LOWELL — St. Mary’s girls basketball coach Jeff Newhall will be taking his fifth team to the Boston Garden — and his second in a row — when the Spartans tip off Wednesday against Rockland in the state semifinal.
In fact, Newhall’s teams, four from St. Mary’s and one from Marblehead, have never lost at the Paul E. Tsongas Center, where the Spartans defeated Amesbury Saturday, 59-44, in the Division 3 North final.
“I think I’m going to schedule some non-league games up here because I’m undefeated here,” Newhall quipped after Saturday’s seemingly comfortable win over the Indians.
Seemingly is the operative word, because, truth be told, the game wasn’t all that comfortable. It started out that way, with the Spartans quickly sprinting to a 12-point lead in the first quarter. Then, disaster (for the moment) struck. The Spartans were hit with a technical foul on a play in which they’d already fouled. That meant two free throws for the “T,” two for the infraction, and the ball. And, of course, Amesbury scored on the possession.
So, in the span of about four seconds (of clock time), Amesbury had cut the lead in half and received a boost that lasted well into the third quarter.
“We had a plan,” said Newhall, leaving it unsaid that the plan did not include giving Amesbury six points. “But we did the exact opposite of what we were supposed to do.”
Having a plan is Newhall’s hallmark. It’s why, 15 years after he took the job, he is considered one of the top girls coaches in the area, and why his program is so highly regarded that Belmont’s Maiya Bergdorf is willing to commute to Lynn every day — and will do so for one more year.
He has no secrets to his success. At least, none that he considers very special.
“When I first started doing this, I thought that the way you coached was to yell at referees,” said Newhall, who played under the highly-emotional and passionate Jim Kefalas while he was at St. Mary’s.
“But I soon learned that if you have some kind of a plan, and that if your players buy into it, you’re going to do OK.”
Newhall was close to the athletic scene at Bridgewater State, working with a variety of coaches. He also was an assistant football coach for his cousin, Matt Durgin, both at Classical and St. Mary’s.
“I learned an awful lot from those people,” he said. “I think Matt is one of the top coaches ever. From him, I learned about how to run a team, and how to keep it motivated.”
His turn came quite by chance. Julie Halloran, then coaching at Swampscott, was in dire need of a freshman coach and turned to Newhall.
“His only response,” said Halloran’s husband, Paul, was to say ‘what time do you want me there?'”
“They’ve been very good to me over the years,” said Newhall. “No was not an option.”
Newhall always knew he wanted to coach, but he envisioned himself coaching boys.
“But then I started doing this, and I figured maybe that’s what I want to do.”
Four years after he took the freshman job at Swampscott, the girls varsity job opened up at Marblehead. And it was while coaching the Magicians he made his first trek to the Boston Garden. However, the Magicians suffered an excruciating two-point loss to Foxborough.
His next stop was St. Mary’s, coming in just in time to coach a group that included freshmen Tori Faieta, Kirsten Ferrari, Cassi Amenta and Molly Carey. By the time they were seniors, they gave Newhall his first state championship. By then, he had added athletic director to his resume.
Faieta went on to become a Division 3 All-America at Stonehill.
When the Spartans were winning that title, they had two freshmen named Brianna Rudolph and Sharell Sanders. The two became success stories in more ways than one in pacing St. Mary’s, led also by Jennie Muccharione, to title No. 2. Newhall and his wife, Christine, took Rudolph in for a time when it looked as if she needed help. Both Rudolph and Sanders went on to play college ball, Rudolph at UMass-Lowell, where she is now on the campus police force; and Sanders at Caldwell. She is now pursuing a master’s degree.
Sanders is also one of Newhall’s assistants, where “she still has no problem telling me what she thinks.”
Last year, St. Mary’s made the state final but lost to Hoosac Valley. Now, the Spartans have a chance to avenge that defeat.
Newhall said the trademarks of his teams are defense and hustle.
“You might not always have the best talent,” he said. “But you can control how hard you play, and you can control whether you play defense.
“You know, you try to make it enjoyable going to the gym every day, because you need your players to buy in. Our girls play year-round, in summer leagues, and that’s because they buy in.”