Coach Turco Talks Passion

On November 20, 2010 14 young women tackled each other to a gymnasium floor in Northborough.  An elated sea of people dressed in red jumped to their feet, hooting and hollering, applauding wildly and hugging each other.  Some people were crying and all were smiling. 

Amidst the chaos, a middle aged man with a formindable moustache calmly walked to greet his volleyball championship team at mid court and, of course, respectfully shook the hands of his opponents.

"Any time you can see your team reach their goals that is the best sensation,"  Coach Tom Turco said as he described his most recent championship, the 13th Barnstable High School girls' volleyball Division I State Title. 

This state championship, along with Turco's 500th career win on November 9, 2010 has solidified his spot as one of the country's elite high school coaches.  According to Turco, his winning philosophy emulates the styles of two of basketball's most esteemed coaches-Red Auerbach and Pat Riley. 

"Through incredible work ethic it is possible to win with different players," Turco explained. "That is what impressed me most about Red Auerbach - he just kept on winning with different players." 

In addition to being inspired by coaching he saw on the court, Turco also reads and discusses chapters from Pat Riley's book "The Winner Within: A Life Plan for Team Players."  According to Turco, lessons learned from Riley's book have helped himself and his players to deal with adversity on the court and in life in a healthy way. 

"Thunderbolts (Pat Riley's term for unexpected failures) can either devastate or motivate," Turco said. "We try to deal with thunderbolts in a positive way."

Turco dealt with adversity, failure and thunderbolts early on in his coaching career.  "I felt successful with special needs kids, but I had never worked with mainstream [students] before," Turco said.  The opportunity to coach girls' volleyball in 1986 was a chance for him to work with mainstream students. 

Turco's experience at the time was one season of Bridgewater State club volleyball, but he took the job anyway. 

"Initially I held the philosophy that if you ignore negative behavior and only reinforce positive behavior, negative behavior will extinguish itself...which was wrong," Turco said. 

"I was ready to hang it up…I thought maybe this [coaching volleyball] was the wrong choice," he added. 

After his first season as head coach with a 5-11 record, Turco was almost ready to throw in the towel.   

However, Turco is a product of his grandfather, who after immigrating to the United States built a successful business from the ground up.  Like his grandfather, Turco fought through a tremendous learning curve and learned how to foster success. 

"You're only as successful as the will of your players," Turco said. "You have to practice and take time to develop the will of your players." 

So far, Turco has inspired his players to find the motivation necessary to become a perennial power house. Turco's work is not solely contained to the volleyball court either. 

Turco began his career teaching blind children at Massasoit Community College and for 23 years he has worked as an adapted physical education teacher at Barnstable High School. 

Each day Turco works with young people with disabilities, in an effort to help them gain independence, confidence and acceptance by the rest of the students. 

"Success with these kids means including them with the rest of the school," Turco said. 

According to the coach and teacher, success with young people with disabilities is not measured in wins and losses, but instead in achieving inclusion and dispelling preconceived notions about what young people with disabilities can achieve. 

"Everyone has their needs, just in different ways," Turco said.    

With a career built around serving others and the most wins in Massachusetts girls' volleyball history, Turco is one of the Cape's most impressive educators.  He believes "passion is temporary, but love is enduring." And, his work, well, "it's really not work," he said.

Thanks to Turco, the Cape has another generation of young people who have adopted that same winning philosophy.

"I'm just a culmination of all the great teachers and coaches I've ever had," Turco said.