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#211
Eleazar

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I know Endres will like this...

http://blog.nj.com/i..._prep_head.html

Greg Toal, Don Bosco Prep head football coach, never shies away
By Matthew Stanmyre/The Star-Ledger
December 27, 2009, 7:30AM

toal.jpgMitsu Yasukawa/The Star-LedgerPortrait of Don Bosco Prep football coach Greg Toal.

Story by MATTHEW STANMYRE/The Star-Ledger

Photo by MITSU YASUKAWA

The man standing across from Greg Toal seemed carved from granite. He was a natural middleweight, but recent time in prison had piled his body with muscle and bulked him to about 200 pounds. Now classified a heavyweight, the man had nearly 100 fights under his belt.

It was 1976 and Toal had walked into the basement boxing gymnasium in Paterson only four days earlier. Before then, he had never slipped on gloves or punched a heavy bag. He had never been in a boxing ring.

Now, he was staring down this ex-con.

Toal walked forward. He was 23 and a few months removed from college, looking to test his limits. He absorbed blows to his face and head. His eye swelled. The fight ended abruptly when a punch from Toal collided with one from his opponent, breaking the man’s hand.

Toal had always thrived on being tough, and he was proving it to himself again in that gym. He would tote that mentality with him as he forayed into a different world.

Greg Toal would land his first job coaching high school football the following summer. He would spend the next three decades at four high schools ? Saddle Brook, River Dell, Hackensack and finally Don Bosco Prep, where he remains today ? embedding that same toughness at every stop. He would win 12 state championships and 246 games, and send more than 50 players into major college football programs. He would coach white kids and black kids, rich kids and poor kids, the troubled and the untroubled, and he would make them all champions.

"He’s God," says John Ehrline, a Don Bosco senior as he awaited the start of a game this season.

"He’s like a cousin to Jesus," says Ehrline’s classmate Kyle Sullivan.

When Toal arrived at Don Bosco Prep 10 years ago, he figured to need otherworldly powers to revitalize the program. Don Bosco played its football games on a field littered with rocks and rubble. It had lost 17 games in a row to its bitter rival, St. Joseph of Montvale. Football didn’t feel important.

Toal knew this when he answered his telephone late one night in spring 1999. He had accepted the head coaching job at Clifton High School and was soon to be approved for the position by the school board. But the call was from then-Don Bosco president the Rev. John Talamo, whom Toal agreed to meet with only out of respect. Toal would hear him out, he told the priest, but he wasn’t interested.

Over the course of the two-hour meeting, as Talamo and Toal strolled the campus grounds in Ramsey and talked, Toal changed his mind. He would come to Don Bosco because it would be difficult. It would be a test.

"We were up against it," Toal says. "It was like going into battle without a gun. Looking back, I think it was a place where I felt I could be successful at. It was a place where you kind of knew what they needed."

SINGLE MINDED EFFORT

In 11 seasons at Don Bosco, Toal has lifted the program to heights never reached in New Jersey high school football. The team finished this season ranked atop the USA Today national poll, the first time a high school football team from New Jersey has achieved that status.

The Ironmen have won four straight Non-Public Group 4 championships, monopolizing a division whose success used to be divided among powers such as Bergen Catholic and St. Peter’s Prep. Toal, 56, has guided Don Bosco to a 120-10 record. Twenty of his former players were on NCAA Division 1 rosters this year, and two more are in the National Football League.

"That is as good as it’s gotten," says Jimmy Cavallo, a high school sports commentator from the MSG Network who has covered Toal since his days at Hackensack. "It has a feel of dominance we have never seen before."
"Toughness is part of being a competitor. It's competition. I"ve always enjoyed competition. I never really shied away from it." -- Greg Toal

Greg Toal blended in with the other working-class folks at the Arena Diner in Hackensack one morning last month, dabbing at the yolks of his three-egg special with a piece of wheat toast. He arrived in his modest silver Chevy Cobalt, a steal he bought with about 10,000 miles on the odometer. He wore black and maroon Boston College warm-up gear, his typical attire.

"He is the basic man," says John Bell, his college roommate at Virginia Tech. "Seldom do you find a man with such singleness of purpose."

Toal doesn’t collect music albums or enjoy movies on the weekends, but he has an alarming ability to produce winning football teams no matter where he goes. His first head coaching job came in 1982 at Saddle Brook High, where he propelled a little-known program with a collection of runts for players to the state championship game by his second season.

Toal left the next year for River Dell High, where he won four division championships, two state titles and guided unbeaten teams in 1985 and 1987.

Then came Hackensack High. Coping with a troubled roster that included players whose parents were on drugs or not around at all, Toal roped the team together each season. He’d host breakfast on game days to see which players showed up and which he’d have to hunt down on the streets before kickoff. Having 11 players for a practice constituted a success.

Playing as a Group 4 school, the largest in New Jersey, Toal steered Hackensack to five consecutive state championships between 1992 and 1996.

"He’s as driven and competitive a guy as I’ve ever met in my life," says Bergen Catholic coach Fred Stengel, perhaps Toal’s fiercest adversary. "He certainly has changed New Jersey football."
Family and football are most important for Don Bosco coach Greg Toal

COMPETITIVE NATURE

As a kid growing up in Hasbrouck Heights, Greg Toal thought he would make a good coach because he loved the game so darn much. The son of Irish parents ? his father, Mike, was a bus driver and his mother, Rose, an X-ray technician ? he brought that passion and blue-collar mentality to the football field.

He was the star fullback and linebacker at Hasbrouck Heights High, a battering ram in pads. His coach, Pete LaBarbiera, remembers a game against Westwood High during a September heat wave that would postpone games the next day because of the sweltering climate. Late in the fourth quarter, down a touchdown and gassed from playing both ways, Toal took a handoff and plowed through about six tackles for a 60-yard score.

"He just wouldn’t go down," LaBarbiera says.

Toal went on to play fullback for Virginia Tech, where he didn’t see much action until his senior season, when new coach Jimmy Sharpe, switched the offense from the veer to the wishbone.

After college, Toal returned to New Jersey, young and bored. He was working for Bergen County Special Services and volunteering as a coach at his old high school on the side. He wandered into that boxing gym in Paterson because he missed the aggression of football. He needed to hit something, somebody.

"It was just an urge to continue competing and to challenge myself," Toal says. "It’s you and another guy in the ring. . . . Toughness is part of being a competitor. It’s competition. I’ve always enjoyed competition. I never really shied away from it."

By surviving the bout against the ex-con, Toal had proved to the gym’s trainer he was worth investing the time needed to turn him into a fighter. He fought in a Golden Gloves tournament in Elizabeth a couple of weeks later and won his first three bouts before dropping a decision in the finals.

"He was a tough brawler," says Nick Delcalzo, who grew up with Toal and is now the football coach at Hasbrouck Heights. "He wasn’t a finesse guy. He’s coming after you, almost like how his defense is. In boxing, he’d just keep coming."

SHARING HIS PASSION

Toal’s boxing career was short-lived because his professional and family life took off soon after he stepped in the ring.

He met his wife, Susan, in a Manhattan pub on St. Patrick’s Day in 1976 and they went on their first date a week later ? to another bar to watch a college basketball game. It was the ideal outing for Susan, a St. Anthony High graduate who adores hoops. Their personalities blended ? Susan loud and outspoken, Toal quiet and introverted ? and they married a year later and soon started a family. He and Susan have three sons, Mike, Greg and Brian.

In 1985, Toal moved the family to Wyckoff. His initial coaching jobs ? first as an assistant at Bergen Catholic and Fair Lawn High before becoming a head coach ? paid little, so Toal’s children remember their father working extra jobs, bouncing at bars and painting houses in order for his family to live on a tree-lined street in the affluent Bergen County township.

He loved being with his sons. They were always on the sidelines at his games and practices. He coached them in soccer and basketball, instilling his competitiveness. He guided Greg and Mike to a youth basketball championship during which they would employ a press called "bullet" nearly the entire game.

"Every time we scored, it was, ‘Bullet, bullet! Get in it!’ " says Mike. "They had to change the rule after that year because we were winning every game by like 60 points. You couldn’t press the next year until the last two minutes."

When the boys raked leaves or shoveled snow, they weren’t doing it right. Lift with your legs, their dad would shout. Take bigger scoops, he would say.

"He always had a better way," Mike laughs.

Before Toal would leave the house to coach on game days, the family would play the "Rocky" theme. He would hug his children and kiss his wife before heading out the door.

Mike admired his father so much that, as a junior, he transferred from Ramapo High to Hackensack High ? schools that are worlds apart demographically ? to play for his dad. (Mike says he was allowed to transfer under a new policy in Bergen County that came about that year.) Three years later, with middle son Greg happily entrenched at Ramapo, Toal resigned as head coach at Hackensack and took an assistant position at Ramapo. He later coached Brian for four years at Don Bosco.

"I wanted to be around my kids," Toal says. "I wanted to be around their games. I wanted to be able to coach them."

After they completed high school, Toal drove to almost every one of his sons’ college football games ? Mike played at William & Mary, and Greg and Brian at Boston College ? never stopping on the long drives, no matter who needed to use the bathroom.

"I don’t drink water, I don’t drink coffee, I don’t drink anything," Susan says. "He has to get to where he’s going."

Toal has hardly any guilty pleasures, but he’s at his most jovial on Sunday afternoons, when his children (Mike is 30, Greg 29 and Brian 24) surround him at the dinner table. Greg now has two young children, and they turn Toal to mush when they charge through the front door, wrap around his legs and shout, "Granpy!"

"When the granddaughters come over, he’s a different person," Susan says. "He has the biggest smile on his face you’ve ever seen."

Toal makes certain to take a week every summer to spend at the beach with about 10 friends from the old neighborhood in Hasbrouck Heights. He sees Bell, his college roommate, once or twice each year.

"He’s as loyal as they come," says Delcalzo, his childhood pal.

TALKS ARE LEGENDARY

It is in the locker room where something magical happens, those close to Toal say. With emotion boiling out, he delivers impassioned speeches before games, dating to his time at Saddle Brook. He starts in a hushed tone, pacing, until his voice rumbles through the canyon of lockers, his fists slicing through the air to punctuate his words.

"They ain’t been in the wars you been in! This is the first time that they’ve been in with men! Okay? This is the first time!"

One such speech caused a played from Hackensack to hyperventilate because he became so enlivened. Former players return to sneak into the locker room to listen in, feeling the same sensation crawl through their limbs. Cavallo, the MSG commentator, once sneaked in a neighbor to prove the spectacle of Toal’s speeches.

Toal equates a football game to a street fight, and in the case of both, often the toughest come out on top. His players are known, perhaps above all else, for their toughness. It’s embedded in practice, which start with stretches and then immediately fold into contact drills. Only the most durable and physical can play for Toal.

"He doesn’t care who you are, what your credentials are, where you’re from or who your daddy is," says Bell. "He’s going to put the best players on the field and they’re going to win the game."

That reputation brought Toal to Don Bosco. Talamo, the former principal, wanted to hire the best coach in New Jersey to revitalize the program. He asked every person he knew ? students, parents, even the mailman ? who the best coach in New Jersey was, and each person mentioned Greg Toal.

Eleven years later, Don Bosco’s enrollment has swelled by about 50 percent to 900 students. The school that young athletes once rarely thought of attending has become a sports powerhouse, with nationally renowned cross-country and baseball teams, too. The renaissance correlates with Toal’s tenure at the school.

"You’re talking about the ultimate competitor," Delcalzo says. "Always attacking. Ping-pong, football, boxing ? whatever you play, Greg’s playing to knock you out to win."
Favorite sport to play other than football: Ping-pong. "The last game I played was probably with (former Giants quarterback) Phil Simms. We played about 30 games. He won more than I did, but I did beat him a few times. He’s a hell of a ping-pong player."

Favorite activity with granddaughters: "Taking them for a walk, I think that’s fun. The oldest one (Kylie, 3), she’s fun to walk with. She’s a character. She’ll tell stories. She’s right at the age where she talks a whole lot. She’s pretty interesting. It’s amazing what kids pick up on and she just rambles on. I get a kick out of just listening to her."

Greatest victory of career: "That’s an easy one, actually. The De La Salle (Calif.) game two years ago, when we went out there and beat them (23-21) on their home field. It was quite a few years since they had lost a game on their home field. That kind of legitimized our program."

Favorite pro sports team: The Yankees

Toughest opponent: Bergen Catholic. "That was the first order of business when I took the Don Bosco job: to try to beat those guys. That was really the goal we set."

All-time favorite athlete: Green Bay Packers fullback Jim Taylor (1958-1966) "He’s one of the toughest guys who ever played the game. He ran tough, he ran hard. He was just a great football player. He definitely had that special toughness to him that I always admired."

RIP Guillermo Romulo, Alexander Francis Orig, Celenio Eleazar, and my Mom, Resurreccion Eleazar.

 

RIP Cesar Castello, Mike Vallo, Glenn Stampiglia, Bob Paquette, and Warren Lee

 

 

 


#212
theredmenace

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Why Notre Dame has been a failure recently (in pictures)
Upsetting Shorts: Funny, so you don't have to. SEASON 2 BEGINS! NEW EPISODE JULY 2nd!!!

Eleazar: "Tim = wise man"

#213
USreject1186

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And the new coach for USF is.......
Posted Image

Nope
Posted Image

Skip Holthzz as Lou would say.
"With women, it's always one of two things. Either they won't sleep with you, and then there's really no need to ever call them again. Or they DO sleep with you... and then there's really no need to ever call them again." -Monty(Waiting)

As a wise man once said (theredmenace) "Drunk mouths speak sober minds. And apparently, drunk hands grope slightly less drunk asses."

Mike Petke on Julian de Guzman's tackle on Angel: "I just thought it was a combination of them being frustrated and an average player putting a horrible tackle on a good player. Uncalled for."

#214
Eleazar

Eleazar

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Our two last targets were up at The Heights, took in the BC-BU hockey game, etc. 3* RB Tahj Kimble from the Jacksonville area and 3* DT Bruce Gaston from Chicago. Should both of them commit, it would top off a solid class for Coach Spaz. Outside of the New England area, this year Spaz has gotten recruits who hail from both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I suppose the legacies of Matty Ice and Brian Toal still echo in their home states.

EDIT - Kimble just committed to BC.


RIP Guillermo Romulo, Alexander Francis Orig, Celenio Eleazar, and my Mom, Resurreccion Eleazar.

 

RIP Cesar Castello, Mike Vallo, Glenn Stampiglia, Bob Paquette, and Warren Lee

 

 

 


#215
JayDelight729

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Brent... That Toal article is fantastic.

Amazing what he did with all those different BERGEN COUNTY high schools. Won state titles with each of them at different enrollment levels (Group 1, 2, 4, and Parochial).

2 Pro Players? Ryan Grant is one of them... not sure who the other player is. Might be one of the kids from Hackensack... they had some sick, sick talent back then. Nowadays, that program has fallen to pieces... real shame. Even Paramus has beaten them 3 straight years.

PS - That kid Kimble is filthy.

"Obviously, I want to make a living (in soccer), to say the least," he said. "There's so much you can accomplish in the soccer world, and right now I'm focused on having a good season with the Red Bulls. Ultimately, our goal is to win the MLS Cup, and I see no reason why we can't." - #4 Tyler Adams


#216
Eleazar

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Kimble doesn't project to be a power type runner. More of a shifty runner who makes you miss. We'll see how he does once his redshirt yr is over.

3* DT Gaston from Chicago is going to announce tonite, with Wisconsin, Purde and BC in there at the top. He plays a position that is in sore need of good players.

In addition, one of the better DBs from the NE area is getting a look. His older brother plays for the BC football team currently, and wasn't considered earlier due to his grades, but is being considered now due to improved scores. 3* DB/ATH Rodman Noel is also a little busy after finding out that his family has been affected by the goings on in Haiti. If his grades don't pass muster for BC Admissions, then he will commit to Maryland (cuz they'll take anyone :P). If his grades are up to snuff, he becomes an Eagle by the end of the week and will join his brother Jim in the defensive backfield.

RIP Guillermo Romulo, Alexander Francis Orig, Celenio Eleazar, and my Mom, Resurreccion Eleazar.

 

RIP Cesar Castello, Mike Vallo, Glenn Stampiglia, Bob Paquette, and Warren Lee

 

 

 


#217
Eleazar

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Sounds like Gaston is staying in the Midwest.

RIP Guillermo Romulo, Alexander Francis Orig, Celenio Eleazar, and my Mom, Resurreccion Eleazar.

 

RIP Cesar Castello, Mike Vallo, Glenn Stampiglia, Bob Paquette, and Warren Lee

 

 

 





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