Date: Fri 19-Apr-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Kuroski-Resigns

Full Text:

Tom Kuroski Resigns

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

Tom Kuroski has had an opportunity to be a lot of different things in his

adult life - a husband and father, a teacher and administrator, and, for the

last eight years, a coach.

But what Tom most wants to be right now is a father, which is why his

eight-year career as a coach alongside coach Gregg Simon - the first four

years with Newtown Middle School and the last four with Newtown High School -

has come to an end.

Having developed a deep friendship with his co-coaching partner, Gregg, and

having developed a strong relationship with the players on the NHS girls'

basketball team, retirement wasn't a decision Tom arrived at lightly - but,

almost fittingly, it arrived in the dead of winter.

" It happened during a time when we had the late practices along with a

three-game week, " explained Tom. " I came home late after a game and my

daughter (Kyndra, 5) was still up. She called me into her room and she says to

me, `Hi Daddy, how are you doing?' She hadn't seen me in three days. She asked

me if she was going to see me tomorrow and I said, `I don't think so, I have

to leave early and I have another game tomorrow.' I was laying in bed thinking

about that - and I said, `This is crazy.' That really hit home with me. "

Although his players and their parents already knew, Tom formally said goodbye

at the girls' basketball season-ending banquet at Chuck's Steak House in

Danbury last week.

And those words of farewell closed a book on an eight-year career, covering 12

seasons of basketball, that saw Tom and Gregg amass an almost unbelievable

record of 150-56.

" When you work with someone who is a really great person, " said Gregg, " on

top of being a great coach, it makes things a lot easier. Tom did whatever it

took to try and make the team successful.

The Partnership

The partnership began about 10 years ago, with Gregg a brand new member of the

Newtown Middle School faculty and Tom only slightly less so new - having

already been there for a couple years.

The partnership started in the middle school's intramural program and it moved

to the actual Gym `A' basketball floor when Ray Shupenis retired from his

positions as coach of the boys' and girls' basketball programs.

" We figured, hey, what the heck, " said Tom. " we'd been working together in

the intramural program together and we figured let's try doing the basketball

teams together. "

That was eight years ago.

The Lions finished 6-9 that first year under the Kuroski/Simon umbrella of

coach-ship, while the Lady Lions boasted the first of four consecutive winning

seasons at 8-3.

But right after that first season, it seemed as if the Kuroski/Simon umbrella

was going to be put back into the rack by the front door. The Board of

Education cut middle school basketball out of the budget and it seemed as if

the Lions were going to be caged.

But lots of fundraisers put the teams back on the court for the following

season and as if it were written for a movie starring Gene Hackman, the boys

finished 15-1 and the girls answered at 11-1.

" The neat thing was, " said Tom, " it was a great thing to happen after we

almost didn't have the program. And to think about what would have not

happened had we not raised that money, that season might never have taken

place. "

Perhaps the most magical point of the whole season was at the end, in the

final fundraiser. The middle school players pitted themselves against a team

made up of parents and the unusually competitive game came down to the buzzer,

with Ryan Manurer draining a half-court miracle shot at the buzzer to hand the

victory to the Lions.

The boys slipped a bit the following year, dropping to 7-9, but the girls got

even better, winning 15-of-17 and capturing the Chalk Hill Tournament

championship with the leadership of players like Melissa Eigen and Katie

Lyddy, two players on Newtown High School's all-time top 10 scoring list.

The boys returned in the fourth year of the Kuroski/Simon tenure to post a

13-2 record and their own Chalk Hill Tournament championship. The girls had an

identical record, 13-2, but no Chalk Hill title.

Word filtered down to the two coaches that Owen Gallagher was leaving his

position as coach of the Newtown High School girls' basketball team. Kuroski

and Simon applied and their impressive resume was more than enough to fit them

into the vacant slot.

The only bugaboo was the scheduling. The middle school faculty don't leaving

the building until at least 3:30 pm. At that time, the high school has already

been out for 90 minutes.

" That was really one of the reasons why it became so difficult, " said Tom, "

at least for me, because our evening practices wouldn't get over until seven

or later. It wouldn't be unusual for me, during a week of late practices, to

never see my children. It turned out to be a very wearing situation. "

Tom and his wife, Lisabeth, have three children - Shane (7), Kyndra (5), and

Skylar (one month). Shane came along during Tom's second year of coaching and,

oddly enough, they have been popping up during basketball season ever since.

" Basketball season always came when they were turning one year old and they

were doing things for the first time that I wasn't always around to see, "

said Tom, who missed the first steps of his son, Shane, because he was at a

basketball game. " With my new child, I knew I didn't want this to happen

again. I wanted to be there when he takes his first step, says his first word,

or throws his first pile of food across the food. Whatever. "

Shane, who is a red belt in karate and could be wearing black by the time he

is nine, is ready to hitting the ballfields and the basketball courts and Tom

wanted to be there for that, more than anything.

" I remember something that Dave Strong said, " Tom recalled. " It was a quote

in an article. He said, when he stops coaching he wants to be remembered,

first, as a good teacher and then a good coach. I thought about that and I

think I'd like to be remembered as a parent whose job it is to teach . . . who

also coaches. That's my most important job on this planet, to be there for my

kids.

" In a way, " he added, " coaching is almost a selfish thing. You like to do

it so much and you enjoy doing it, it's not a job. You get a lot of

satisfaction working with kids, watching them grow as players and individuals.

"

In The Coaches' Box

Theirs is a symbiotic relationship, with each man feeding off of each other's

ideas. Even though it seems like Gregg is the head of the varsity team and it

seems like Tom is the head if the junior varsity team, that was more for ease

and convention than any real separation of responsibilities.

" We decided that we would both have equal input into the decisions that were

made for both teams, " said Tom. " There were times when a decision had to be

made quickly and I would make one, or Gregg would make one, and because it was

a spur of a moment thing sometimes, we would support each other. "

At the middle school, there was no definable division of power. Both handled

the boys' and girls' teams equally. But as they rose to the high school, it

became easier for them and easier for the players that their coaching statuses

become less confusing.

" The situation evolved the way it is, " Gregg said, " because a couple years

ago the jayvee people thought the coaching staff was thinking more of the

varsity. Jayvee complained. Tom took charge at practice, taking the jayvee

aside and working with them more. "

In their first year at the high school - the first year the Lady Indians took

to the floor without Lynn Lattanzio - the tandem offered up a record of 12-10.

The following year, with Sarah Wasko and Micaela Hurley as seniors, the Lady

Indians came up with their best record ever at 17-5. Although they slipped a

bit last year, Katie Lyddy's senior year, the Lady Indians finished 15-7.

And this year, Tom's final year, the Lady Indians came as close to a

conference championship as they have in seven years, falling one game and 21

points short.

But the 18-6 record put Tom and Gregg's career coaching mark at 150-56.

And not only that, Tom has had the pleasure of coaching five of the girls

presently residing on the Newtown High School all-time top 10 scoring chart .

. . and one girl who will be on that chart sometime next year.

" Just remembering the individuals I worked with means more than any of the

victories, " Tom said. " I didn't get into for victories. The victories are

nice, but I got into it because I love working with kids who love to play

basketball. I'm proud of the record, but I hope the impact I had on the kid's

lives weighs more heavily in their minds than the number of victories they

had. "

He also will remember the time he spent on the hardwood with his friend and

coaching counterpart, all the times they car pooled from home and spent the

thirty-minute drive to school brainstorming, the Chalk Hill Tournament

championships, and that victory over a previously-undefeated Joel Barlow team

two years ago in Redding.

" It was always an honest give and take between the two of us, " said Gregg. "

It was easy to say what we thought. That developed over a long period of time

working together. "

All of that is over and Gregg will be returning to the court in seven months

wrestling with a fair bit of uncertainty.

" I'm worried on a lot of different levels, " he said. " I'm losing two

all-area guards and they were a bit part of the program and why it has had

success. At the same time, I'm losing my counterpart, one half of the coaching

team that has done all of this for the last eight years. I'm concerned about

keeping the program up to the same level. "

But Tom is confident in his friend.

" I was extremely lucky to be working with Gregg, " said Tom. " He has been

such an excellent partner and friend. We're best friends and we talk to each

other a lot. We both love sports and we both love to compete. We're both

intense in our own ways. We gave the kids a different perspective on things

and we gave them an opportunity to go to wherever they felt most comfortable.

" And, " he added, " I'm going to miss it. "