Boys Basketball 2024-25 Coach of the Year: Steve Jannarone, Colts Neck

Shore Sports Insider 2024-25 Coach of the Year: Steve Jannarone, Colts Neck

Like any coach who has been affiliated with a program as long as Steve Jannarone has been affiliated with Colts Neck boys basketball, his current team’s triumph brought to mind all the players who came before them.

For Jannarone, though, winning Colts Neck’s second NJSIAA sectional championship took him back even further than his days as an assistant coach under Lou Piccola at Colts Neck. He immediately thought of his first coaching mentor: his father.

Jim Jannarone was a head boys coach at Howell, Manalapan and Shore Regional and coached in five NJSIAA sectional finals without pulling out a win. When Colts Neck defeated Ewing, 52-43, to win the Central Jersey Group III championship, the younger Jannarone soaked in the moment while remembering his journey started before he was even a coach.

“With all the times we have been here and missed out, with the exception of one, it’s special,” Jannarone said after the win. “He (Jim Jannarone) was here. My mentor, Denny Simpson, was here. We had probably 100 alumni here and that’s what makes this very special. The alumni dug the well that these kids are drinking from.”

As someone who has been part of Colts Neck basketball since the beginning, Jannarone coached the Cougars boys to the best season in school history this past season – the 27th in the history of program. The run to the Cougars’ first NJSIAA Group III championship was as compelling as any story in Shore Conference basketball this season, and that run lands Jannarone the 2024-25 Shore Sports Insider Boys Basketball Coach of the Year Award.

Jannarone has been part of Colts Neck basketball from the very beginning, joining the staff of coach Lou Piccola for the inaugural 1998-99 season and briefly leaving the boys program to lead the Cougars girls program. When Piccola stepped down following the 2021-22 season, Jannarone was the natural choice to replace one of his coaching mentors. He has not disappointed.

In year one, Jannarone helped turn the Cougars from a 10-13 team coming off their fourth straight losing season into an 18-9 squad that won its first state playoff game since 2018-19. That, as it turned out, was just the beginning.

After going a combined 35-18 over his first two seasons, Jannarone and Colts Neck brought back a team in 2024-25 that had graduated its two leading scorers and rebounders from the previous season. Without a lot of size and proven scoring, the Cougars set out to win with chemistry and a group of players who thrived in smaller roles the prior season.

After an up-and-down regular season that included a Shore Conference Class A North public division championship – albeit with a modest 6-4 division record – Colts Neck showed a glimpse of its postseason prowess by beating Wall on the road in the Shore Conference Tournament round of 16 to earn a spot in the SCT quarterfinals for the first time since 2012. Manasquan eliminated the Cougars in the next round, but the foundation was in place for a March to remember.

Colts Neck entered the NJSIAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed in Central Jersey Group III and proceeded to win four straight games at home to capture its second sectional title in program history and first since 2016. The bracket broke in the Cougars’ favor and they hosted every game in the sectional playoffs, with wins over Pemberton, Hopewell Valley at the buzzer, defending sectional champion Freehold Boro and Ewing in the championship game.

A sectional title would have been grounds for a parade in Colts Neck, but the Cougars were not done. Facing Ocean City at Deptford High School in the Group III semifinals, Colts Neck rallied from down 10 with 10 minutes to go and beat the Red Raiders, 47-45, to move on to the program’s first NJSIAA Group final at Rutgers. In the state final, two-time defending champion Ramapo slowed Colts Neck’s offense in the first half and led 20-15 before Colts Neck authored a brilliant second-half performance that resulted in a 54-46 win and the school’s first Group championship in boys basketball.

As an assistant under Piccola, Jannarone was on the Colts Neck bench for five sectional championship games, including the Cougars’ first championship – a 2016 win at the buzzer over Freehold Township in the Central Group IV final. Jannarone missed out on a run to the 2018 Central Group IV final – a loss to Trenton – while he was the head coach of the girls team, but he made up for it by taking the girls team to the 2019 Central Jersey Group III final.

“They’re always asking, ‘Which is the best (Colts Neck) team coach, which is the best?’ My line is that’s like asking which is your favorite child,” Jannarone said after his team won the NJSIAA Group III title. “I challenged them to prove it. If they think they are, then do it. And they did.”