Trinity Hall Tabs McCarthy As New Head Basketball Coach

Photo above: Trinity Hall new head basketball coach Matt McCarthy

TINTON FALLS – Trinity Hall High School named Matt McCarthy its head basketball coach replacing Pam Grier, who was the school’s first and only head coach since the basketball program’s inaugural season in 2015.

Trinity Hall is an independent all-girls college preparatory high school educating young women in the Catholic tradition. The school was established in 2013 graduating its first senior class of just 32 students in 2017. The school’s enrollment has seen a steady rise with this year’s freshman class maxing out at around 100 students. Trinity Hall expects to eventually cap its entire student body enrollment somewhere around 400 students.

“Pam did a great job getting the program to the level it’s at now in just four years,” said McCarthy of Grier, who prior to Trinity Hall was a long-time head coach at St. Leo’s in Lincroft. “What she had to work with and what she accomplished in just four years is just remarkable.”

Grier guided the Trinity Hall to a 20-6 record a year ago, with many of the girls she coached at St. Leo’s playing pivotal roles. The Monarchs qualified for the schools third straight trip to the NJSIAA Non-Public South B Tournament and a second straight Shore Conference Tournament berth.

However, Trinity Hall is still in search of its first postseason win and that hasn’t escaped McCarthy as he prepares for his first season at the helm for the Monarchs.

“Of course it’s our goal, it will be our goal every year,” McCarthy said when asked about getting that first postseason win. “Our expectations are to continue on the path that last year’s team was on. But we’re tasked with having to replace four starting seniors this year and there’s a lot of work to be done early as far as who’s going to step into those shoes.”

First team All-Division selection Kathryn Kwapniewski and third team All-Shore pick Bridget Andree, who averaged 17.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest a year ago, are two of those players McCarthy is referring to.

In last year’s 68-61 overtime loss to perennial state power Patrick School in the NJSIAA Non-Public South a quarterfinals, Andree capped off her brilliant career dropping 22 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. For her career she totaled 1,228 points and 658 rebounds finishing as one of the most unheralded scorers the Shore has seen in recent memory.

Even though Trinity Hall won 20 games and began the season winning its first 17 games in a row, the knock on Trinity Hall was that they play in a weak conference (B Central), excluding state power St. Rose who they lost to twice, and their non-conference schedule was essentially non-competitive.

McCarthy, along with Trinity Hall athletic director Ken Santos, has already taken steps to upgrade their non-conference schedule this season. It’s a move aimed at helping the program gain recognition with an eye on the future as they attempt to grow the program to where they can compete with the top teams in the Shore Conference, which is considered the most competitive and talent-rich conference in the state.

“This year we’ve added five really competitive non-conference games,” said McCarthy. “We open up with Marlboro, who won 18 games a year ago and finished just outside the final top 10, then a 17-win Holmdel team that returns three of its top four scorers, Wall and perennial top 10 teams, Middletown South and Rumson-Fair Haven.

“Playing teams on this level is essential to the growth of our program and getting to where we want to get as a program,” McCarthy added. “As the enrollment at the school grows we expect to grow as a basketball program exponentially.”

Prior to accepting the Trinity Hall coaching job McCarthy most recently coached the Holy Cross girls basketball team in Rumson for two years, while also running the Hoop Clinic for kids in the Middletown area.

“We provided instructional leagues and clinics for second through seventh grade kids,” said McCarthy. “In the summer we also held camps and it’s just a great way for the kids to really learn the game and have some fun.”

McCarthy was a guard on two consecutive Shore Conference Tournament championship teams (1985-86) while a student at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft.

In his junior year (1985) he also helped lead the Colts to the NJSIAA Parochial Group A championship on a team that featured Joe Paterno, who went on to star at Fordham University and John Crotty, who still holds the career and single season assists records at University of Virginia and spent 11 seasons in the NBA after signing with the Utah Jazz as an undrafted free agent in 1992.

In his senior year and Crotty’s junior year the duo led CBA to the Parochial Group A South championship game, but fell short in the final losing to Seton Hall Prep.

Following his stellar high school career, McCarthy walked on at St. Peters University but eventually transferred to Catholic University in Washington D.C. where played for three years under coach Jack Bruen, who went on to coach at Colgate where he led the Raiders to two NCAA Tournament berths.

The coaching staff at Catholic University while McCarthy was playing there was stocked with future D 1 head coaches including Mike Lonergan (George Washington University), John Becker (University of Vermont) and Jimmy Patsos (Loyola University, Sienna), and it was here that McCarthy caught the coaching bug.

McCarthy’s first coaching job was as an assistant under long-time Long Branch coach Don Covin. He then moved on to Lincoln High School in Jersey City where he spent one year as the head coach before being offered a job in the college ranks at Clarion University in Pennsylvania where he spent three seasons.

Next, McCarthy landed at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, best known for sending 48 players to the NFL over the years, but also for its basketball program that year-after-year delivers players to some of the top D 1 basketball programs in the country.

McCarthy’s final year at Coffeyville his team went 36-2 and lost in the NJCAA National Championship game by one point. His starting five went on to play at UVA, Marshall, Iona, Indiana State and UNH.

Directly after his stint at Coffeyville, McCarthy left college coaching and moved back east and started working at the Hoops Group for Rob Kennedy running a lot of their camps and clinics year-round.

In the years that followed McCarthy was still engaged in basketball but supporting his family and raising his children took priority. He’s been married to Sue for 12 years and the couple has three kids, Lizzy, Ryan and Catherine, all of whom are very involved in sports.

“I never really left the game but my family took precedent,” said McCarthy. “I was still involved with my own coaching clinics and camps locally, and stayed involved with some AAU teams before deciding to get back into coaching and taking on the girls head coach position at Holy Cross. It was the first time I’ve ever coached girls and I don’t think I could go back to coaching boys.”

McCarthy does have some talented returning pieces that he can build this year’s team around including last year’s top three-point shooter and only returning starter, Colleen Cusat, who sank a team-high 37 three-pointers while averaging eight points and two assists per game. She had a career-high 20 points, including four three’s, in their 61-43 loss to St. Rose.

“Colleen’s definitely a scorer,” said McCarthy of his three-point specialist. “She has great form and when she’s open she knocks them down. She has a knack for scoring and as one of our two seniors she’ll be a big piece of our leadership filling the roles of our graduated seniors.”

A player McCarthy is really excited about is junior Caitlin Wingertzahn, who is an athletic 6-foot-2 center/forward.

Last year in her first year of varsity play she averaged 6.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and one blocked shot as the first person off the bench. Her 25 point, 11-rebound game in the Monarchs 48-39 win over division-rival Mater Dei showed just how dominate she can be and McCarthy feels he can untap her full potential.

“Caitlin’s not just a post player, she can score from the outside too,” McCarthy said. “She moves really well for someone 6-foot-2 and has a motor that doesn’t quit. She’s strong, athletic and has good hands and we expect big, big, things out of her. She’s already getting looks from a number of D1 schools.

“She has to understand that this is her team,” McCarthy added. “Last year she was only a sophomore on a senior dominated team. This year, the sky’s the limit for Caitlin.”

Another junior, Collen Kelly, a soccer and lacrosse star who came off the bench a year ago, will step into a greater role this season getting the start at one of the forward positions.

“Collen does all the little things you never see in the box score,” McCarthy said. “She’s a big-time athlete and will be our lock-down defender.”

A newcomer McCarthy is really high on is freshman Haven Dora, who has played for the New Jersey Shoreshots AAU program for the past few years.

“She’s really good,” McCarthy said. “She runs cross country and is an excellent lacrosse player too, so the athleticism is there. She’ll be our starting point guard as a freshman and we’re excited about her future with us.”

Sophomore Alexis Newenberg will start at guard after seeing action in 19 games a year ago.

“Alexis will be our combo guard,” said McCarthy. “She can play the one, two or three guard positon and played for Ellen Masonius at St. Catherine’s.”

The first person off the bench looks to be 6-foot-1 sophomore Emma Bradley.

“Emma has a nice inside-outside game and is another St. Catharine’s kid,” McCarthy said. “So she has a really high basketball IQ and knows how to play the game.”

Senior Grace Kenny, juniors Maggie Ward and Sophia Gana, sophomore Cecilia Peters and freshman Cameryn Keane will add depth and be the first players off the bench for the Monarchs.

McCarthy struck gold recruiting Taryn Scinto to join him on his staff as assistant head coach. Scinto, a graduate of Immaculate Heart Acadamey, was a four-year starting point guard at Union College in Schenectady, New York, where as a senior she led Union to its best season in the programs history winning 24 game and making its first ever appearance in the NCAA DIII Tournament.

For the past four years, she’s been the girls head basketball coach at New Brunswick High School being named the GMC White Division Coach of the Year last season.

“Really lucky to get Taryn,” McCarthy said. “Someone recommended her to me; we started talking and hit it off. Then we met in person and really hit it off. We have the same philosophy and outlook on how a team should be run and we’re really lucky to get her.”

Since accepting the position, McCarthy has been blown away by the maturity level of his players and their desire to succeed at whatever they do academically, athletically and life in general.

“The kids that go to this school and took that leap of faith to come here want to compete in everything they do in life, not just sports,” said McCarthy. “They were attracted to what the school had to offer them academically, not the athletic program. It’s a special group. These kids have a vision that is much greater than most kids their age. It’s a big picture type of thing. They’re so well rounded and have so many other things going on in their lives. It’s bigger than any sport and that makes my job easier.”

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