For the past eight years, Paul Moran has coached the Marblehead High girls basketball team, while compiling a 99-68 overall record. But that all changed earlier this month, when he accepted the Swampscott High boys basketball job, a position that he also held two decades ago.
Moran has been a part of the Northeastern Conference landscape for five decades, starting with his time as a Swampscott High boys basketball player, where he still owns the team’s scoring record of 2,043 career points. He graduated from SHS in 1985, and was its head boys hoop coach for three years from the 2004-05 season to the 2007-08 campaign.
His latest coaching move came on the heels of his 60th birthday on May 20. It all started for him as a head coach in 1998, when he took over his alma mater’s girls basketball program. He was there for two years, before going to Danvers to head up the Falcons girls program from 2000 to 2004. He left there to become the aforementioned Swampscott boys coach, but after three years there he took off for Saugus to lead the Sachems boys team for the next nine winters. He was then on his way to Marblehead, his fourth NEC community.
Like his other coaching opportunities, this was also a difficult decision for him. “I love Marblehead, and I’ll always be a big fan of Mike Giardi (the Magicians longtime boys head basketball and baseball coach, and the football team’s offensive coordinator),” said Moran. “We did everything together (as coaches), including playing games in Florida and at the TD Garden.”
Moran went on to say that “(Giardi) does many (great) things behind the scenes at MHS, and also heads up its Math Department. He comes from a great family, and I hope for nothing but the best for him and the entire Marblehead High athletic program.”
Moran also said that he had “three great ADs” during his eight years in Marblehead, referring to Greg Ceglarski and current athletic director Kent Wheeler, as well as longtime assistant Mark Tarmey, who stepped down from his post in March. Moran said of Tarmey: “he was a rock over there.”
Wheeler offered his thoughts on Moran’s departure: “Paul worked hard and did a good job as our girls basketball coach. He’s well-respected here and across the North Shore. I know he will do a fine job as the new Swampscott boys’ basketball coach, and we wish him the best of luck,” while adding, “we are now in the process of searching for a new girls basketball coach.”
Moran senses a “buzz around” Swampscott, and he credits that to the Superintendent of Schools Jason Calichman, SHS Principal Emily Zotto and athletic director Kelly Wolff. “They are developing a great culture over there,” he said.
Getting the opportunity to also have his son, Matt, on his coaching staff helped make the decision to leave Marblehead easier. Matt, an eighth grade Swampscott math teacher, was the Big Blue’s freshman coach for three years, and will return to that role under the guidance of his dad. “It’s a dream come true to coach with my son,” Moran said.
Moran will always remain loyal to the three other NEC towns that he has coached in, and will continue to root for them, except when they naturally play Swampscott. “I’ve been fortunate to coach in these towns, but now, I can’t ask for anything better than to finish my career off in my hometown,” he said.
