New York City girls basketball coaches are pleased with the hire of a familiar face at St. John’s.
On Friday, the school announced at a press conference that former associate head coach Joe Tartamella would take over the reins of a program coming off its first-ever Sweet 16 berth. The 32-year-old Long Island native is the same guy coaches have seen in area gyms for the last nine years representing the Red Storm.
“He deserves it because he buildt a strong relationship with New York City high school and AAU coaches and he will continue to build the [St. John’s] program,” said Anwar Gladden, the coach at South Shore who also has ties to the powerhouse Gauchos travel organization.
Courtesy of Vinny Dusovic, St. John's
Joe Tartamella was promoted to head women's basketball coach at St. John's on Friday.
Tartamella was known for his recruiting prowess while on the staff of Kim Barnes Arico, who left St. John’s for Michigan last week after 10 years. Barnes Arico took over a program that was just 3-24 the year before she arrived. And once Tartamella began making those recruiting inroads, the Red Storm became a nationally ranked squad.
They have made four NCAA tournaments with him on the bench, including the first one in for the program in 17 years back in 2005-06. This past season, St. John’s made the Sweet 16, finished second in the Big East, snapped UConn’s 99-game home winning streak and finished ranked No. 13 in the country. The Red Storm have made a national mark after once being a laughingstock in the Big East cellar.
“My comfort was I knew the terrain, knew the landscape, knew what we had done,” Tartamella said Friday at the press conference. “I didn’t want to see any steps taken backwards from where we had been. I can bring that continuity, trust that we need to stay where we are and maintain the level of our program right now.”
His strength over the years has been recruiting. St. John’s was once a place where local players never even considered. Tartamella helped change that by bringing in a top-10 recruiting class three years ago, led by current All-Big East players Shenneika Smith and Nadirah McKenith. Smith is a Brooklyn native who played at St. Michael Academy and McKenith a Newark native who played at University (N.J.). Also in that class was former North Babylon star Eugeneia McPherson, another starter on this year’s Sweet 16 team.
“He’s a native New Yorker and will and has done a great job in this area,” said Nazareth co-coach and Exodus travel program head Lauren Best, who coached Smith. “He relates well to players, their families and their coaches.”
Tartamella, a St. James, L.I., native, worked his way up from being a grad assistant, much in the same way St. John’s men’s basketball coach Steve Lavin did at UCLA. After earning his master’s degree in marketing management, Tartamella spent a year as an assistant on the Maritime men’s basketball staff before Barnes Arico hired him as a full-time assistant coach in 2005. He was named associate head coach in 2008.
“Joe was our top recruiter and the person on Kim’s right arm during games. He really had already done from A-to-Z running the program,” athletic director Chris Monasch said at the press conference. “Our program wouldn’t be where it was today without Joe. Joe pulled away from the rest of the field. He is the man we wanted to run our program.”
Local coaches seem to agree for the only high major Division women’s basketball program in the five boroughs.
“I think it’s a great keep for St. John’s,” Bishop Ford coach Mike Toro said. “Joe has worked with the other coaches to get St. John’s to where it’s at now and he’s the right man to keep it going. … I think he does a great job of helping kids be comfortable in staying local for college.”
mraimondi@nypost.com
Joe Tartamella, Barnes Arico, Barnes Arico, Tartamella, press conference, press conference, press conference, associate head coach, associate head coach ebook download, St. John, Red Storm, Kim Barnes Arico, John, John, coach
No comments:
Post a Comment