assistant coach. He has been a part of the interview process for the candidates to replace him at the high school as well, though that decision ultimately will come from the HHS administrators. Molinaro is confident that the Raiders can’t go wrong with whomever they choose.
“All the candidates can more than handle what they need to do,” he said. “And I’d like to think I didn’t leave it in too bad a shape.”
His replacement will have some big shoes to fill as they step in for a Hall of Fame coach.
“There’s always a higher level to get to,” Molinaro said. “There’s ways of looking at it that there’s still room to grow. The next person will do their best to get it there.”
Molinaro is looking forward to a new chapter of coaching for him. He will be working with a new age group and new level of experience in the middle school.
“I’ve obviously dealt with kids of all ages with camps and stuff,” Molinaro said. “A steady diet of it, we’ll see. . . I’ll have to adapt like everyone else. It’ll be an adjustment because I’ll have to water some things down and look at it from a different angle. It’s an adjustment for all of us.
“Part of it will be me looking at a different experience, a different level. I’ve been a high school coach my whole career.”
Molinaro has kept in touch with the middle school program as the high school coach. And he has spoken to the past coaches and knows what is available to him. He will be looking to prepare them for the next level.
“There are kids that have been through the rec program and there are kids that haven’t,” Molinaro said. “You’re going to get that on that level. That’s the challenge you have to face. It’s going to be a matter of striking the level you need to so that all of them improve and reach their full potential. You want to keep the kids interested in wrestling, especially at that age. That transition between rec and high school is huge and it’s always a challenge. That’s the way I’m looking at it. I’m going to hopefully be able to take that challenge and get more kids to wrestling in high school.
“As far as being able to give them a heads up on more specific things in high school, I guess I can make it less of a surprise for them, but either way going up to the next level is a challenge a lot of time for a kid. You don’t know what to expect. Hopefully I can buffer that a bit.”
Molinaro will work to find a balance between what he can ask of wrestlers of different levels of experience. And while there are differences from high school, the bottom line does not change.
“As far as individual goals as a wrestler, they’re going to be different for a high schooler from a middle school wrestler because the opportunities that are inherent with that level,” Molinaro said. “The core is going to be the same – learn to work hard, learn to work towards a goal that’s realistic, and be proud of it, be proud of being a part of the one of the greatest sports around. Those are some of the things that carryover anywhere.”
High school assistant Dave Palmese has taken over summer camp responsibilities, but Molinaro figures to help out there and get a look at some of the middle school talent. By the fall, he will be working at his new post, still in the Hillsborough program but at a level where he can develop a younger group to closeout his career.
“I’ll be able to tell you more what I’m feeling come November,” Molinaro said. “It’s nice to still be involved and hopefully be a part of continued success.”
