Stars tab former Steinert player and Hamilton coach Maher as...

Oct. 23, 2014 Baseball
Stars tab former Steinert player and Hamilton coach Maher as new coach
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Oct. 23: Jim Maher has been away from coaching high
school baseball, but he was never away from coaching.
And now, the man who has won 349 varsity high school
games and a state championship, is back in the high
school arena after being approved as the new
Nottingham baseball coach by the Hamilton Township
school board Wednesday night.
After watching his son Matt play college baseball and
daughter Shannon play college soccer in recent years,
Maher calls the opportunity “exciting.”
“I’ve had the opportunity to watch both my kids play in
college and I got to coach in college myself,” said Maher,
a homegrown product who pitched for the 1978 Steinert
state championship team and who took a lot of shots for
rec league basketball power Barton & Cooney. “It’s time.
My kids are done. It’s time to devote myself to hopefully
getting this thing turned around.”
Jim Maher is shown during his days at Rider, where
he learned a few things under Broncs coach Barry
In hiring Maher to replace Mike Braender, Nottingham
Davis (photo from www.gobroncs.com).
brings in a proven winner. In 19 seasons at Florence and
Hamilton West (the last 10 at West), Maher won 349 games, reached eight sectional finals, won five
Colonial Valley Conference division titles, two Central Jersey Group III championships and led the
Hornets to the 2000 NJSIAA Group III crown.
After parting ways with West 10 years ago, Maher coached Babe Ruth for three years and led
Nottingham’s 13, 14 and 15 year old teams to the World Series from 2006-08. In 2009 Maher coached
at Rider and spent a valuable year working with Broncs coach Barry Davis.
It was back to Babe Ruth for a year in 2010, and for the past three summers Maher coached the
Trenton Generals of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. Trenton won the ACBL title this past
summer.
Maher, whose mom was a former bowling great at Hamilton Lanes, takes over a Northstars team that
went 5-14 and graduated 11 players. He has been out of the high school loop and admits he hasn’t
seen many Nottingham games so he cannot honestly assess the situation at the moment. His biggest
goal is to prevent players from transferring to prep and parochial schools.
While Maher’s arrival is praised by many due to his winning background, he also has his share of
critics who say he is too hard on players.
His answer to them?
“I think a lot of things get greatly exaggerated,” Maher said. “Am I demanding? Absolutely I’m
demanding. But I have a great relationship with a lot of my players. Some of my best friends are kids
who played for me, and they’re the guys I was toughest on.
“I’m in it for the kids. I always have been. I’ve helped a lot of kids get into college, I’ve gone to a lot of
weddings of my former players. Whether you’re tough or soft you’re never gonna make everybody
happy. If you’re too hard, guys complain you’re being too tough. If you’re too tough, they’re saying
you’re letting the kids get away with murder.
“I’m very demanding and there is a certain way you do things. I’m older. I still want to win. I still have
desire, still have energy. I will demand that ‘When you kids get there, you work hard all the time until
you leave. You represent your school and your team with pride.’”
Maher said he may have mellowed a bit after 10 years, and claimed that Davis helped in that respect.
“Being around Barry Davis had a big influence,” Maher said. “Barry had the same reputation I had
years ago for being a tough coach. I saw how Barry handled some things on game day. He was
maybe a little tougher in practices, just kind of backing off on game day a little bit.
“I think he was a big influence, he was very similar to me personality wise. He was a lot more reserved
game day than I ever was. I think being around him had a big impact.”
Maher’s staff is nearly in place. Mike Petrowski, a Nottingham teacher, will take over as pitching coach
after serving in that role for Hamilton West in recent years. Rob Nosari is still with the staff, Tom Carr
will likely come on as a volunteer assistant and Maher is in the process of talking with current staff
member Charlie Iacono about staying.
In re-uniting with Carr, it brings back memories of when “Scooter” Brettell inadvertently locked Maher
in a port-a-john when he played for him at West, and the lock broke. Carr and then-assistant John
Costantino was crying from laughing, rather than trying to help.
“Yeah, we gotta keep Scooter away this year,” Maher said with a laugh. “He’s an administrator now
anyway. He can’t do that anymore.”
Provided Maher doesn’t get locked into any more bathrooms, his goal is simple.
“My goal is, I won a state championship as a player at Steinert and as a coach at West,” Maher said,
“and now I’m going for the hat trick.”
Whether he gets it or not remains to be seen.
One thing, however, is certain. It’s going to be interesting.
Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores