Rutgers-Newark Athletics

By Jim Hague

When Nick Leonardelli was attending Mendham High School and playing basketball for the legendary Jim Baglin, he almost instantly knew one thing. He wanted to be a basketball coach like Baglin. 

“Coach Baglin had everything to do with it,” said Leonardelli, who just recently completed a two-year stint as the graduate assistant men’s basketball coach at Rutgers-Newark. “We’re very tight and we still talk about once a day. He was a major influence on me and mentored me into wanting to get into the coaching business.” 

It was Leonardelli’s association with Baglin that brought him to Rutgers-Newark. 

“Coach Baglin and I are good friends and he called me to tell me that he had a former player who was going into his senior year at Dickinson College and wanted to pursue coaching,” Rutgers-Newark head men’s coach Joe Loughran said. “He asked me if I could just meet with Nick and give him some ideas about coaching. Well, I told Jim that we had a graduate assistant position open, so I would consider Nick.” 

Loughran said that he asked Leonardelli to come in for an informal chat. There were no promises, no job offers. It was just a simple talk about basketball. 

“It was an informational conversation,” Loughran recalled. “I told him that he could come and work my summer camp and we would see what would happen then.” 

It didn’t take long for Loughran to realize that he had a special talent on his hands in Leonardelli. 

“Nick did such a great job at camp,” Loughran said. “I didn’t have to tell him to do anything. He just did it. He hustled his tail off and was great with the kids. I knew we had to bring him aboard.” 

So while Leonardelli pursued a graduate degree in liberal studies, he also worked as a dutiful assistant coach. 

The idea of a 22-year-old kid from the Morris County suburbs coming to interact with a host of kids not much younger than him from mostly inner-city backgrounds might have been a concern at first, but didn’t take long to dissipate. 

“Here’s a kid from Mendham coming to Newark,” Loughran said. “I figured there was going to be a little bit of an adjustment. But he took off right away and became comfortable with his relationships with the players. They just seemed to gravitate towards him.” 

Leonardelli said that he never once worried about relating to the players, even if they came from different social and ethnic backgrounds. 

“I didn’t think the backgrounds would be a problem,” Leonardelli said. “I just had to get used to coaching players who were right around my own age. I was 22 and we had a guy on the team who was 22. So I was basically a peer and a coach at the same time.” 

Leonardelli said that he wasn’t overly familiar with the R-N program before he worked at Loughran’s summer camp. 

“But I did know the league and I soon got to know the program and the players,” Leonardelli said. “I was really excited about the opportunity.” 

It didn’t take long for Loughran to bestow a ton of responsibility on his graduate assistant. 

“It’s hard to find good people who are going to be loyal and energetic, but that was what Nick was for us right away,” Loughran said. “He just went about his business and did his duties. He was really a blessing for me, because I needed someone to do all the dirty work, the administrative work. He was the one who took the players to the doctor or if they needed academic guidance, he followed up with the professors. I never had to tell him to do anything. He just went and got the job done. If I didn’t have a guy like him, I don’t know how it would have all gotten done.” 

Leonardelli welcomed the idea that Loughran gave him so much responsibility. 

“I wanted to help out as much as I could and Coach Loughran showed a lot of faith in me,” Leonardelli said. “He was great to work for and I learned so much from him. He taught me a lot in letting me scout, help with recruiting, do the administrative stuff. I was very involved in that. I got a good feeling for everything.” 

Loughran said that Leonardelli was also involved in the players’ weight training sessions in the off-season. 

“He did a lot of things for our players off the court,” Loughran said. “It wasn’t just basketball. But if they wanted to go into the gym and take extra shots, Nick was there. He was always there.” 

Leonardelli also became well beloved by the players, as a confidant, as a friend and of course, as a coach. 

“The players really liked Nick a lot,” Loughran said. “He was similar in age to most of them, but he definitely had their respect.” 

But Leonardelli’s tenure has come to an end at R-N. He is currently pursuing a full-time coaching position at another school and has gone for a handful of interviews already. 

“It came up so quickly,” Leonardelli said. “Two years have come and gone so fast. I would love to land a head coaching job or an assistant coaching job. That’s the goal right now.” 

Loughran said that Leonardelli will be missed. 

“No question about that,” Loughran said. “He worked every day and worked long hours. He was very dedicated. I know at the end of the day, I never had to worry about Nick. I’m going to miss him a lot. He’s been part of our change in the program and was part of our lives. I keep my fingers crossed that he gets a job in this business, because he deserves it.” 

Leonardelli said that he leaves the Golden Dome with mixed emotions. 

“I hope I helped out and made a mark,” Leonardelli said. “We had some success here and I know that’s just going to keep rolling. I am definitely going to miss all these guys. I made a lot of good friends and contacts through Coach Loughran. I’m going to miss it very much, but I’m at a point where it’s time to move on and I’m ready for a fresh start. But I can’t even begin to express how much I’ll miss it.” 

When the next grad assistant takes over, then he’ll have some huge shoes to fill, taking over the spot that was once occupied by the beloved and respected Nick Leonardelli.