Beloved St. John’s High School basketball coach retires after 61-year coaching career

In this case it is Bob Foley’s bitter-sweet swan song after coaching high school basketball for 61 long years. 
 
This 325 veteran of St. John’s High School varsity coach has nearly 1,000 wins and two state titles before he retires at the beginning of the new season. 
 
Foley was interviewed at 7NEWS on Tuesday when he looked back at his career. 
 
“I’m sitting there watching all the kids playing and all of sudden you tell me, ‘Hey man, you better rethink that. ’” 
 
It took more than forty years of Foley’s working life with St. John’s. In year, he has managed to score more victories than any other high school basketball coach in New England. 
 
Asked how he was able to continue year after year, Foley said that it was the players and their parents. 
 
With no hesitation he replied, “I love basketball. ” “I love St. John’s I would give the company four stars out of five. 
 
During his stay at Villanova University Foley became known for giving his players a tough time on the court while being sensitive off it. 
 
Foley said St. John’s assistant coach Chad LaBove played for him and a St. John’s team that won a state title in 2009. But after Foley had left to become a coach, LaBove said he is actually like a father to all of them. 
 
“He was always prepared and he was always ready,” LaBove said. “I guess, apart from basketball, I guess that is one thing that I believed myself and my teammates always grasped it. To be always ready and the only way to succeed in life whether on the court of the basket or off it. ” 
 
The family tradition of playing under Foley has been a tradition in Team captain Jack Forgues’s home since his dad and his uncle have also referred to Foley as coach. 
 
“As simple as that, that I have been able to play for him, it had been a privilege of my life,” Forgues said. 
 
But when it came to what defined Foley, Forgues said that it is not the trophies, or the achievements. 
 
Instead, Forgues responded that Foley’s real legacy is a positive impact or a mark of kindness in the St. John’s community. 
 
“He made us better basketball players,” Forgues said. “But he also Growing us into young men is also something that I will always have to be grateful for. ” 
 
Anyone who wants to emulate Foley, this is what he said about how he did it — “I had to work like heck. ” 
 
In search for someone to come and lead St. John’s basketball program after Foley, officials of the school said they have since assembled a search committee.