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For Connolly, the time was right for a change
Coach takes reins at St. John's Prep
New St. John's Prep coach Sean Connolly at a practice. He takes over after four years as coach at Bishop Fenwick. (Photos by Jim Davis/Globe Staff)
By Julian Benbow Globe Staff / December 14, 2008
The thoughts darted through Sean Connolly's head.
'I felt like the Prep's one of the best jobs around. It was a great opportunity for me,' says Sean Connolly of his decision.
MAKING THE SWITCH
Everyone knows what they say about other people's grass, and St. John's Prep was a well-manicured lawn.
The Prep is a Division 1 program with top-notch facilities, and as good a school as Bishop Fenwick had been to him, St. John's had a higher profile.
"I felt like the Prep's one of the best jobs around," he said. "It was a great opportunity for me."
It was the kind of coaching job that doesn't come around often, he told himself. But he didn't expect it to come around when it did.
That's the downside to timing. It's relative.
Danny Letarte, the face of Prep basketball for more than a decade, stepped down as coach at the Danvers private school in early October - two months before the start of the season - because it was the right time. After coaching for 16 years, he wanted to spend time with his family.
No one expected the job to open up when it did, but Connolly couldn't be certain when another one like it would come around.
So he told Prep athletic director Jim O'Leary he was interested.
"I didn't even know I was going to get the job," Connolly said. "I just applied for it."
As much as he wanted to think about the possibilities, he also had to consider what he was leaving behind in Peabody.
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