Braves coaching staff has Staten Island connection

TIM MORRIS Manalapan head football coach Tom Gallahue is flanked by his assistant coaches Ed Gurrieri (l) and Joe Tetly (r). The trio share a coaching bond that began in Staten Island.

BY TIM MORRIS

Staff Writer The Outerbridge Crossing has been more than a bridge connecting Staten Island with New Jersey.

Like the 6 degrees of separation, you can trace the roots of area football coaches there. Staten Island, it turns out, has been the cradle for Freehold District gridiron coaches, especially at Manalapan High School.

The Braves staff, headed by Tom Gallahue, earned its football and coaching stripes there.

The Manalapan connection all began 10 years when Ed Gurrieri first moved to Manalapan and joined then head coach Steve Bush's staff. Gurrieri was a standout running back at Wagner High School in Staten Island and returned there to coach after his college playing days at Wagner College.

The first to join him at Manalapan was Steve Vella in 2000. He had coached Vella at Wagner High School.

"Steve was a student of the game," recalled Gurrieri.

Next up, was Gurrieri's high school coach, Joe Tetley, who came on board in 2001.

Tetley, who counts 35 consecutive years coaching at the high school or college level, was ready to kick back and retire when he got the phone call from Gurrieri. The idea was for him to be a consultant, come in once or twice a week, and share his knowledge and opinions with the staff. But all along, Gurrieri had another motive.

"I knew if I was able to get him in the door, we'd have him," he said.

When a paying assistant coach position opened, Tetley was on board.

Tetley had an inkling of what was going to happen when Gurrieri phoned him. He told his wife, "See you in December."

For Tetley, this is heaven - what coaching is all about.

"I love the game and the way it's played," he explained. "The game gave me a chance to reconnect with Eddie."

Gurrieri credits his high school coach for leading him on the path to coaching.

"I was heavily influenced by Coach Tetley," said Gurrieri. "He gave a lot to the program with the values he instilled."

Tetley's football pedigree is very impressive. In high school, he played on an undefeated New Dorp team, a legendary squad on Staten Island, and in college he had the fortune of being a member of the undefeated 1967 Wagner College team that was led by Rich Kotite. Wagner will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of that perfect season during the 2007 campaign.

Tetley, who turned Wagner High School football into a powerhouse program that others wanted to emulate, said that he always knew that Gurrieri would make a fine coach.

"He was so tough," he said of Gurrieri. "He was always a mature guy."

After getting Tetley on the staff, next would be Gallahue, who played football at Tottenville and was a couple of years behind Gurrieri in high school.

Like Gurrieri, he returned to his alma mater following college to coach. The Gurrieris and Gallahues were family friends for years, Gallahue noted, and they all knew each other.

It was when Gallahue was coaching Tottenville that Gurrieri discovered a work ethic that didn't escape him.

"When he was a young coach at Tottenville, he was always eager to learn," Gurrieri pointed out. "I invited him to our practice and he came to them and took notes. He was a fast learner. He was an impressive coach."

Gurrieri had his eye on adding Gallahue to his staff from the start. Gallahue, who had moved to Brick in 1992 and was coaching in the Shore Conference, was finally able to hook up with the Braves three years ago and was Gurrieri's offensive coordinator the last two years.

When Gurrieri stepped down as the Braves' head coach after last season to remove the conflict between running his own business and the demands of running a scholastic program, Gallahue was his natural replacement.

Gurrieri stayed on as the defensive coordinator, the same position he held before he replaced Tom Tarver as the program's head coach.

There was a Tetley connection with Gallahue as well. Tetley coached Gallahue in an all-star game following his senior year at Tottenville.

According to Gallahue, the three of them share the same dedication to the sport and the young men who play for them.

"What the three of us have in common is that we all love football and kids," said Gallahue.

"We want to do something for them, give something back.

"We all had great high school experiences," he added. "There are so many more distractions for kids these days, they need someone who will look out for them."

Gallahue noted that with 21 years of coaching experience, he is the low man on the totem pole when it comes to his valued assistants.

Tetley, Gurrieri and Gallahue all agreed that the time they were playing in Staten Island was kind of a Golden Age. The borough was much like a New Jersey, a suburb with just four public schools and one parochial school.

"Staten Island sports was so good when we were young, it produced a lot of coaches," he said.

"Everyone was either a cop, fireman or a coach."

Gurrieri followed that mold. He moved to Manalapan after retiring from the police department.

Gallahue, who followed Gurrieri's football career while he was playing for Tottenville noted that sports were very important

"Sports in general were a very big part of our lives," he said. "Staten Island football was extremely good.

"I was lucky to have coached a lot of good players," he added.

The Staten Island coaching tree does not end in Manalapan. Freehold Township's

head coach Dominick Lepore

is a graduate of Tottenville,

where he was coached by Gallahue.

The two have remained close, Gallahue remarked.

"Dom was a player you

knew was going to be a coach,"

said Gallahue. "He was a hardworking

high school football

player."

With the scholastic football season just around the corner, Gallahue and Tetley are focused on keeping Manalapan football in the spotlight.

The Braves have made the state playoffs in four of the last five years and they want that tradition to continue in 2007.

If Gallahue turns out to be the successful coach he believes he's going to be, Gurrieri said tongue-and-cheek, that he should get the credit.

"I put these two guys in," he said of Gallahue and Tetley.