MATT McCARTHY… IS A FRIEND!

*this article was written after Trinity Hall lost in the state tournament

Matt McCarthy is my friend. Notice I didn’t call him Coach McCarthy. That’s because it’s 1.15 am in the morning and I’m thinking about him and his kids. I’m thinking about him as a friend not a Coach. My wife calls him “my boyfriend”. She is amazed that I talk so long with him at one time on the phone. My daughter asked me last year something that has stuck to me “ you don’t trust anyone, why do you trust him so much”. It was a honest question and I’ll give you a honest answer…Matt McCarthy is everything I wish I could be a good man… FACTS!

I wonder how Matt McCarthy has got to where he is today. He was an asst coach at a joco in the Kansas, the wild Wild West of recruiting and coaching. I’m not going to try to explain. Just know he has seen some shit. He was an asst coach at Manhattan College with current Denver Nuggets-and NBA CHAMPS Head Coach Mike Malone. He knows what grinding means. I always think candy ass, when CBA comes to mind. That’s because every kid from the hood thinks life is easy at places like CBA. That’s just way it is. But there’s nothing soft or sweet about how Matt McCarthy has got to where he is today. I think it’s why I call him my friend. I know it’s been no cakewalk to get where he is and what he has today. A loving family, while doing what he loves most, helping people and coaching.

I tell Matt McCarthy things about me I wouldn’t dare tell anyone else. I tell him things about my childhood I couldn’t consider telling others. I have told him more about my childhood than anyone including my kids. Do you know why? Because as a young black growing up in the projects you learn early. DON’T TELL WHITE FOLKS SHIT ABOUT YOU. That’s just a reality and trust me a real statement. I think Matt McCarthy is like therapy for me. I don’t need to think about what I say to him. That’s because I trust him and I also believe in what he is doing… like building something special at Trinity Hall

TRINITY lost in the state tournament tonight. I know his two best players Nina EMNACE and Lily Riggi were playing purely on heart and soul. I know nobody gives a rats ass about that except TRINITY HALL. But I do because Matt McCarthy is my friend. Matt McCarthy has built something that nobody cared about 5 years ago into some special. Trinity is a miracle, it’s an all girls school that nobody thought could ever compete in the best girls basketball conference on planet earth. They should’ve been just another school fighting to be seen. Yet the Trinity Hall administration wanted more. The truth is like most schools in Trinity Hall’s shoes, they could’ve have been lying to themselves about their chances of building anything in reality. But then they went out and hired someone who is a bit of a miracle himself.

Trinity Hall reminds me of myself a kid from the projects. They are a miracle, a school nobody expected much from. They were expected to be the school that was supposed to be a great academic institution, whose ass you got to kick athletically every year, while they bragged about their academic prowess. To mask the ass kickings taken annually. They we’re suppose to go home lick there wounds and brag about there GPA and all the kids off to IVY and prestigious schools. Then go sing the ole standby chant when your team is getting beat by 100…”that’s alright, that’s ok, you gonna work for us one day” chant. You know the one teams at great academic schools sing when their team stinks to high heaven. When your everyone’s senior night and homecoming game.

But Matt McCarthy has built something kids and administrators at Trinity Hall can be proud of both educational and athletically without selling their soul. They know there are now part of something big and wonderful. Trinity is proving schools can still can still produce great student athletes, school spirit and a leaders all at once. While keeping its integrity..

Matt McCarthy is a recovering alcoholic. He spends his free time supporting other alcoholics. Every time I have drink, I think of him. Why? Because I wonder if I could ever be that unselfish or strong.. the answer is hell no.. Matt McCarthy is also a cancer survivor. You would never know. Because he only talks about it when someone else is fighting that battle. He calls those fighting the battle of their lives and reminds them there is hope. It s why I love this cat. Why I tell him things I would not dare trust telling anyone else…Ever!

I worry about Matt McCarthy’s youngest daughter for all the wrong reasons. I want her to be a great basketball player. I want her to be a star. Not for me but for him, Why? Because he is my friend. But he just wants her to be happy. He knows basketball is a coffee break, not lasting. I hate when his team loses a game. I yelled at his best player last for working out before a big game. Why? Because I know how hard he has worked to get Trinity to where they are today. Trust me no coach has sacrificed more. People think it’s been an easy ride to making TRINITY HALL a Top 20 team, making it to the SCT semi finals and taking giants like SJV and RBC into overtime or developing D1 players. His program has achieved so much at TRINITY in such a short time, it’s taken for granted now. Making front page news is now the norm. But “MY FRIEND” has worked his ass off, every step of the way to make all this to come to life.

I called Matt McCarthy last week, my brother said “you talk to that white dude like he home”…I said “he is home” and my wife laughed and said “ that’s the only person he talks too”… no I trust and believe in Matt and it’s a great thing. I have never went out with Matt McCarthy in a social setting. I barely know his wife and other children. I did play in his golf outing. A charity event he runs every year in his mother‘s honor. I want to tell you something, they are people who think the sun is sinking on the Trinity Hall’s program. Well that’s wishful thinking for the haters. That’s because what they really see is the sun beginning to rise again… My friend has built something special at Trinity Hall and it’s not going anywhere…. AND I’M ENJOYING WATCHING IT GROW … tonight was just another step for him and Trinity Hall…