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92 in 92: Malvern Prep (Pa.)

10/27/2014, 11:00am EDT

By Tom Reifsnyder

Malvern senior Joey Fitzpatrick (above, left) and the Friars are trying to build something under second-year head coach John Harmatuk. (Photo: Josh Verlin)

Tom Reifsnyder (@tom_reifsnyder)
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(Ed. Note: This piece is part of CoBL’s “92 Stories in 92 Days” high school season preview, which will feature a different team in the CoBL coverage range each day from September 1 to December 1.)

Last season was a major adjustment period for both head coach John Harmatuk and the Malvern Prep boys’ basketball team.

Harmatuk, a Houston native, posted an 11-16 (3-7 Inter-Ac) record in his first season with the Friars.

Although the 2013-2014 campaign was a minor improvement from the previous season (9-20), it certainly wasn’t comparable to what Harmatuk became accustomed to during his 16 years as a coach down at Cypress Springs High School in Houston.

At Cypress Springs, Harmatuk experienced the luxury of coaching numerous Division-I prospects and other college-bound players.

In his first season at Malvern, the 42-year-old was tasked with leading a team of undersized and inexperienced players, most of whom will not be playing basketball in college.

Moving from Houston to Philadelphia is a major change of scenery, but Harmatuk sees similarities between the two cities regarding the high school basketball scene.

“It’s comparable,” Harmatuk said. “I think if you did the research you’d see that Houston’s playing a pretty high level of basketball right now… and I was at the highest level; three, four-thousand kids in a high school.

“I would say Houston’s probably a deeper pool of teams than Philadelphia, but I would say most of the talent in the high schools in Philadelphia is concentrated in a fewer amount of schools; but other than that, it’s very similar.”

As Harmatuk settles into his new environment, Malvern is adapting to his new coaching style.

Whenever a coaching change is made, growing pains are often imminent for the affected programs. Last season’s sub-par record largely resulted from the lack of familiarity between Harmatuk and his players.

“I was teaching a completely different style of play than what they were used to,” he said. “So on top of being new, on top of pretty much learning the players and how they could play on the go, I was also implementing a new style.

“As much change as there was in the year, I thought the guys picked it up really well.”

One player in particular who has seamlessly adjusted to Harmatuk’s style is senior guard Joey Fitzpatick.

At 6-foot-3, Fitzpatrick is a solid ball handler that draws contact effortlessly and really shoots it well from the outside; a perfect fit for the team’s revamped up-and-down style.

“It’s like night and day,” Fitzpatrick said. “Our last coach, he really focused on defense and running sets and kind of dribbling out the clock and just slowing the game down.

“Coach Tuk really emphasizes pushing the ball, getting quick shots, trying to make the other team feel uncomfortable, and just playing fast.”

Although his style differed greatly from Harmatuk’s, former head coach Jim Rullo experienced his fair share of success during his time with Malvern. Rullo, now the head coach at Neumann University, had an overall record of 135-67 (61-26 Inter-Ac) from 2007 to 2013 with the Friars.

Following Rullo’s departure, Harmatuk took over as the fourteenth head coach in Malvern Prep’s distinguished basketball history.

The school’s basketball program boasts an all-time record of 429-259, and has been coached by the likes of current Temple University head coach Fran Dunphy (1976-1979).

In order to bring back Malvern’s winning ways, Harmatuk will do what all great coaches do; play to his players’ strengths.

The Friars return their top four players from last year: Fitzpatrick, senior point guard Chris Anderson, senior guard Jack Doherty and junior guard Will Powers. Fitzpatrick and Powers were the team’s top two leading scorers last season, so the offense shouldn’t regress at all.

With 6-4 senior Ryan O’Neill rounding out the teams’ starters, Malvern certainly won’t be intimidating anyone with their size this season. However, Fitzpatrick and the Friars recognize the advantages of playing small-ball.

“Well the way we play and the people play, it allows us to really get up and down the floor,” he said. “All five of our guys can run the floor and we’re all skilled enough to create our own shots and find the open man.

“And defensively, we can play full-court man, we can do stuff like that; we can be pretty versatile when it comes to that.”

When you’ve got an undersized lineup, shooting ability is essential.

The Friars are no slouch when it comes to the long ball.

“Last year, I think we had three players in the top 20 or something of made threes in the Philadelphia area,” Fitzpatrick said. “So we can really shoot the ball and another thing that goes along with it is we can find the open shooters and get them the ball.”

Along with their returning core group led by Fitzpatrick and Powers, the team will benefit from three sophomores making their first varsity appearances; Tommy Wolfe, Ray Baran and Jalen Wade.

The young trio will contribute this season, but Harmatuk is not yet certain how many minutes they’ll receive on a regular basis.

As for departures, Malvern lost four seniors to graduation. However, none of them were part of the consistent rotation last season.

Following a full year of experience under Harmatuk, Fitpatrick is confident that the Friars will have a bounce-back season in 2014-2015.

“I think we can contend with the top teams in our league,” he said. “Haverford and Germantown are both very good, but I think they’re beatable.

“We play a really tough schedule, but I think a lot of the teams are beatable, and hopefully we can win the Inter-Ac league.”

Now that Harmatuk and Malvern are fully acquainted with each other, the growing pains should be fully in the rear-view this season.

However, Harmatuk knows that winning teams aren’t built overnight.

“We’re going to continue to try to get better each day, I mean, I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true,” he said. “And I think the kids are buying into that, and I think we’ve seen some pretty good strides here in the preseason with the guys and how they’re working.

“So I’m really looking forward to the season.”

With their adjustment year behind them, Harmatuk and Malvern Prep will look to return to relevancy in 2014-2015.

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