Category: Girls Basketball

by Mike Pavlichko

It’s official: St. Joseph-Metuchen names Tim Corrigan new boys’ basketball coach in wake of Mark Taylor’s resignation

In 1993, St. Joseph-Metuchen won its first Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament boys’ basketball title, with a young man named Tim Corrigan on the squad.

Now, 33 years later, he is the program’s new head coach, it was announced Wednesday afternoon by the school in a press release. He replaces fellow alum Mark Taylor, who resigned last Friday.

Corrigan signed a contract with St. Joe’s Wednesday morning, and is working on assembling a coaching staff for the upcoming season, which gets underway with practices in less than two months – on November 30th – while the season can officially start as early as December 7th.

“Tim Corrigan is a developer of players and a developer of men,” new Athletic Director Carl Porambo said in the release. “He dominated the Greater Middlesex Conference since 2022, winning four championships for the girls’ team at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Edison and we fully expect him to bring that same success and passion to the boys’ team here.”

The first of those four titles came as an assistant under Joe Whalen, who stepped down as he battled with MS at the end of that championship run. Corrigan had been the head coach the last three years, never losing a single GMC game out of 68 league games played in that span.

But back on September 25th, Corrigan stepped down from is post at Aquinas – as first reported by Simeon Pincus of MyCentralJersey.com – agreeing to become an assistant under Taylor.

By the following Monday, however, word had been spreading in coaching circles and among fans at the St. Joe’s football home game against Phillipsburg – rescheduled from Saturday due to a Nor’easter – that Taylor would not be coaching the team this season. And St. Joseph officially made the announcement last Friday, October 2nd.

Now, less than a week later, St. Joseph has a new man in place, capping a whirlwind couple of weeks intertwining the only two non-public high schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference.

Corrigan went on from St. Joseph to play college ball at Kean University in Union. The then played professionally overseas, getting into coaching while in Norway, then came back and was an assistant at Kean for two seasons. He is the owner of the New Jersey Celtics AAU basketball program for grades three through eleven, and has run the Holy Trinity/NJ Celtics Basketball camp since 2017.

“St. Joe’s didn’t just get a new coach, we got the coach,” Porambo added in the press release. “We can’t wait to watch Coach Corrigan develop our players over the coming season, as we eagerly anticipate the latest chapter in his success.”

Before joining St. Thomas Aquinas under Whalen, Corrigan had been the head coach of the Watchung Hills’ girls program for two years, going 7-8 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and 22-6 the following year before heading down the mountain to North Edison.

St. Thomas Aquinas beat East Brunswick 62-41 to win the 2026 GMC Tournament championship, its record seventh in a row. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Whalen’s team went 22-7 that year, his final season before Corrigan took the reins, who went 69-22 as head coach during his tenure, winning no fewer than 22 games in any of those three seasons, and winning all three GMC Tournament titles, going 12-0 in tournament play.

The Aquinas girls have won the last seven GMC Tournament titles, a record streak for either a boys’ or girls’ team.

Click below to hear new St. Joseph-Metuchen basketball coach Tim Corrigan’s one-on-one with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

With Taylor gone from St. Joseph, Corrigan leaving Aquinas, where does it leave them, and GMC boys’ and girls’ basketball? 

The first announcement was enough to send some shockwaves through the girls’ basketball community in Middlesex county, and came out on a football Friday in the fall, rather than in the Spring or Summer:  third-year St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball coach Tim Corrigan was leaving to become as assistant at his alma mater, St. Joseph of Metuchen, in the boys’ side.

This is the same Trojan program that has won seven straight GMC Tournament championships with very talented players, over three coaches and two school names: the first under Brittney Griffin as Bishop Ahr, the next three under Joe Whalen under original name St. Thomas Aquinas, and the last three under Corrigan.  All have been characterized as a physical, dominating style of play that has led them to unprecedented heights, winning GMC Red Division games by an average 40-plus points.

When the news broke last week via Simeon Pincus of MyCentralJersey.com, the move was a surprise to many, even though Corrigan had taken that track before.  He left his post as head girls’ basketball coach at Watching Hills to join Whalen’s staff at STA, then eventually took over once Whalen stepped down as he dealt with MS.

St. Thomas Aquinas and East Brunswick play in the 40th GMC Tournament Championship Game at Monroe Twp. H.S. on February 20, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

The first question became: what would happen at St. Thomas, where two of their top returning players had transferred out – guards Lauryn Downing to Blair Academy and bug Leah Kearney to CAPS a ademy of Boston, where she’ll be joined by Aleah Sunkins of Franklin, another big loss of star power in New Jersey – and Jordan Barnes graduated and is now playing at Rider.  Numbers have been an issue, and the program had no JV team last season.

St. Thomas has been the dominant program in GMC girls’ hoops for the better part of a decade.  They have not lost a league game since January of 2022 at Monroe, winning 80 straight since, including the regular season and GMCT.  Will there be a vacuum?

At first glance: yes. And every single one of those opponents wants the first crack at them.

Or will they find someone internally or look outside to boost the numbers and keep the streak and dominance alive? Time will tell, but there’s not much time at all, with the season’s first practice less than two months away.

Meanwhile, Corrigan has wanted to coach on the boys’ side for some time now.  He was put his name in the hat, and was very much in the running for the St. Joe’s job the first time around, two years ago, when the Falcons unceremoniously dumped Jan Cocoziello, whose only crime appeared to be not being a part of a decade-long GMC tournament run where the Falcons and won nine of ten championships under Dave Turco and Mike Thompson.

But they were a solid contender year after year, and there was stability.

Enter Karl Towns, the father of one of the school’s most celebrated student-athletes of all-time, Karl-Anthony Towns, who won a Tournament of Champions in 2014, played a year at Kentucky under John Calipari then went to the NBA.  It was a big splash and also brought KAT back into the fold, after he’d all bust disowned the place when they let go of his head coach, Dave Turco in 2017.

But when Karl-Anthony was traded to the Knicks in September 2024, things changed.  His father would be seen often courtside at Madison Square Garden, and St. Joe’s seemed to take a backseat.  His assistants not only were running practices but taking the lead in games.  Eventually, the school and Towns parted ways as the program foundered, punctuated by an early exit from the GMC Tournament.

And so, the school was looking for a new coach again, and again, Corrigan was in the mix.  But when they looked back to the past glories 1983 alum Mark Taylor brought them, both as a player and coach, he became the home run choice.  He mentored Jay Williams and Andrew Bynum, among a host of other major D1 recruits.  He later did the same at St. Benedict’s and even turned around Ridge in Somerset County.  The move seemed like a great fit.  No way Taylor was coming here to lose.

He brought in three high-profile transfers, raising eyebrows across the state.  Aiden Carter was coming in from right down the road at St. Thomas, big man Andrew Kretkowski shuffled over from Rutgers Prep, and Ghana native Joel Patrick signed on as well.  The three helped lead the Falcons to the 2026 GMC Tournament championship – its first in seven years since that nine-in-ten run from 2010 to 2019 – and a 29-2 record.  They were the Central Jersey Sports Radio Boys’ Basketball Team of the Year, too.

St. Joseph’s Andrew Kretkowski (in white) plays defense on Piscataway’s Josh Lima in a GMC Red American Division game in Piscataway on January 3, 2025. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

But then, one by one, they transferred out during the summer: Carter to an academy in Kansas, Kretkowski to a brand-new one in Massachusetts, and Patrick to Montverde in Florida.

And now, whatever brought it about, Taylor is gone, too.

So where does that leave St. Joe’s, besides entering its third coaching search in as many years, and being a program now that will have had four different head coaches in four seasons once 2026-27 tips off?

Again, it’s getting late early to find a new coach. They’ve got one if they want one, in Tim Corrigan, who’s currently in a state of not-his-fault limbo.

To add to it, leadership at the Metuchen school changed over the summer.  President John Nolan retired, and Stephen Balog (Class of ’73) is the interim president.  Football coach Bill Tracy is no longer doubling as Athletic Director, the school also confirmed this week, though he is still listed on the St. Joseph website as such.  (But one can also be relatively certain the Towns and Taylor hirings were not his doing; at least Towns very likely came from above, as the school long wanted to heal the wounds left with his son.) 

One would not have assumed Taylor was going to stay at St. Joseph forever.  Many, when they heard the Corrigan story, figured he might be in line for the job some day (though not today) and it probably sounded like a great opportunity to at least get back in the door of the school he once attended, after coming oh-so-close to landing the head job in 2024 and 2025.  How could it hurt?

At the end of the day, the best course of action very well might be for St. joseph to hand the keys to Corrigan after all. And not just because of the time crunch, and certainly not to settle. In fact, maybe he should have gotten the job three years ago?

Jan Cocoziello’s tenure was the last time St. Joseph had stability.  The Towns hire made headlines, and the kids were surely excited figuring they’d see KAT around more, but the year was pure chaos.  Taylor brought instant success, but even if he’d stayed as coach, he’d have to replace his three biggest stars; would he be able to turn the same trick again so quickly?  The point is moot, though, and now, he’s gone, too.

Then-St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Jan Cocozziello talks to Central Jersey Sports Radio after a 46-42 win at Montgomery on February 22, 2021. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Corrigan has proven to be a very good coach.  He’s an alum.  He has connections that can bring in and develop freshmen.  St. Joe’s has an academic eighth grade “Bridge Program” that can work as a feeder.  They’ve got the infrastructure and the history, and Corrigan is a part of that history.  He was on the very first St. Joe’s team to win the GMC Tournament, in 1993, with Joe Koslick as head coach and one of the greats in John Somogyi also on the staff.

But most importantly, Corrigan’s even-keeled demeanor, the way he runs a program?  He’d be the ideal fit and bring much-needed stability to a program that has always been a winner.  He’s been in the running before, now should be his chance.

Despite a GMC championship last year, the way it all ended, that’s a swing and a miss on the last two hires. St. Joe’s isn’t looking to strike out.

As for the rest of the league, the boys’ coaches wait with baited breath, too. Joe’s may not dominate, at least right away, but they will compete. Face it, the Falcons would have been the odds on favorite to repeat as GMC champions had Taylor, Carter, Kretkowski and Patrick stayed on. But now none are there, and GMC boys’ hoops this year could look more like 2024-25, when it was a wide-open tournament.

You don’t always need a home run to win the game.

by Mike Pavlichko

After just one year in second run, Mark Taylor is out as St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach

When former St. Joseph-Metuchen standout Mark Taylor – Class of 1983 – was hired for a second go ’round with the Falcons back in April of 2025, the news was a big splash in the world of high school basketball in New Jersey.

A standout in the ’80s, he later coached the school in the 90s, responsible for several D1 college players, most notably Jay Williams.

And after a year with Karl Towns, Sr., the father of the school’s biggest name since Williams, Karl-Anthony Towns, leading the program to disastrous effect – the team floundered as he often missed games to watch his son play in at Madison Square Garden, after he was traded from Minnesota to the Knicks, much closer to home – the move seemed like a slam dunk.

But now it’s over, as Taylor – who orchestrated a major turnaround last season, bringing in some high profile transfers like Andrew Kretkowski from Rutgers Prep and Aiden Carter from St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as Joel Patrick from Ghana – has stepped down, school officials confirmed to Central Jersey Sports Radio Friday afternoon.

Taylor did not immediately return a message from Central Jersey Sports Radio seeking comment.

In a press release posted on the schools’s website issued soon after Central Jersey Sports Radio broke the story, the school said it “wishes Mark Taylor ’83 well following his decision to resign as head basketball coach.”

It also contained a quote from Taylor, saying “Today I am stepping down as head basketball coach of St. Joseph High School to pursue other professional opportunities.  I am grateful to my alma mater for the impact it has had on my life and for the opportunity to coach such fine young men.  I wish Saint Joe’s nothing but the way in the future.”

What’s notable is that all three of his standout transfers from last season had already transferred out over the last few months.  Kretkowski is now at the brand-new Masters Academy International in Massachusetts; Carter is at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas, and Patrick is now at national powerhouse Montverde Academy in Florida.

News broke last week, first reported by Simeon Pincus at MyCentralJersey.com, that St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball coach Tim Corrigan had left the Trojan program to join Taylor as an assistant; Corrigan is a St. Joseph alum as well.

School officials could not confirm Corrigan’s status on the record Friday afternoon, saying a search for a new head coach is underway. They would not say whether Corrigan would be in the running for the position. Corrigan says he’s still interested in coaching at St. Joseph, and in being the head coach, but could not comment further on whether he’s officially a candidate.

As a player, Taylor twice went to the Middlesex County Tournament finals – prior to the formation of the Greater Middlesex Conference – then played in College at Fordham. He also in the St. Joseph Athletics Hall of Fame.

He came back to coach at St. Joe’s for eleven seasons, breathing new life into the program, winning two GMCT crowns in six trips to the finals, as well as two state sectional titles and seven division championships.

After that, he went to Ridge, and revived that program as well, winning 94 games in five seasons from 2006 to 2011, more than any other Somerset County public school in that time frame, winning the Somerset County Tournament title in 2010, their first such trophy since 1977.

Taylor then moved to St. Benedict’s, and in 14 seasons, went 333-60, bringing his overall record – compiled from various sources – to 599-171 in 30 seasons overall at the scholastic and prep levels. Current UConn coach Danny Hurley had spent nine years there – with a down year in between – before Taylor arrived and rejuvenated the program.

Overall, he’s produced eight NBA draft picks and over a hundred Division I NCAA players.

by Mike Pavlichko

A few personal thoughts on the loss of a great reporter, and an even better man, Greg Tufaro

When Greg Tufaro, the longtime Middlesex County sportswriter, passed away this Monday, the news was a shock to many.

But it really shouldn’t have been. 

Not to say we all expected it.  No one did. 

But that was the point.  There were so many text messages I received from coaches, friends and acquaintances who didn’t even know he was ill.

And that’s the way Greg wanted it, because in his world, nothing was about him.

I truly believe much of that came about from his family, and the battles that his brave daughter Marisa fought all her life, with her father Greg and mother Cyndi alongside her every step of the way.

When Greg and I spoke exactly a week before his passing, when I called him to talk about him ending the charitable mission of the Marisa Tufaro Foundation, founded with his wife Cyndi in memory of their amazing daughter, who died all too young from cancer herself nine years ago, a complication of multiple heart surgeries, his voice was weak and raspy.  He wasn’t comfortable talking about the shutdown. It was too emotional.

That’s the way Greg Tufaro was, because it was never about him.

It was about the Foundation, or the kids and coaches he interviewed for his stories for over 30 years with the Home News, Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.

I first met Greg sometime in the late 1990s when he was on the Rutgers beat, and I was a student, covering the Scarlet Knights as well.  We shared dinner once – with my WRSU broadcast partner and our Targum colleagues – out in Portland, Oregon, covering the NCAA Women’s West Regional Final, where the Scarlet Knights clinched their first Final Four berth, beating UAB and Georgia en route to Philadelphia. 

Not a lot of guys would hang out with student reporters.  Greg did.

Later, we crossed paths often on the high school sports scene after I graduated and made the jump over to WCTC in New Brunswick, where I covered football and basketball.

North Brunswick QB Frankie Garbolino accepts the 2023 Marisa Rose Bowl MVP trophy on June 29, 2023 at Nicholas Priscoe Stadium in Woodbridge from (left to right) Cyndi Tufaro, Joe Bellamy of Bellamy & Son Paving, and Greg Tufaro of the Marisa Tufaro Foundation. (Photo: Korbid Thompson)

Greg actually interviewed me once.  It was 2018, and with the help of Piscataway football assistant John Thompson, we had “cracked” the Born Power Index, a new part of the NJSIAA football playoff formula, which was top secret.  We learned it was rewarding teams with better seeds for winning by large margins.  Seeing this injustice, he wanted to cover it, and gave me a ring.

He was so meticulous, didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes.  He read the story back to me and my quotes, too, wanting to make sure he had everything right, down to the letter, and every dot on an i and cross on a t.  It had to be right.

Ask any coach he talked to and they’ll tell you the same kind of story.

That’s how Greg was.

Another time, I don’t remember if it was before or after that, we had a Friday night football show for a couple of seasons on WCTC called “Friday Night Football USA,” an offshoot of the long running Saturday show we did after Rutgers games.

The topic was a coach who got DQd for leaving the bench area to break up a scuffle.  Now it was my turn to interview Greg, and I got him on the air live to talk about it.  And his observation was that the officials could have handled it better, because the coach was not the problem, but rather trying to get his kids out of it.  The officials didn’t have to write him up, but they did.  It was great radio.

Then I headed off to cover a game, as a reporter, to get a story and tape for the next day’s show.  I got to the sideline, and my phone rang.  It was Greg.

Greg Tufaro (right) and his wife Cyndi at one of many charity events supported by the Marisa Tufaro Foundation. (Photo courtesy Marcus Borden)

“Mike, I gotta to apologize, I feel awful…” and he went into the most rapid-fire I-dont-even-know-what-to-call-it about how he felt like he threw the officials under the bus, these are good people, who am I to criticize? What if they heard me in the car on their way to a game, I feel terrible, etc., etc.  It took a couple of possessions as the game played out in front of me to talk him down.

“Greg,” I told him.  “You did nothing wrong.  You told me what you saw and gave your opinion.  That’s why I had you on.  Because you’re respected.  Don’t worry about it.”

After about ten minutes of back and forth, he took a deep breath, and I promised him it would be okay.  And it was.

That’s how Greg was.

When I started Central Jersey Sports Radio, he was so supportive of our venture, even though we might be competing for stories.  Told me this was a great thing I was doing.  I don’t tell a lot of people that.  Probably because of how he rubbed off on me.

Even when he got out of the sports reporting business and went to work with his good friend, Senator Patrick Diegnan of South Plainfield, we spoke occasionally. 

Mostly, I’d ask him advice.  How he’d handle something.  Should I even write this?  Am I on the right track? He’d compliment my work. 

I was a radio guy, but now I was writing more than I ever imagined.  I took it to heart.  Coming from him, it really and truly meant the world. 

The amount of people Greg Tufaro has touched, influenced, mentored, and helped, whether in sports writing, investigative journalism, with the Foundation, or in his legislative work is beyond even what you and I all know, and will ever know.

Because that was Greg Tufaro.  He wouldn’t tell you what he did, he just did it.

He didn’t ask for the honors, even though he was honored often.

He just did what was right.

Because that’s how Greg was.

Our deepest condolences to Greg’s wife Cyndi, his family, friends and colleagues.

Details on services for Greg Tufaro…

Relatives and friends may call from 1:00 – 5:00 PM on August 16th at the Costello-Runyon Funeral Home, 568 Middlesex Ave. (Route 27), Metuchen. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:15 AM on August 17th at The Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, 548 Main St., Metuchen. Interment will follow at Hillside Cemetery, 52 Lincoln Ave., Metuchen.

by Mike Pavlichko

Longtime Middlesex County sportswriter, founder of Marisa Tufaro Foundation, Greg Tufaro passes away

Please scroll to the bottom of this story for details on services.

For some three-plus decades, if there was a story to be found in the sports world and beyond in Middlesex County – sometimes the story behind the story – Greg Tufaro was the guy who would have it.

And for the past nine years, if there was a good cause, the Marisa Tufaro Foundation – which he and his wife Cyndi founded after the passing of their daughter in January 2017 – would be involved.

On Monday, Greg himself passed away after a battle with cancer, according to Tim LeCras, a spokesman for St. Joseph of Metuchen High School, Greg’s alma mater, where he graduated in 1985.

Tufaro received many accolades.  He was named the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association New Jersey Sportswriter of the Year in 2015.  The New Jersey Press Association honored him more than a dozen times, with five first-place awards.

Tufaro, a Rugters University graduate, was well-known for his high school sports coverage, but also covered the Scarlet Knights after joining the Home News and Home News Tribune in 1989.

In 2021, he gave it all up to serve as Chief of Staff for State Senator Patrick Diegnan of South Plainfield (D-18), while continuing his work with the Marisa Tufaro Foundation, for which Diegnan also served on the Board of Trustees until the Foundation ended its charitable mission just last week, after nine years and more than a half-million dollars raised.

Details on services…

Relatives and friends may call from 1:00 – 5:00 PM on August 16th at the Costello-Runyon Funeral Home, 568 Middlesex Ave. (Route 27), Metuchen. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:15 AM on August 17th at The Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, 548 Main St., Metuchen. Interment will follow at Hillside Cemetery, 52 Lincoln Ave., Metuchen.

Thoughts and rememberances from the local sports community…

Click here for CJSR football analyst Marcus Borden’s audio tribute to Greg Tufaro.

Joseph Ward, Woodbridge H.S. Athletic Director:

“I know everyone is going to say Greg was the nicest guy they ever met, and they are right.  They would be 100% correct to say that of course.  Greg was so kind, caring and sincere in the way that he treated people.  When he was talking to you, whether in person or on the phone, he made you feel like you were the most important person in the world.  He didn’t want to talk about himself, he wanted to hear how you were doing.   I am smiling as I write this, but if you were around Greg enough, you got to see another side.  Greg could lose it at times.  It may have been his computer not working, or not being able to connect to the internet, or pressure from his bosses to meet a deadline, etc.  He could hold his own in the language department in those moments, but then apologize to you 100 times for having to witness that.  I believe that it is what made Greg the exceptional husband, father, friend and writer that he was.  He was, even more so than he was nice, he was passionate! I know he was NOT this way so that he could say he was the best at anything, but so he could give you the very best that he felt you deserved.  He always made it about others, never himself.  I will miss my friend, but I take comfort in knowing that he is reunited with his beautiful daughter, Marisa.”

Marisa Tufaro Foundation Board of Trustees member, former East Brunswick H.S. Athletic Director, Frank Noppenberger:

“It was an honor and privilege to refer to Greg as a dear friend. His unending altruism and kindness to everyone was one of his many positive contributions to our society. An ideal role model for those contemplating a career in journalism, and his everlasting sincerity and caring will be remembered by all who knew him.  Greg, thanks for being a friend.”

READ MORE: A few personal thoughts on the loss of a great reporter, and an even better man, Greg Tufaro

Former Spotswood H.S. teacher and cheerleading coach Colleen Meyers, who led the cheerleading squads for the Snapple Bowl, and later the Marisa Tufaro Bowl senior football all-star game:

“I find myself at a loss for words with the news of Greg’s death.  My heart is shattered for Cyndi, and all who knew and loved him.  Greg touched many lives as a loyal and steadfast friend, and extraordinary husband and doting father, an exemplary journalist, and a champion for children in need.  The world was a kinder and gentler place because of Greg Tufaro.  I was greatly blessed to call him my friend.”

Edison H.S. football coach Matt Yascko:

“Greg was a great friend, I will always cherish our relationship. He was always so thoughtful and supportive of all the kids and teams he covered.  I will always remember how serious and thoughtful he took the all area teams; we would spend hours debating who the 3rd team linebacker would be and he would always find a way to recognize all who deserved it.“

From the Piscataway Football family:

“Greg Tufaro was the kind of reporter who was able to give recognition to a third-string fullback on an 0-9 team, along with giving due recognition to the all-state quarterback on the undefeated team which won the game.  Having been on both ends of that football spectrum, it was that kind of fairness and thoroughness which we came to love and respect at Piscataway. The efforts of Greg and his wife Cyndi through the Marisa Tufaro Foundation have produced a profound impact on so many lives, including those of many Piscataway student-athletes. While Greg’s life has come to an end, his unselfish giving to others will be an eternal lesson from which we can all draw.”

Former St. Joseph-Metuchen H.S. head coach, current Bound Brook assistant Rich Hilliard:

“I am at a loss for words.  We lost a great man , a great writer, and even more… a great friend to all.  My deepest heartfelt condolences to his family.  You will never be forgotten.”

by Mike Pavlichko

After nearly a decade, and a half-million dollars donated, Marisa Tufaro Foundation wraps up its charitable mission

Ten years would have been a nice round number.

But so is a half-million dollars.

That’s what the Marisa Tufaro Foundation has donated has donated to families and pediatric patients, charitable organizations and scholarship efforts around the state since its founding nine years ago, on July 30, 2017.

But all good things must come to an end, and the group’s founders have announced the end of the Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s charitable mission.

It was created by longtime Home News Tribune/MyCentralJersey sportswriter Greg Tufaro and his wife, Cyndi, in memory of their daughter, Marisa, who tragically passed away in January of 2017, on what would have been her 14th birthday.

Born with a cardiac defect, she survived six open heart surgeries and a heart transplant, but ultimately and heartbreakingly lost a valiant battle against a rare form of cancer.

Marisa Tufaro. (Photo courtesy Greg Tufaro)

Marisa had been hospitalized for more than two years, and yet was still able to be an honor roll student in Edison public schools and lived a “vibrant life that inspired,” the Tufaros said in a press release.

“We are eternally grateful and appreciative beyond words to all who have donated, volunteered, or hosted a charity event for our nonprofit, which has immensely benefited from the extraordinary kindness of thousands of supporters,” the Tufaros said in the release. “Through the remarkable generosity of others, we have been blessed and privileged to make a profound impact on countless lives. We have also been able to keep alive Marisa’s indomitable spirit and allow her legacy to be one of helping children in need.”

In all that time, there were toy collections, food collections, winter coat collections. There were school and baby supplies, children’s books, and many other physical donations that aren’t even included among the $500,000 raised and distributed.

Fundraisers included the large and small, from lemonade stands to GMC all-star games, and the Marisa Rose Bowl.

Greg Tufaro, who co-founded the Marisa Tufaro Foundation with his wife Cyndi, talks to Team Marisa and Team Rose after the inaugural Marisa Rose Bowl in 2022. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Over the nine years of the Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s existence, nearly 60 high school seniors received $41,500 in scholarship money, and dozens more were able to spend a week at a summer art camp at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers in New Brunswick.

And the foundation gave back to many of the hospitals that treated Marisa, from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and more.

At home with Marisa Tufaro and the Tufaro family pup, Duncan. (Photo courtesy Greg Tufaro)

The foundation also was recognized as the Edison Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 “Organization of the Year,” was named a “Community Champion” in 2023 by the Metuchen/Edison/Woodbridge/South Amboy YMCA, and was a Hands of Hope Tee Off Against Hunger honoree in 2024 for “dedicated efforts in fostering positive change within the community.”

by Mike Pavlichko

A year after joining Klinger’s staff at Rutgers Prep, Audrey Taylor takes the reigns following her friend’s retirement

“I can barely believe I’m writing this, but it’s true: I’m joining the Legendary Coach Mary Klinger’s (Rutgers Preparatory School) staff this season.”

That was the first line from a blog post on Audrey Taylor’s website on November 10th of last year. After 13 years coaching at Franklin – with some amazing teams, and players like Diamond Miller and others, who helped the Warriors win not one, but two Tournament of Champions titles and much more hardware in the process – and a year away from the high school game, Taylor was ready to get back into it, and did so by joining her friend and former rival on the bench.

Klinger had been a big influence on Taylor, who said the legendary coach “extended her hand” early in her career, something she’s never forgotten. Klinger did it again after Taylor stepped down from Franklin, but says Taylor wasn’t ready at the time.

Audrey Taylor, left, will be taking over the Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball program after Mary Klinger – right, after winning her 700th career game – announced her retirement following 42 years at the Somerset school. (Source: coachaudreytaylor.com)

A year later when they met at an event, she asked Taylor again to join her staff, and this time she accepted. And it helped lead the Argonauts to yet another Somerset County Tournament title, their 11th as a program, all under Klinger.

Now, with Klinger’s retirement after 42 years at Rutgers Prep, the school moved to immediately elevate Taylor to be the program’s next head coach.

“No one can follow in the precise footsteps that coach Klinger has left us, but we are fortunate that Audrey Taylor had accepted our invitation to be the next Varsity Coach of the Rutgers Prep Women’s Basketball Team, and she is ready for the challenge,” said Rutgers Prep Head of School Dr. Steven Loy, in an email to the school community late Wednesday afternoon.

Audrey Taylor’s Coaching Accolades at Franklin:

  • USA Today National Coach of the Year, 2019 (33-0)
  • National No. 1 Ranking, 2019 (33-0)
  • Back-to-Back Somerset County Tournament Champions: 2018 and 2019
  • Six NJSIAA North 2, Group 4 Championships: 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
  • Four NJSIAA Group 4 State Championships: 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
  • Three Tournament of Champions berths: 2017, 2018, 2019
  • Tournament of Champions winners: 2017, 2019 (one of just 5 schools to win multiple titles)
  • Overall Record at Franklin: 138-91
by Mike Pavlichko

Looking back: Mary Klinger reflects on 42 years at Rutgers Prep, as legendary coach announces her retirement

Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach Mary Klinger has announced her retirement after 42 years leading the Argonauts, and her assistant last season – former Franklin coach Audrey Taylor – has been named as her successor.

READ OUR FULL STORY HERE: Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach, AD Mary Klinger retiring after more than four decades; Audrey Taylor to lead program

We’ll have a full, one-on-one interview with Taylor later on this morning. In the meantime, Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko got to have an extensive conversation with Klinger. Click below to listen to the interview:

Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko
by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach, AD Mary Klinger retiring after more than four decades; Audrey Taylor to lead program

Longtime Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach Mary Klinger is retiring after 42 years at the Easton Avenue school.

The Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team broke the news Wednesday night on Instagram.

Assistant and friend Audrey Taylor – the former Franklin coach who won two Tournament of Champions titles there – has been named the program’s new head coach, Klinger confirmed to Central Jersey Sports Radio on Thursday morning.

INTERVIEW: Looking back: Mary Klinger reflects on 42 years at Rutgers Prep, as legendary coach announces her retirement

Klinger – then Mary Coyle – was a member of the 1982 Rutgers women’s basketball team that won the final AIAW National Championship, along with her twin sister Patty and future UConn asssistant Chris Dailey.

Soon after college, she landed at Rutgers Prep, where she amassed a 757-267 record in 42 years leading the girls’ program. She earned her 700th win in January of 2024, in an 85-42 victory over Ridge.

A large part of that success came in the last decade or so. Since the start of the 2014-15 season, Rutgers Prep was 289-50. They have won eight of the last 11 Somerset County Tournament titles, and has had eleven straight full seasons with 20 or more wins.

Klinger also sent numerous players on to play high-level college basketball, most recently and most notably Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes, who also was a McDonald’s All-American.

Then-Franklin coach Audrey Taylor and now-retired Rutgers Prep coach Mary Klinger before a December 15, 2022 game in Somerset. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Klinger’s retirement never seemed imminent, and yet it wasn’t much of a surprise either.  And her successor, it turns out, was not too far away.

It will be former rival coach and good friend Audrey Taylor, whom Klinger brought on as her top assistant this past season after the departure of Michelle Sharp, who runs Team Sharp for seven- to 17-year-olds in the New Balance, UA Rise and Elite 40 Leagues.

The two showed a very good rapport last season, as the Argonauts won yet another Somerset County Tournament championship, their 12th as a program, all under Klinger.

Her programs won six NJSIAA Non-Public South B sectional titles, three state championships in Non-Public B.  They made the now-defunct Tournament of Champions three times, most recently in the last TOC before the NJSIAA scrapped it in 2022.  They lost in the finals that year to St. John Vianney.

More Mary Klinger accolades…

  • 15 NJISAA (New Jersey Independent Schools Athletic Association) Prep Championchips
  • 11 Skyland Conference Divisional titles
  • 11 Somerset County Tournament titles
  • Skyland Conference top pod winner, 2021 (COVID season, no SCT)
  • 6 NJSIAA Non-Public South B championships
  • 3 NJSIAA Non-Public Group B state championships
  • John Wooden Legacy Award Winner, 2023
  • NFHS National Coach of the Year, 2021-22
  • Member NJSCA Hall of Fame
  • Member New Jersey Sports Writers Hall of Fame
  • Member West Catholic (PA) High School Hall of Fame
  • Member Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame (part of 1982 AIAW National Championship team, inducted 1993
  • Selection Committee Member WBCA & McDonald’s All-American Team
  • McDonald’s All-American Team Head Coach, 2011
  • Assistant Coach USA Women’s Basketball U17 World Championship Team, 2014
  • Served on staff of USA Junior National Basketball Team

In an email to the Rutgers Prep community, the school said it will share plans in the coming months on how it will recognize and honor Mary Klinger’s legacy at the school.

“I know you join all of us on campus in wishing Mary, along with her husband Jimmy and son mike, the very best as she embarks on the next stages of her amazing journey,” the statement added.

by Mike Pavlichko

Shot clock is coming to New Jersey high school basketball, as NJSIAA measure for HS basketball passes narrowly

A well-coordinated effort to bring the shot clock to high school basketball in New Jersey just barely made it to the finish line Monday, winning approval by a slim margin in a vote of the full NJSIAA membership during a meeting at the Pines Manor in Edison.

The basketball proposal passed 170-166, and the shot clock will begin when the 2027-28 season tips off.

Use of the shot clock will be mandatory for all varsity games, but optional for JV and freshman contests.

A similar shot clock measure in lacrosse was defeated however, by a 166-149 margin, with 21 abstentions, according to Darren Cooper of the Bergen Record, and Varsity Aces on Twitter.

While many high school basketball coaches appeared to support the measure, saying it would be better for the game, and better prepare basketball players for college, there seemed to be less support among athletic directors. Mainly, the concerns have been about the cost on two different levels. The first of those was the initial purchase and installation of equipment, albeit a one-time cost.

What also has concerned them is the need to have an extra person at each game to run the clock, which is entirely separate from the game clock.

That person would also have to get paid, and trained – as it’s not as “simple” as running a game clock, which stops on an official’s whistle. (A shot clock operator and/or official would have to determine, for example, if a missed shot hit the rim, which resets the shot clock, but not always to the full amount.)

And with many schools squeezed from the latest rounds of budget cuts, the measure’s chances appeared to be tenuous, at best.

But, at the end of the day, enough ADs voted in favor of the basketball measure to get it passed by a scant four votes.

Montgomery Athletic Director and boys’ basketball coach Kris Grundy championed the measure along with Christian Brothers’ AD and former Hudson Catholic basketball coach Nick Mariniello. The two presented the measure to the NJSIAA’s Executive Committee, which passed it, leading to Monday’s vote.

Please check back later for an interview with Kris Grundy.

According to Cooper, additional concerns about lacrosse also included moving equipment to different parks if games had to be moved for any reason, such as field conditions, weather and the like.

In other news, the membership voted by a large majority – 318-13 with three abstentions, according to Cooper – to add girls’ flag football as a varsity sport. The “yes” vote means the NJSIAA will sanction the sport and hold state championships, starting next Spring, in 2026-27.

Tri-ops – a combination of three schools, rather than two for a co-op – also were approved for girls’ wrestling.