C girls basketball coach Kathy Matthews is honored with a banner to commemorate 700 wins
What a day it was for Union Catholic coach
Kathy Matthews.
With many of her former players on hand for Union Catholic's Basketball Alumni Reunion Day on Saturday at UC, the legendary coach was honored with a special banner to commemorate her 700th victory, and following the ceremony her current girls varsity team rolled to a 47-19 victory over Hillside as the Vikings won its fourth straight game to improve to 7-2. Freshman
Madison Johnson led UC with 16 points.
Right before the start of the girls varsity game, Matthews pulled the cover off the banner as the large crowd gave her a big ovation.
Matthews, now in her 42nd season as head coach of the Vikings, has built a remarkable resume during her career at UC.
Led by Matthews, Union Catholic has captured 11 Conference titles, 8 Union County Championships, 5 state sectional titles, 3 state championships, and on February 22 of last year, she put her name right alongside some of the greatest coaches in state history when the Vikings defeated South Plainfield 49-28 for her 700th victory. Matthews is one of only four girls basketball coaches in N.J. history to rack up 700 victories. Matthews now has 708 victories.
It meant a lot to the very humble Matthews to have so many of her former players in attendance to witness the unveiling of the banner and share this special moment with her.
"A lot of people are responsible for this,'' Matthews said of her 700 plus wins. "When you talk about all the players who played for me, all of my coaches, they are all important to what this day is because they were able to get us to this point. I just think this is a great tribute to the program. I've always been about the program, and not any individual being bigger than the program. My coaching staff through the years, and the administration here at Union Catholic are all responsible for getting to this point.''
Among the former players who were there were UC Hall of Famer Cheryl Cop Hart, Ms. Karen Piasecki (Class of 1988), and Mitzi LaFarga (Class of 1999), who all played on state championships teams at UC.
Cop wasn't just one of the best players in UC history but she's regarded as one of the best to ever play in New Jersey. Cop, who graduated in 1989, was a member of three state championship teams under Matthews. She then went on to star at Rutgers.
Ms. Piasecki, currently an Associate Principal at Union Catholic, not only played on numerous state and county championship teams under Coach Matthews, but she's served as an assistant with Matthews since 1992.
LaFarga is part of a unique mother-daughter combination coached by Matthews. Senior Izzy DiDiario, LaFarga's daughter, is a star guard on the current UC squad.
Hart once said that a love for the game is why Coach Matthews has racked up so many victories..
"All I can say is wow,'' Hart said when Matthews won her 700th game. " I really don't think these coaches set a goal for 700 wins. You have to have a love for the game, a love for the players, and above all it has to be fun. During some of the toughest tournament games it was fun for me. I recall back in 1986, Coach Matthews had her 200th win. At the time we had a sweatshirt made up for her with a saying "200 licks in 86". Fast forward all these years later, and add 500 more win!''
Hart had a special message for Coach Matthews after she won No. 700.
"I just want to say thank you to Coach Matthews on behalf of all the players, family members and fans for her continued success,'' said Hart. "She took the time to help me out as well to improve my game through the years, and got ready myself for college after high school. She inspired me to play at the Division I level. Coach Matthews was always consistent and had well planned and thought out strategy for each game and each situation,'' said Mrs. Hart. "As players going through her basketball program, we always knew what to expect. Coach Matthews knew the strengths, weaknesses and abilities of her teams and how to maximize it. She would put out scouting reports on the teams we played. We were always prepared. She set goals for each of us as well as team goals and we had it in our minds that we could win the state championship each and every year. She coached the players to be coaches themselves on the floor. As players, we knew what to do.''
