Sarluca replaces Gerlufsen at Brick Memorial
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer

Many young assistants who get their first varsity basketball head coaching job often take over a program that has been struggling.

But young Ed Sarluca, one of the youngest head coaches in the state at 31 years of age, succeeds Ron Gerlufsen at Brick Memorial after it enjoyed its greatest season ever. Gerlufsen resigned to take the position of assistant principal at Brick Memorial.

"I'm very excited; I'm honored they gave me the chance and showed the confidence in me as a head coach," said Sarluca, who played for Brick Memorial under the original coach, Tom Pickering. "It's not easy hiring a young guy with no head coaching experience."

But Sarluca has been in the wings for seven years as an assistant coach and was one of the finalists for the job for the township's Board of Education when it made its decision last Thursday with another former assistant - Jason Bloom, who also is coaching the school's girls tennis team these days.

"We're very excited. It was a very tough choice between him and the other assistant," said athletic director Bill Bruno. "We were looking for a coach to continue the winning trend here. And Ed brings a dynamic spirit. He's very organized, a very strict disciplinarian who has a hands-on approach to the program."

Sarluca, who will continue as a physical education instructor at Veterans Memorial Middle School, is also currently the assistant football coach at Brick Memorial and is the lone assistant for the school's girls softball team under head coach Vin Dallicardillo.

Because the football team is in the throes of the current season, Sarluca is not thinking or deciding these days what his future will be as an assistant, but said he discussed with Dallicardillo the idea that he might not return for softball this spring.

"There's a possibility I'll step down in softball," said Sarluca.

His one benefit is that the football team has a bye week this week, which gives him a little more time to examine his new position.

Sarluca broke in as an assistant under Evan Fenchel, who left after two seasons and is coaching at Manasquan these days, and then Gerlufsen took over the program.

Gerlufsen has had success on the high school level, as well as on the college level, including NCAA Division I University of Massachusetts, as well as Division II and Division III programs down South.

"He's done an amazing job building the program and took the Brick Memorial program to the next level," said Sarluca of Gerlufsen, the Shore Conference Coach of the Year who coached the Mustangs to their first NJSIAA Group IV section championship game, back-to-back Shore Conference A South titles and its first WOBM Classic championship in Toms River in a school record 22-win season.

The school also must find a successor to Gerlufsen in boys tennis, where he coached the team to perennial NJSIAA and Shore Conference berths.

"In the winter, it was always Brick Memorial wrestling and no thought of anything else, and Ron Gerlufsen turned it around," said Sarluca. "Hopefully, I'll keep that success going to keep the community involved and having more than just great basketball players. But we'll keep that great relationship with wrestling that we've had."

Sarluca said he plans to meet with the senior players this week and no decisions have been made for the staff, although he said he hopes Evan Rizitello and Dave Shilanskas, who coached the freshman team, remain aboard, and will have a discussion with Bloom as well. Sarluca coached the junior varsity last season.

"I'll try to have the same philosophy and will try to add a few of my own ingredients, but I'd be a fool to change a system that took four to five years to implement and has produced winners," said Sarluca, who said he knows many of the returning players actively participated in an off-season program and will play in the Rebound Fall League in Neptune that started on Monday.

Four integral players from last year's team graduated: James Cherrick, Jay Frank, Mike LePore and Keith Farr. Frank is playing at The College of New Jersey. LePore is at the University of New Hampshire on a football financial package. Cherrick is at Ocean County Community College.

"There are a lot of good seniors I've followed from the middle school who have been together for a long time," said Sarluca, referring to Colin Przybylowski, Mike McGowan, Anthony Isidro and Nick Cittadino. Przybylowski, a point guard with a deadly long-range shooting touch and great savvy with the ball, suffered a stress fracture early in the season last December after a great start and did not return until the end of the season. He currently is playing on Brick Memorial's soccer team for the first time.

Andrew Picatagi, a 6-foot-5 junior, is the top returning post player who had some strong efforts, especially late in the season. Sophomores Kyle Cherrick and Christian Lagnese excelled on the freshman team that had more than 20 victories.

"I've learned so much from different people in different sports I coached, and hopefully I've come away with things these guys have taught me," said Sarluca. "There's no better situation I could've been in working under someone with Ron's experience. He's been involved with basketball his entire life. You just can't put it into words.

"There's also my father [also named Ed], the first one to coach baseball at Toms River East who also coached [football] for eight years with Jim Calabro," said Sarluca. "I've learned so much from him."

Gerlufsen emphasized many fundamentals, particularly taking care of the ball by checking the assist-to-turnover ratio after games and the defense because his teams usually were outsized.

"He'll make the players the best they can be," said Gerlufsen of Sarluca. "I think we had successful teams because of a lot of things, including excellent assistant coaches like Ed, who was teaching them things on the jayvee level that led them to the varsity level.

"He knows the kids and has worked well with them," said Gerlufsen. "He knew them as younger players. Every time there's a new coach, there are things he would like to do differently and interject that into his approach."

And Sarluca realizes how tough the Shore Conference A South is every year.

"In the Shore Conference [A South], just about every team is just as good if not better, than last year," said Sarluca.

That poses quite a challenge for the new coach.

"I'll add my own style and bring my own young energy and motivation to the game," said Sarluca, whose team starts practice the first Friday after Thanksgiving and opens a month later against Toms River East. "The main thing, I'll make sure nobody outplays Brick Memorial."