Hunterdon Central's Falco is the CN Boys Basketball Coach of the Year
When Mike Falco took over the Hunterdon Central High School boys basketball program five years ago, he knew exactly where he wanted to program to go, and it appears as if all of the hard work is starting to pay off.
The first year Falco was at the helm, Hunterdon Central finished 17-11, which was non too shabby. The next two years were down years, as the team was young and Falco and his staff worked to instill their philosophy in their young players, in the hopes that the team would start to improve.
"It’s not as much about wins and losses, but we were trying to build a culture and have the right standards set on how you want to go about building and how you want the team to be viewed," Falco said. "If you build the right culture, down the road we could compete for a championship and be a winning program year in and year out. Fortunately it ended up working out, it ended up the things we thought about years ago where we thought we could be pretty successful in a two or three year period, the guys bought in and it’s been a great couple of years and the future will be bright."
RELATED: CN BOYS BASKETBALL ALL-AREA TEAMS
READ: HUNTERDON CENTRAL'S RICHARDSON IS THE CN BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Last season Hunterdon Central started to understand what winning felt like, as the team finished with a school record 24 wins, advanced to the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament final and the NJSIAA Central Group IV semifinals. The lessons learned last season blossomed into one of the best seasons the Red Devils have had, as the team again set a school record for wins with 26, won the H/W/S Tournament final for the first time in eight years, won the program's first Central Group IV title and also won the Skyland Conference Raritan Division title. This year was the first year the team won both the county and conference titles in the same season.
Which is why Falco is the 2016-17 Courier News Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.
"He’s great, he’s pushed us, pushed the team and I think his big thing is he wanted to build the program up and I think he’s really done that, obviously, and it’s a great accomplishment for him, so I’m really happy for him for that," Hunterdon Central's Tucker Richardson said. "Every year the team has gotten better, more successful, which is great, I’m really proud of him for that. He’s done great putting me in situations where I can be successful. He’ll run individual plays for me, just offenses that get guys shots when they need them. He’s really good at knowing the game, if we need a shot at a certain time, he knows how to get a guy a shot, whether that’s anybody, Me, Sam (Johnson), Chad (Dreswick), anybody, anybody that can score in the situation, he’s really good at that."
Falco's big thing for the team was teaching his players how to win, and last year, with the program coming off a 12-13 season the year before, it was a slow process, but the team started to buy in. The Red Devils opened the season on a 7-0 winning streak and ended up only losing five games all season, granted a few of them were in the H/W/S Tournament final and the Central Group IV semifinals, but those losses fueled the team and made them want to win that much more.
This season Hunterdon Central brought back a core of players who had been with the team since freshman year, so they knew what the expectations were, along with some players who had had success at the freshman and JV levels, so the team knew how to play in big games, and how to win them.
"I just thought our guys who have been around learned how to win, and even last year we got to the county final and losing to Freehold in the sectional semis, as a coach you’re disappointed you fell short, you kind of feel after the fact that your program needs to take a step and you need to get there and sometimes experience and heartache helps you get over the hump," Falco said. "We talked to the team about being able to win different kinds of games. We had the experience and guys that are winners and all great teammates, and that’s a formula where you give yourself a chance."
Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego