FILE PHOTO
After a long hiatus, Jim Quinlan is back to coaching as he leads the Fenwick Crusaders.
By STEVE KRAUSE
Jim Quinlan took his lengthy coaching hiatus after the 2005 season because the words of his mentor, Chris Serino, echoed in his head.
“Christie taught me so much about coaching,” said Quinlan, who played for the late Serino while at Saugus High and later coached with him at Malden Catholic. “And Christie always said that family came first.”
Quinlan had just finished a brilliant run at Saugus High during which he led the Sachems to Division 2 state championships in 2003 and 2004, and lost to Boston Latin in double overtime in the ‘05 title game.
By then, he was ready. He’d already coached his son, Eric, who had completed a year of prep school and later played for UMass Dartmouth. His daughter, Erin, played Division 1 soccer in college, and his youngest daughter, Emma, was a college athlete too.
“I am fortunate that I was able to watch my kids play in college,” said Quinlan. “And I ended up traveling all over the country.”
But he never lost the itch for hockey. He worked with the Saugus Hockey Alumni Association, and helped implement a middle school team in the town. But by then, he’d moved to Boxford. And after talking things over with his wife, who encouraged him to return to coaching (“she said it was my passion, and that I should get back into it. And she’s right,” Quinlan says), he went for the job that opened up at Triton.
He didn’t get it, but it just whetted his appetite and when current Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci told him about an opening at Bishop Fenwick, Quinlan hustled to get his application in on time. After two interviews with athletic director Dave Woods, he got the job.
And he’s very happy to be back in the game.
“It’s going good,” said Quinlan, hours before the 3-4 Crusaders took to the ice at Connery Rink to play St. Mary’s. “I’m a whole different kind of coach than these kids have had. They’ve had three coaches in three years, and I feel bad for them in that situation.”
The Quinlan-Fenwick marriage has been a steep learning curve for both.
“It’s been a case of them learning my ways and me learning theirs,” he said. “It’s taken us a while.
“But I see it coming around,” Quinlan said. “We’ve been having good practices and I think they’re starting to buy into my ways. I could see it in their faces yesterday. They were focused. And that’s what I’m about. Focus and discipline.”
Of course, to know Quinlan is to know that he is one of the area’s elite coaches. He inherited the Saugus High program after the 1999 season from Lou Finocchiaro, who’d coached the Sachems to a state championship before he resigned (Finocchiaro is now coaching Austin Prep, a perennial Super 8 school). It didn’t take Quinlan long to bring Saugus back into hockey prominence. Saugus won back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004 and came within a few unlucky bounces of a three-peat in 2005.
“I’ve been to five state finals,” said Quinlan. “Three with Saugus as a head coach, and two as an assistant. I’ve been there, and I know how to get there. It’s a tough road. Some guys coach all their lives and never get there. I’ve been fortunate.”
Right now, he just wants his players to learn from his knowledge of the game and his experiences as a coach.
“We’re 3-4 as we speak,” he said. “It’s not bad, considering I lost nine seniors off last year’s team. One of my senior captains, Jim Moore, has been out sick. He was injured first, then he got the flu. He’s had a tough senior year.
“But,” he said, “we’re getting healthy now. Finally, maybe next week, I’ll have my full squad back … the team I picked. We haven’t had much luck.”
Quinlan is optimistic that his players are getting it.
“These kids have shown a lot of character,” said Quinlan. “That’s the biggest thing with me. What I like is that the kids ask me questions. They want to learn, and they want to get better.
“That makes me feel good,” he said. “They’re listening to me. They’re buying into what I’m saying. That’s all I can ask for. Eventually, it’s going to click.”
Quinlan is one of three old-time coaches in their second lives at Fenwick. Doug Anderson, a veteran of three decades of coaching, has taken over the girls hockey program. And Kevin Moran, who brought a Division 4 boys basketball state championship to St. Mary’s’ in 2012, is in his first year coaching the sport for the Crusaders.
“I love it,” said Quinlan. “I see Kevin sometimes and we talk about what it’s like to come back after being away. And, of course, there’s nobody like Doug.”
He is grateful for Woods for giving him the opportunity to do what he truly loves.
“I’m truly humbled to get this job,” Quinlan said. “I can’t say enough about Dave, and that’s why all I want to do is give him, and the school, 100 percent.”
Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].
