Here is the story by Adam Zagoria of NJ Advance Media
Dave Boff began his coaching career in the mid-1990s when Bob Hurley Sr. put him in charge of the shooting station at Hurley’s summer camp at the Atlantic Club in Manasquan. He was a walk-on at Monmouth University, nervous and excited to be working for the legendary St. Anthony’s High School coach.
Two decades later, as the head boys basketball coach at Roselle Catholic, Boff beat Hurley three straight years in the vaunted Non-Public B state championship game, winning the Tournament of Champions title in two of those seasons. Overall, Boff went 4-3 against Hurley, a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, including a 3-1 mark in state championship games. Three of Hurley’s four losses in state championship games were to Boff.
“They’re better than us at this point,” Hurley said after losing at Roselle Catholic in an independent game on Jan. 2, 2015 before some 2,000 fans. “We faced an awfully good team in their building.”
Now Boff, 46, is moving on from Roselle Catholic for another challenge. After 15 seasons, he’s leaving the New Jersey state powerhouse for an administrative and coaching role at College Achieve Public Charter School in Asbury Park/Neptune, close to his home in Tinton Falls. In several emotional meetings and phone calls, he informed the Roselle Catholic players over the weekend.
“It’s never easy to leave a place that you love as much as I love RC,” he told NJ Advance Media. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to lead this basketball program for 15 years and reach the heights that we have. When we took over the program, we did have a goal of winning a state championship and a TOC, but I’m not sure any of us envisioned the level of success we would have in such a short period of time.
“I’m leaving at this time for a new opportunity, new challenge and new role that I think is going to be exciting and fun. It also has an additional benefit of being very close to my home which will allow me to have my son KJ involved in a lot more of what I’ll be doing.” KJ turns 6 in June.
Roselle Catholic is expected to name a new coach on Wednesday.
With the advantage of being able to draw players from throughout the state and even beyond, Boff won four TOC titles (2013, ‘15, ‘18, and the final one in 2022) — trailing only Hurley’s 12 at St. Anthony’s and Kevin Boyle’s five at St. Patrick. Boff posted a 9-1 mark in the TOC. Only Hurley (28-1), Bob Farrell of Seton Hall Prep (12-9) and Boyle (11-2) won more games in the event.
Boff won four TOC titles in only 12 years (three were canceled), while Boyle won his five across a 23-year tenure. Hurley captured 12 in a span of 42 years. He also won seven state championships and 10 state sectional titles.
Boff has gone 349 – 109 in his career, including 15 seasons at Roselle Catholic and three at at Governor Livingston. For the record, he went 0-6 against Boyle at St. Patrick and Montverde (FL) Academy.
Boff’s easy-going personality and relaxed coaching style contrast sharply with Hurley and Boyle, who were known for their intense sideline personas and strict disciplinarian tactics with their players.
“It was amazing playing for coach Boff,” said North Carolina-bound senior guard Simeon Wilcher, who went 17-0 in the state tournament at Roselle Catholic.
“From my freshman year, he believed in me, wanted me to just get out there and be myself and play my game. And then over the years, he’s just been there every step and watched me grow, become the player I am now, and I feel like he’s played a big part in my journey. He’s not like many other coaches because he’s not really super-intense, super-loud, but he makes sure he gets the job done with whatever we go through. We’ve been through a whole bunch of ups and downs, but he always figures out a way for us to get it done.
“I just wouldn’t ask for a better coach because he allows us to go out and play our game and be ourselves.”
Boff told NJ.com in 2015: “I think the goal is to be as even-keel as you possibly can. You’re asking the kids to do that, we talk to them all the time about being the same kid whether we’re up 20 or down 20, whether we’re up a couple in a row or lost a couple in a row.
“If you’re asking your kids to do that, you have to do that also as the coach.”
Boff will be taking on multiple roles at his new school, including building a basketball program from scratch.
“My role at College Achieve Charter School in Asbury Park/Neptune will be spread across a few different areas as I help them continue to build their school into a fantastic K-12 educational experience for the children of the surrounding area,” he said. “College Achieve already has a wonderful educational experience as it has effectively closed the achievement gap, outperforming the state in academics and has skyrocketed to one of the top 25% ranked schools statewide.
“One of my roles will be helping the administration build a cohesive basketball program, to go along with the great academics, for the younger children in the school as well as developing a high school program, which they did not have this school year. It’s really going to be fun to be involved in starting a program literally from scratch and helping it to grow into an elite program.”
He added: “None of the success we had over the last 15 years would have been possible without the amazing support of the RC Administration, my assistant coaches and also all the great players we were lucky enough to coach.”
It’s a new phase for Boff but it will be a high bar to match his accomplishments at Roselle Catholic, which he helped turn into a statewide and national power.
During his tenure:
- Five McDonald’s All-Americans played at Roselle Catholic: Isaiah Briscoe, Tyler Roberson, Naz Reid, Kahlil Whitney and Mackenzie Mgbako.
- Boff coached five New Jersey Players of the Year: Briscoe, Roberson, Reid and Simeon Wilcher were all named NJ.com Player of the Year, while current Rutgers big man Cliff Omoruyi was named the Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year.
- He coached players who committed to Kentucky, North Carolina, Syracuse and Arizona State, among others.
- Several former RC players have played in the NBA, with Jameel Warney the first. Briscoe, Chris Silva, Malachi Richardson and Reid, now with the Minnesota Timberwolves, also played in the Association.
- Boff’s teams won 10 of 11 Parochial B Sectional Championships, something neither St. Anthony’s nor St. Patrick accomplished.
- Boff has had teams ranked as high as No. 1 (2023) and No. 2 (2015) in the United States.
“We, the community of Roselle Catholic High School, are very grateful for all the time, hard work, and dedication Dave has given to our student-athletes as he built Roselle Catholic into a national power in boys basketball,” the school’s principal, Tom Berrios, said in a statement.
“We wish him all the best as he moves into a different stage of his career.”
