MARBLEHEAD — It didn’t take Marblehead golf coach Bob Green long to accomplish what he set out to reach in his first season guiding the Magicians. The Magicians went 10-4-1 during the regular season and qualified for the Division 2 North sectionals. Wednesday evening, Green added another accolade to his list when he was named Northeastern Conference Coach of the Year.
“I was surprised,” Green said. “It’s my first year doing this. I have all the respect in the world for the coaches in the NEC. I’ve gotten to know them a lot better than I had in the past. The coaches in the NEC are terrific people and they do a tremendous job with their teams. To be singled out is a tremendous honor.
“It’s not why we do this. It’s always good to do this but the motivation isn’t to be coach of the year,” Green added. “You want your team to be the team of the year. To have the NEC coaches think I’m the coach of the year is a nice accolade.”
Green deflected the credit to his players. He said winning the award and receiving recognition wouldn’t have been possible without the team’s effort during the season.
“It’s the team that does it,” Green said. “If I’m coach of the year it’s because of the team. We had fun. I think we had a very successful season. I think the kids would agree it’s been a terrific season.
“My first objective was for the kids to have fun,” Green added. “I think we accomplished that. It was a tremendous group of young men. We keep 10 guys on the roster, seven of them are seniors. They get along great, they have fun with each other, they laugh with each other. It’s a great group. We had great senior leadership.”
Marblehead’s 10-4-1 finish included a number of highlights. The Magicians competed well with the top teams in the NEC, including a victory over Gloucester and a tie with Swampscott. Marblehead also kept pace with Danvers- which finished first in the Division 2 North sectional Tuesday.
“All you hope for is that the team comes together,” Green said. “They became closer as the season went along. To win 10 matches, we had some highlights. We beat Gloucester by a shot. We tied Swampscott. Swampscott had a very good team. Then, close to being the absolute highlight of the year was coming to within a point of beating Danvers at Ferncroft. It shows the senior leadership and the type of kids we had.”
Marblehead’s season ended at the Division 2 North sectional, where the Magicians finished 14th overall. Despite falling short of advancing to the state final, Green said he was proud of his team for what it accomplished.
“We didn’t play as well as I know we’re capable of playing,” Green said. “Brendan Locke was co-champion in the NEC Open with (Swampscott’s) Max Pegnato. He had a tough day, as did Ben Brennan. Will Cleary shot an 85, he played well. The rest of the kids struggled. I told them it was icing in the cake. We had a good year and went to the postseason. Nothing we did (in the sectional) could possibly detract from the terrific season we had.”
