Union County is the home to many successful basketball powerhouse programs, mostly private schools that include Roselle Catholic High School, The Patrick School (Elizabeth), Union Catholic High School and St. Mary of the Assumption High School.
However, another major powerhouse basketball program in Union County, a public school, can be found on 121 West St. Georges Ave., and it starts with their head coach, Phil Colicchio.
He sat in his office in one of the trailers located in the back of Linden High School. On the inside, there are championship pictures, basketballs, trophies, old game tapes and pictures of his kids hanging on the bulletin board behind his chair.
A native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Colicchio took the time to reflect upon a successful career up to this past season of transforming Linden basketball into a powerhouse, ranked No. 2 in the state of New Jersey and being ranked high in the nation.
He’s played the game of basketball since he was three years old and began playing on teams when in elementary school, coupled with playing in later years of school and coaching, basketball has always been his passion.
He said that his parents knew that if they had to find him, if he wasn’t home in time for dinner, they’d just need to find him at the basketball courts.
“My favorite memory from my playing career, without a doubt, [was] winning the 1984 Union County Championship,” Colicchio said. “It was the first-time Elizabeth won a championship in six or seven years. It was a great feeling. Winning the Union County Championship as a senior was just indescribable.”
He finished his 20th season at the helm of the Linden Tigers boys varsity basketball team and has quite a lengthy resume, making him one of the top basketball coaches in the state of New Jersey.
According to Union News Daily, that includes nine state sectional championships (2000, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), six group state championships (2000, 2006, 2007, 2014, 2016, 2017) and three Union County Tournament Championships (2001, 2007, 2015).
However, Colicchio stressed connecting with his players and helping them as people means more to him.
“I don’t coach to try and be the top basketball coach in the state or the county,” Colicchio said. “I coached my kids and tried to get them as good in basketball, but more importantly, to become good people on and off the court.”
“It’s life-long relationships you develop with the players throughout the years with the players,” he added. “I’m not trying to say, ‘I’m the best coach in the state now.’ It’s really not that important to me. If people want to say that, great, but you’ll never hear that come out of my mouth.”
Unlike most coaches, Colicchio’s coaching career took off when he was playing in college. When his college playing career didn’t work out his freshman year, Colicchio said Ben Candelino, his high school coach, encouraged him to go into coaching and teaching. He enjoyed it and never looked back.
On Tuesday, January 7, 2014, the gym at Linden High School was named “Coach Colicchio Court” in his honor. He spoke of how great of a place it is on game days.
“What makes it such a hard place to play, is because we have some pretty good teams,” Colicchio said. “It gets sold out real quick. Our fans are really passionate, that’s where all that energy comes from. Everybody’s rallied around our basketball program.”
The 2015-16 season was a big year for Colicchio, as he was named the NJ.com Boys Basketball Coach of the Year for the second time. He looks at receiving the honor as a complete coaching effort, crediting his assistants as well, adding he’d rather it be “Team of the Year” instead.
On March 13, 2016, Linden defeated Atlantic City High School 54-45 to win the NJSIAA Group 4 State Finals, but Colicchio achieved another milestone. He collected his 400th career win as head coach.
“It was pretty cool winning a state championship and having a milestone win, 400 wins. I don’t know if it’s happened frequently, winning a milestone game and a championship, so that was cool,” Colicchio said. “I think the older I get, the more I’m really having a lot of fun with coaching.”
That year also included a matchup in the 2016 NJSIAA Tournament of Champions Final against St. Anthony’s High School and head coach Bob Hurley. The Jersey City school announced on April 5 that they are closing at the end of the year due to ongoing financial issues.
“It’s sad in a couple of ways,” Colicchio said. “A man like [Bob Hurley] who’s meant so much to New Jersey basketball and made New Jersey basketball become so much in the national picture. You like to see him go out on his own terms when he was ready to retire. I was sad for him, sad he’ll no longer be coaching in New Jersey, but frustrated with the Archdiocese not being able to keep these schools open. How can you put a price-tag on a kid’s future?”
“The saddest part is I went to Catholic school for 11 years,” Colicchio said. “Seeing all these Catholic schools closing, it’s bad. It limits options for people for where they want to send their kids. Growing up in Elizabeth, we had 16 Catholic grammar schools, there’s one now.”
With all the achievements and accomplishments that he’s led Linden to, it also comes with sacrifices, mostly being away from his family.
“My family understands. I can run home after school maybe before a game and hang out with them,” he said. “They’ve grown up with me coaching. When we won our first state championship, my son Tommy was a baby in my arms. My daughters Alyssa and Gia have grown up and watched us, so they understand that from November to March, daddy’s going to be home less. My wife has been totally supportive, she knows this is what I do for a living.”
There was one point where he contemplated giving up coaching to spend more time with his family, which his three kids told him not to do because they enjoyed going to see the games.
They beamed with excitement when talking about how proud they are of everything he’s done, not just for Linden, but helping to make other people around him better.
“He’s dedicated his life to helping the youth both on and off the court and kids see that passion,” his wife Laila said. “Kids can relate to him and view him as a father figure and someone that they can look up to and come for guidance.”
Colicchio added he feels he’s become a better parent, as well as a better basketball coach.
“He manages to juggle [family time and coaching] very well,” his son Tommy said. “I’m very proud of what he’s accomplished and the legacy he’s left on New Jersey basketball. I think the most amazing thing he has done as a coach, is change the lives of many young kids.
“It’s remarkable how many kids he’s helped move on to college, or adjust to the real world and keeping them out of trouble or off the streets,” he added. “I’m very proud of what my dad has accomplished, not only as a coach, but also as a father.”
His son Tommy played basketball and baseball in high school, while his daughters Alyssa and Gia both play field hockey.
“I really took it for granted when I was little. It was just fun going to the championship games, but now that I play high school sports, I understand how hard it is to win a state championship and realized how successful my father has been,” his daughter Alyssa said. “Winning nine state championships is difficult and I am so blessed to be able to look up to my father for his dedication to the team and hard work throughout the years.”
Overall, Colicchio says he thinks his kids got the competitive factor in playing sports from him. He also has two older brothers Mike and Tom Colicchio, the head judge on the Bravo reality TV show, “Top Chef.”
He said his group of assistant coaches, including Anthony Drejaj, Marthelly Luc, Mike Pozyc, Mike Campo and Desmond Wade are so great to work with since they are great friends and enjoy working together.
“The most important thing to me though is how [Coach Colicchio] bonds with the guys on the team,” Linden assistant coach Mike Pozyc said. “The way he gets their respect and full effort every single day is quite amazing and it is something that I will always keep with me as long as I coach.”
“Coach just gets the team to play hard and that is an approach I never looked at before coming to Linden,” Pozyc added. “I always thought having better plays or doing the best drills would get you to where you want to go.”
It’s been a great 15 years coaching together,” Linden assistant coach Marthelly Luc said. “Together, we’ve had some incredible moments, some improbable victories, and a done a lot of winning. We’ve seen a bunch of our former players use basketball as a way to get a college education and better their lives.”
“Phil always talks about how much pleasure he gets from looking in the stands at our games and seeing an entire section of the bleachers filled with former players of ours,” he added.
Over the years, Colicchio’s teams have played at Kean University, the Pine Belt Arena in Toms River, the Dunn Sports Center in Elizabeth High School and the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton. They’ve played out-of-state games over the years during the Christmas and Holiday break.
For people who want to consider becoming a head coach, Colicchio says they need to be ready to put in a lot of hours of work and sacrifice a lot of personal and family time. He also added coaching is mostly about nurturing kids and being more of a teacher and mentor to them for later in life.
“You can’t do this halfway,” Colicchio said. “If you’re going to do this and you want to be successful, it always has to be the kids and players before you. I was a freshman and junior varsity coach for ten years before I got a job being a varsity coach.”
“The way society is, nobody wants to wait. Nobody wants to put in the time,” he added. “Guys who win one year say, ‘I won, make me a head coach. I want to be a varsity coach’ and there are some coaches who aren’t even ready yet, learn how to coach, to learn how to lose, to learn what to say to a kid when he’s having problems at home, or when a kid is struggling at school. That’s all part of coaching. It’s not just the X’s and O’s you see on the court.”
