FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com FEBRUARY 11, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 47 sports Cardozo’s coach keeps developing winners There have been countless stories of superstar players that failed as coaches for one glaring reason: They expected their players to match their superstar greatness. Cardozo High School boys basketball coach Ron Naclerio was told he would face a different challenge. Could he handle coaching players that didn’t have his work ethic? “That was the fi rst thing my high school coach, Al Matican, told me when I said I wanted to go into coaching,” Naclerio said. “He said, ‘You can be a great coach because of your knowledge of the game, but it’s going to drive you crazy coaching kids that don’t have the same hustle, desire, intensity and work ethic as you.’ “I said, ‘Al, I’m a little crazy to begin with,’” Naclerio added. “He said, ‘I know.’” Crazy like a rabid fox, that Naclerio. Naclerio became the winningest coach in PSAL history on Dec. 1 when he led the Judges to an 88-72 win over Francis Lewis. It was his 723rd victory, surpassing former Campus Magnet coach Chuck Granby, who won 722 games in 45 seasons. “When it fi rst happened I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” Naclerio said. “But since then I’ve gotten so many calls, letters, emails, texts. People have come up to me — the other night I was at the Nets game and some of the Denver Nuggets players came over to congratulate me. “Someone behind me said, ‘Who’s that guy?’” Naclerio added. “Another guy said, ‘You don’t know Naclerio? You don’t know New York City high school basketball.’ I was like, ‘Wow!’” Wow, indeed. In his 35th season, Naclerio has won two PSAL city titles and coached four players at Cardozo that went to the NBA. That doesn’t include the players he coached in summer leagues and basketball camps that also made it to the NBA. “When I was 21, 22 years old, all I cared about was winning,” said Naclerio, who was 1-21 in his fi rst season. “I was 21. I didn’t understand anything. It’s like a 16-year-old kid thinking he’s going to play Division I basketball. Ninety-nine percent of kids don’t get to play Division I. It doesn’t mean they can’t play. They just don’t understand. “Then in 1988, I got a letter from Duane Causwell. I still have it. He said when he came to Cardozo he couldn’t play. He was scared to take the court. He became a fi rst-round draft choice. And he told me I changed his life. That was the day I began to understand what coaching was really about.” Ask Naclerio what his record is and he does the math in seconds. “Let’s see, we’re 22-2,” he says, thinking out loud. “I had 721 so that’s 743 wins; 743 wins and exactly 200 losses.” Ask him how many lives he thinks he affected in a positive way and he couldn’t possibly tell you. “All I know is, if you look in the top drawer of my desk, you’ll fi nd 13-, 14-hundred pages of notes on drills, plays, situations,” Naclerio said. “Former St. John’s and NBA star Mark Jackson told me I should write a book. Maybe one day. “But there’s another drawer with letters and notes from kids. That’s the drawer that matters.” NOTES: If you have an interesting story idea about a player, coach or team in Brooklyn or Queens, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks and have a great day. differ- ROBBINS’ NEST by Lenn Robbins BWG girls go undefeated to win Rockland County Indoor Tournament The Blau Weiss Gottschee (BWG) girls U14 soccer team won the Rockland County Indoor Tournament on Feb. 6, going undefeated in round-robin play (4-1-0).
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