'That's a realistic goal now': Ex-CBA star Brian Lynch has St. Rose boys' basketball aiming high

They are moments that still rank among Brian Lynch’s most cherished basketball memories.

Like when current Christian Brothers Academy head coach Geoff Billet hit a three-pointer with eight seconds to play and, after a missed free throw, Greg Gaffney streaked downcourt and scored for CBA at the buzzer to beat St. Anthony back in 1995.

“I remember exactly how that play unfolded with Greg going full court, where I was, the guy from behind who had to pass it out to him.  I remember how I was standing. Everything,” Lynch said.

Fast forward to the intense early-season atmosphere in the St. Rose gym, as the Belmar native embarks on his second season as the Purple Roses’ head coach after establishing himself professionally as a player, and then a coach in Belgium, before he and his wife, International Tennis Hall of Famer Kim Clijsters, moved to the Jersey Shore from Belgium with their three children in 2020.

“Those moments when I was playing were incredible, so to be back getting involved with that kind of atmosphere, it’s extremely rewarding and fun to be a part of,” he said.

It doesn’t hurt that Lynch has one of the most talked about local teams in recent memory, with six transfers expected to catapult St. Rose in the hunt for what would be the program’s first-ever Shore Conference Tournament title. And with three of those transfers currently eligible, the No. 3 Purple Roses knocked off top-ranked Manasquan Thursday night, 56-48, in Belmar.

“From the very beginning he just seemed really excited about what he was doing,” said legendary former CBA coach Ed Wicelinski, who won 625 games and 14 Shore Conference titles, and was one of the first people Lynch reached out to after taking over. “I don’t get the sense it has anything to do with him. I get the sense that he is trying to build something and that is just a very nice thing.”

As a player, Lynch won three SCT titles in as many seasons at CBA, and was on the 1995 NJSIAA Non-Public A championship team, which remains the Colts’ last state championship.  St. Rose last won a state championship in 1977.

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The Purple Roses showed they're ahead of schedule with the win over a Manasquan team looking to win a fourth straight NJSIAA sectional title and reach the Shore Conference Tournament final for the fourth straight time. It was their first win over Manasquan in nearly 12 years.

“We are a threat now”

Lynch, who played at Villanova, and Odell Hodge, a two-time Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year at Old Dominion, played together for a professional team in Bree, Belgium between 2005 to 2008 and have been close ever since.

“He was my teammate, he was my general manager when I was a coach. My wife and I are his son Jayden’s godparents,” Lynch said. “He used to say to me, 'I think my younger one (Jayden) has something, and I think at some point I think I might want to send him to high school in the U.S. to follow in my footsteps.' Because if he’s one of the better players in Belgium, what does that mean? Let’s test the waters in America where there’s a much bigger pool. So the plan has always been for that kid to come over here. I just never thought it would be with me.”

Jayden Hodge, now a freshman guard for St. Rose, is averaging 20.3 points through his first three games, while his brother Matthew, a junior, is averaging 12.6 points.

“Once they came my whole program changed, because now you have two major players there,” Lynch said. “That’s how this whole thing started. I think once people saw how good those kids were and how invested I was in trying to help players, I think it’s just a snowball effect. When you have good players, others want to go play with those guys.”

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In addition to the Hodge brothers, sophomore Brian Ebeling is the son of Steinert High School Hall of Famer John Ebeling, who settled in Italy after several decades playing basketball overseas. And after sitting out 30 days in accordance with NJSIAA transfer rules, junior Gio Panzini (Red Bank Catholic), sophomore Evan Romano (Holmdel) and sophomore Peter Mauro (Gill St. Bernard) will join the team.

As good as the Purple Roses might end up being this season, the future looks incredibly bright.

And there are plenty of tests upcoming. In one week alone in January the Purple Roses open with the Patrick School and close with Roselle Catholic, among the top teams in the country, with a pair of division games in between, including second showdown with Manasquan.

“Nice that now we are a threat to be able to beat good teams, to be able to have a chance to go to the finals of the Shore Conference,” Lynch said. “That’s a realistic goal now, so it’s been really cool.”

More memories

That Lynch would find himself coaching just a few blocks from where he grew up, in the gym where he played countless Jersey Shore Basketball League games back in the day, was not even on the radar screen a few years ago.

“I don’t think we had a plan. I think it just slowly came upon us,” Lynch said. “Things were going well for us in Europe. I had built up a good reputation for myself as a coach and obviously Kim with her tennis and academy and everything. But my parents were getting older and it was tough for them to come visit us. Kim brought up the idea of making a change and going back to the states. She had already lost her father to cancer so she knows what it’s like to lose a parent and she was like, ‘you don’t want to be away. We should be there.’ “

After taking over from former coach Frank Carmody last season, Lynch’s first team broke the .500 mark, falling in the opening round of the state tournament to Bishop Eustace. But with their influx of talent, the Purple Roses are rising fast.

“It’s been a lot of fun. It’s definitely different than what I was doing in Europe,” he said. “In Europe it was professional coaching so your recruiting guys coming out of college to come over and play for your team or Belgians that you’re playing with. You’re dealing with agents and contracts and it’s an everyday, 365-day job.

“This is much more pure. You coach the kids and you try to help develop the kids as a player, and you become a teacher, values, what you get out of basketball. It’s actually very, very rewarding and I have really come to enjoy it very much.”

St. Rose will play at CBA on Feb. 4, in what will undoubtedly be an emotional experience for Lynch. And if his players end up having the same kind of memories and friendships he developed playing in high school, he will have succeeded.

“I try to explain this to both teams I’ve had, that your high school basketball team is special,” Lynch said. “It’s kids you become very close with. It’s not like AAU basketball. Heck, it’s not like college, because even in college it starts to get semi-professional. You’re still an amateur, in a competitive environment with your buddies, trying to achieve something that is unique for your school, and there is something beautiful about that. Because I see and old teammate like Gaff or Sean Bradley, even if I haven’t seen them in 20 years it doesn’t matter. It stays with you.”

Stephen Edelson is a USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey sports columnist who has been covering athletics in the state and at the Jersey Shore for 35 years. Contact him at: @SteveEdelsonAPP; sedelson@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ high school basketball: Brian Lynch has St. Rose on the rise