ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
St. Mary’s football coaches, from left, Matt Durgin, Derek Dana, Joe Masucci, Brian Mulvey, Tom Donahue and Sean Donahue have been working together for many years.
By MIKE ALONGI
LYNN — Big-time football coaches are generally judged on wins and losses while high school coaches tend to be evaluated more on how they run their programs.
St. Mary’s football coach Matt Durgin grades out higher than most in both categories.
Durgin is now in his 20th season as a high school coach and his 8-0 Spartans are the No. 1 seeds in Division 3A North and No. 20 overall in the state, according to the Boston Globe rankings.
But Durgin’s personal numbers are even more impressive. A dominant 52-8 win over Winthrop in the Division 3A playoff opener last week marked the 152nd win of a coaching career that has taken him from Lynn Classical (1997-2003) to Malden Catholic (2004) and then back to Classical (2005-2007) before coming to St. Mary’s in 2008.
“My first year at Classical, we were 1-10 and I thought we were going to get fired,” Durgin said with a smile. “Then the second year things got better, and all of these guys (assistant coaches) stuck around. We were able to build something, and now here we are, 20 years later.”
Despite these stellar numbers, Durgin is quick to deflect the credit to his assistant coaches and players.
“Every coach here has input,” said Durgin. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to be around. Everyone works hard and helps out, all of the players work hard and help out, and that’s why we’ve been successful. I may be the head coach, but it’s the players and the coaches who deserve a lot of credit also.”
But those assistant coaches, many of whom have been with Durgin since the beginning, know that it’s the big guy who sets the tone.
“Matt’s got a program in place and the foundation is there, and he’s taken it everywhere he’s gone,” said Derek Dana, the school’s baseball coach, who has been coaching with Durgin since 1998.
“He’s fair to the kids, he works hard every day, the practices don’t change and he puts everyone — players and coaches — in a position to succeed.”
Tom Donahue, who has also been with Durgin for 19 years, answered in lock-step with Dana, almost proving the mantra that it’s all about being on the same page for this staff.
“We all know what we’re supposed to do every day; everyone has a role,” said Donahue. “We all know what we have to do, and the kids always know what to expect. And it all comes from Matt obviously. But now we’ve all been doing this together for so long, it just comes natural every day.”
In his 13th season with Durgin, Harold Watler, whose sons played for Durgin, knows that the head coach’s first priority is the boys who play for him.
“I think the best thing is that he’s never changed his attitude,” said Watler. “When I first got here he said, ‘take care of the kids,’ and that was his No. 1 priority and it’s been that way throughout.
“My kids were coached by him (at Classical) and this staff and I’d recommend anyone’s kids to come get coached by these guys.”
“It’s just a great group of guys,” said Brian Mulvey, who is in his ninth year on Durgin’s staff. “We’re all good friends who know each other well and know what we need to do. And Matt, he’s a hands-on guy who just does a great job with everybody.”
And then there’s the new guy on the coaching staff, Joe Masucci, who has experienced Durgin’s coaching from both sides. Masucci played for Durgin at St. Mary’s and went on to play four years at Framingham State before joining the coaching staff four years ago.
“My senior year was their first year (at St. Mary’s), so I had to get to know them all,” said Masucci. “It’s a great group of guys who were great to play for. And now in my fourth year here (as a coach), I can say it’s great to coach with them too.”
For Durgin, the loyalty his coaches have shown to him over the years is more than he could ever ask for.
“It means so much to me, really,” he said. “Like I said before, we don’t just coach together, we’re all really good friends. It’s not just me coaching out there, these guys have their hands in everything. I trust these guys and they all do a great job. And the most important thing isn’t even football, it’s their loyalty.”
But despite all of the flowery remarks and good memories, it’s about football this time of year. And as the Spartans are putting the final touches on tonight’s Division 3A North semifinal game at Manning Field against Lynnfield, Durgin knows they have the offensive firepower and the stingy defense to get the job done.
At this point, it’s all about execution.
“At this point, we just need to go out there and do what we know we can do,” said Durgin. “We’re going up against a good football team and we’re going to need to execute in all phases if we’re going to come out on top.”
All his coaches agree. Wholeheartedly.