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Ford tabs Toro, 21, as girls' varsity basketball coach
By Marc Raimondi June 24, 2009
Bishop Ford hired Mike Toro, formerly the school’s assistant and junior varsity girls’ basketball coach, as its head varsity girls’ hoops coach Wednesday, Ford girls’ athletic director Eileen Egan confirmed with FiveBoroSports.com.
Toro, 21, will be the youngest coach in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens league and one of the youngest ever in New York City girls’ high-school basketball. He will replace the retired John LoSasso, who had been varsity coach for one year and with the Falcons for seven years, effective Thursday.
“It feels crazy how quick everything has been happening,” said Toro, who started at Ford as LoSasso’s assistant JV coach for the 2007-08 season. “When you’re 21 years old, you don’t expect to be coaching one of the best programs in Brooklyn.”
Egan said Toro interviewed Monday and she, chief of athletics John Infortunio and boys’ athletic director Pete Goyco were impressed with Toro’s presentation. Toro said it included a basis in academics and a five-year plan with where he expects to program to be.
“The interview went very well,” Egan said. “I was very impressed.”
Toro, who also coaches with the Exodus AAU program, said he wants Bishop Ford to be held in the same regard as St. Michael Academy, this past year’s New York State Federation Class AA champion, and Christ the King, one of the most storied programs in the history of high-school girls’ basketball.
“I honestly think we have the kids now that can get us to that level,” Toro said.
The Brooklyn native was a senior at Secondary School for Law, Journalism and Research and was getting ready to play for the 2005-06 season when he tore his ACL in gym class. While injured, he became girls’ coach Courtney Golub’s assistant and he stayed in that role at SSLJR until Ford hired him two seasons ago.
This past season with the Falcons, Toro guided his JV team to the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens championship, where it lost at the buzzer to Christ the King. The Ford varsity squad made it all the way to the CHSAA Class A state championship game, but fell to Kellenberg, one game short of going to Glens Falls for the state Federation championship. He thinks his girls will be motivated because of those two tough losses.
“They got that bad taste in their mouths from losing to Kellenberg,” Toro said. “The main girls from JV have that bad taste in their mouths from Christ the King.”
Egan said Toro’s age wasn’t a major issue in his hiring. Sources told FiveBoroSports.com that Eileen Herr, another one of LoSasso’s assistants this season, was the other in-house candidate for the job. Ford never looked outside the school.
“We talked about [age] with him, but I felt that it wasn’t a point that we had to worry about,” Egan said.
She added that she and the other Ford administrators are happy with how Toro represents the school and how he motivates and gains respect from his players.
Toro said that, although he’s young, he has experience under his belt from his years at SSLJR and on the AAU circuit with Exodus.
“I honestly think that’s just a number,” he said. “I don’t think you gotta be a certain age to be good at what you do.”
mraimondi@fiveborosports.com
Toro, 21, will be the youngest coach in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens league and one of the youngest ever in New York City girls’ high-school basketball. He will replace the retired John LoSasso, who had been varsity coach for one year and with the Falcons for seven years, effective Thursday.
“It feels crazy how quick everything has been happening,” said Toro, who started at Ford as LoSasso’s assistant JV coach for the 2007-08 season. “When you’re 21 years old, you don’t expect to be coaching one of the best programs in Brooklyn.”
Egan said Toro interviewed Monday and she, chief of athletics John Infortunio and boys’ athletic director Pete Goyco were impressed with Toro’s presentation. Toro said it included a basis in academics and a five-year plan with where he expects to program to be.
“The interview went very well,” Egan said. “I was very impressed.”
Toro, who also coaches with the Exodus AAU program, said he wants Bishop Ford to be held in the same regard as St. Michael Academy, this past year’s New York State Federation Class AA champion, and Christ the King, one of the most storied programs in the history of high-school girls’ basketball.
“I honestly think we have the kids now that can get us to that level,” Toro said.
The Brooklyn native was a senior at Secondary School for Law, Journalism and Research and was getting ready to play for the 2005-06 season when he tore his ACL in gym class. While injured, he became girls’ coach Courtney Golub’s assistant and he stayed in that role at SSLJR until Ford hired him two seasons ago.
This past season with the Falcons, Toro guided his JV team to the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens championship, where it lost at the buzzer to Christ the King. The Ford varsity squad made it all the way to the CHSAA Class A state championship game, but fell to Kellenberg, one game short of going to Glens Falls for the state Federation championship. He thinks his girls will be motivated because of those two tough losses.
“They got that bad taste in their mouths from losing to Kellenberg,” Toro said. “The main girls from JV have that bad taste in their mouths from Christ the King.”
Egan said Toro’s age wasn’t a major issue in his hiring. Sources told FiveBoroSports.com that Eileen Herr, another one of LoSasso’s assistants this season, was the other in-house candidate for the job. Ford never looked outside the school.
“We talked about [age] with him, but I felt that it wasn’t a point that we had to worry about,” Egan said.
She added that she and the other Ford administrators are happy with how Toro represents the school and how he motivates and gains respect from his players.
Toro said that, although he’s young, he has experience under his belt from his years at SSLJR and on the AAU circuit with Exodus.
“I honestly think that’s just a number,” he said. “I don’t think you gotta be a certain age to be good at what you do.”
mraimondi@fiveborosports.com