Asked what appealed to him about taking over a Hamilton West boys’ soccer program that won just three games last year and hasn’t reached the state tournament since 2009, Gerard Marrone admitted he has a little showbiz in him.
“The opportunity to coach a boys’ team is something I wanted,” Marrone said. “And it’s very Hollywood to take a bad team and make them good. Every guy wants to be part of that Disney movie type of thing. I think part of that was there for sure.
“But I also talked to guys throughout the past year. They only had a couple wins and a lot of overtime losses. I feel my plan would be able to let them flip the switch on that a little.”
Thus, after two years as serving as Anthony Tessein’s assistant for the Hornets girls’ soccer and girls’ lacrosse teams, Marrone replaces Mark “Goose” Laurenti, who resigned last May after four seasons.
“I think he’ll do great,” Tessein said. “He’s very well organized. I know the girls all respected him. His reputation got a lot of buzz around the school. I think they had the largest turnout in tryouts since I’ve been there on the boys’ side. They got a lot of numbers out there and a lot has to do with the buzz of him taking over.”
Marrone has an interesting past to draw from. He was a three-year starter for Middletown South High School, earning All-County honors and playing in two sectional championship games. Upon graduation, he headed to Messiah College.
Despite being recruited, Marrone was the final cut. But he liked the school and still wanted to be part of the program and became the team manager.
“I was a practice player, so I played with all those guys in practice,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t a good enough player to play after college, but I always knew I wanted to teach and coach. So I wanted to be around the guy who was coaching the team (Dave Brandt).
“I was in his office every day working as a work study. It was like a master’s degree in coaching for me. I was totally involved with the team. It was a unique situation. I was the first manager they ever had, I played in the spring game, traveled with the team, lived with the guys. Three of them were in my wedding. It was absolutely a great experience.”
After Marrone’s junior year, Brandt left to coach the Naval Academy in Annapolis and his top assistant got the job. After winning two NCAA Division III titles under Brandt, Messiah won a third under Brad McCarty, who is still head coach.
Marrone learned a little bit from both men.
“The biggest thing I took from Dave is, he had a plan and he was unwavering in his plan,” Marrone said. “He had a way of seeing how a team should be structured, how they should interact with each other, the culture and of course how we played on the field.
“He was absolutely unwavering. I’d jump into a training session and if I took a bad touch, he was all over me. He was unrelenting in his belief in what it should look like. That was his biggest thing.”
McCarty played good cop to Brandt’s bad cop when it came to dealing with the players, although McCarty had the same belief in an unwavering plan.
“He was just much more laid back,” Marrone said. “He was the foil to Dave’s intensity, and when he took the head coaching job he did a good job of having intensity but being approachable. We didn’t fear him as much; he fit really well with us.”
Marrone wants to take McCarty’s approach, but realizes he has to gain the respect early on in the relationship with his team.
“I have to be more authoritative now, because I have to instill my culture and the way I see things running,” he said, adding with a laugh “At 5-6, I’m not a very intimidating figure. I like to be a very positive person; I have to work on keeping a stern face sometimes.”
After graduating from Messiah, Marrone spent two years teaching at Lakewood High before coming to West. He immediately began coaching two sports with Tessein and made a good impression.
“The girls really liked his tactics and training techniques,” Tessein said. “He’s young and he’s energetic, he’s got some credibility with what he did at Messiah even though he doesn’t flaunt that. But people talk, and when you only hear good things about a person, you get a lot of people who come out to see what it’s all about.”
The Hornets had a turnout just shy of 60 players, including a freshman class of 14. Marrone hopes to carry 21 on varsity and 19 on the JV, sometimes having players float between the freshman and varsity team.
“It was a great turnout, I was really pleased,” he said. “Once the news was out I got the job, I called a meeting to get the program in my hands and definitely impart on them how important it would be to come in fit. I also went over to Grice to talk to them, and it’s good to have my JV coach (Mike Moceri) already teaching over there so he can get the eighth-graders to come out.”
Marrone is uncertain of what led to the large turnout this year, saying, “I’m not sure what the driving force was, maybe just a change of pace is what these guys were excited for.
“The transition has been really smooth. Mark made it really smooth and did a good job of getting good character guys to stick around the program. It’s been a big help. The upperclassmen are good character guys to have back.”
Before leaving, Laurenti had named Joe Misciascio and David Kline the team captains, but encouraged Marrone to speak with them and make his own decision.
“I totally agreed with his picks, they’ve done a great job making the transition for players really simple,” Marrone said. “They’ve done a great job of communicating. I’ve got Joe at center back and Dave is the traditional attacking midfielder behind the striker.”
Marrone, whose freshman coach is Chris Morales, is also looking for big years from Jeff Struble and Abby Hamza.
“I think .500 is always a goal,” the coach said. “We won three last year; I think I’d like to have more than three wins. Overall, it’s not so much about wins or losses, but I want them to play a certain way, and I want the reputation of Hamilton West soccer to kind of show through our players.”
And if he can script a Hollywood ending, that would make it all the better.
New Hamilton West boys’ soccer coach Gerard Marrone (in orange) addresses his team at practice Aug. 20, 2014. (Staff photo by Rob Anthes.),
