A familiar name will be on the bench coaching once again for the Metuchen High School girls’ basketball team.
Metuchen will be coached by Kathy Glutz, who had guided the team during the 1980s and 1990s.
Glutz was a collegiate star at Rutgers University in the 1970s, where she concluded her career with over 1,000 points, which, at the time, was only the second time in Rutgers women’s basketball history. She was inducted into the Rutgers Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.
Glutz, who was a principal at Edgar Middle School in Metuchen since 2002, said that after she retired last year, she still had a passion for coaching.
“After my retirement from the middle school, I wanted to stay connected,” Glutz said. “So when the opportunity presented itself, it was perfect.”
Glutz will inherit a 16-11 team that advanced to the Central Jersey, Group 1 state sectional tournament semifinals, where the Bulldogs fell by a score of 50-35 to Shore Regional High School.
Glutz believes Metuchen has what it takes to make it even farther in the state tournament this year.
“I think the expectations are for us to be competitive and advance further,” she said. “We want to win the division, the sectionals and the Greater Middlesex [Conference] Tournament.”
Glutz thinks the team’s mental preparation will be a key factor to its success.
“I think we have to play with a lot of energy,” she said. ” I think we have to be well-prepared. We need to know what our opponents want to do and take advantage of the athletes that we have on the floor.”
The Bulldogs had freshman forward sensation Brynn Farrell last year, who instantly became the team’s best player. Glutz believes Farrell, as well as a couple of other Bulldogs, will have huge impacts on the team this year.
“So Farrell, of course, is a sophomore for us,” Glutz said. “She scored over 700 points as a freshman. She averaged over 28 points per game. So we’re looking for her to be a scoring threat for us. We have Rory Josell, who’s a senior guard. She wasn’t with the program last year, but she played as a freshman and sophomore. So, she’s back. She’s definitely an offensive threat for us. We have some height with [junior] Bridget O’Connor and [sophomore] Sam Antin, and we’re looking to capitalize on that. We have [guard] Rachel Wyetzner, who is a junior and a starter. With her, we get lots of steals, and she’s always around the ball. She helps us in a lot of ways. We also have some pretty good kids off the bench as well.”
Farrell and Wyetzner have high expectations for the year.
“My expectation is to win titles and as much as I can, make my team better,” Farrell said.
“I think we’re going to do well,” Wyetzner said. “I think we’re going to surprise some people this year. I’m looking forward to it.”
The two girls also believe the team will need to come together.
“We all need to work together as a team,” Farrell said. “We all need to score and make our layups and make our shots — just have each other’s back out there.”
“We’re definitley going to have to come together as a team and communicate a lot,” Wyetzner said. “We need to get used to each other because not everyone has played here together before. So yeah, just get used to each other and communicate, and we’ll be fine.”
The Bulldogs started their season with a victory on Dec. 16 when they traveled to Dunellen High School. Farrell led the way in the 67-64 victory with a game-high 35 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.
Metuchen was scheduled to visit Middlesex High School on Dec. 18 before playing its first game at home on Dec. 20 against South River High School. The Bulldogs remain at home for a matchup against Spotswood High School on Dec. 22 at 5:30 p.m.