Derek Lynn knew he had his work cut out for him when he took over as the Montville girls basketball coach 14 years ago.
He inherited a program that hadn’t won a game in two years, and a team that didn’t have much success in the recent decades before he took over.
Montville was struggling for success, but the team and Lynn were hungry to change the trajectory of the program. The Mustangs struggled his first year, going winless, but Lynn was confident things were about to change — and he was correct in that assessment.
Lynn, his staff and the players delicately created the tradition through the years. He engineered a remarkable turnaround as the Mustangs’ head coach over the years, winning a county title and making deep postseason runs.
He is leaving the team in better shape than when he first found it 14 years ago.
Lynn stepped down as Montville’s girls basketball coach last week, saying that he wants to spend more time with his family and his two sons, one of which is nine and the other is five. He said it became too difficult to pour his energy into being a father and coach to his two sons, as well as being a head coach for Montville and do each at a high level.
“There was a little surprise at first, but I think the team understands,” Lynn told NJ Advance Media. “I made it very clear that I want to continue to help out in any way possible to find the right person to step in as coach and help that new coach acclimate to everything. I talked about our culture and that they are the culture. The players are the culture, and regardless of the coach, they can continue carrying that tradition of what we built over the years and to teach our incoming players how things have been done.”
Montville athletic director Wayne Guarino told NJ Advance Media the position will be posted on the school’s website in the coming days and will be seeking to fill the position by the end of the 2022-23 school year.
“Derek epitomizes what it means to coach for the Mustangs,” Guarino said. “someone who truly believes in education based athletics. Coach Lynn is so detail oriented and understands the game through and through. He put a product out on the court every game which this community stood behind that emphasized sportsmanship, class, and grit. If you look at the girls basketball schedule in recent years, you will see many NJ.com Top 20 matchups as well as teams outside of the NJAC conference. Coach always made it a priority to challenge his girls and introduce them to other teams around the state.”
Montville went 0-24 during Lynn’s first season at the helm during the 2009-10 season.
It took until Dec. 23, 2010, for Lynn to pick up his first win, a 44-32 comeback win over Kinnelon, which snapped a 72-game losing streak after the team had not won a game in three years. The win was a sign the team was heading in the right direction, and while Lynn’s second season ended with a 6-18 record, there weren’t many losses in recent years.
It was a methodical build to the top, highlighted by winning the Morris County Tournament in 2020 with a win over Chatham in the final as part of a team that went 27-1. Montville went 24-5 this season, winning the always-competitive Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference American Division title, reaching the Morris County Tournament final and the North 1, Group 3 sectional semifinals, and ending the season as the No. 19 team in the NJ.com Top 20.
“The county final (win in 2020) certainly sticks out,” Lynn said. “Winning the conference this year was nice, and just all the battles over the years. There’s so many almost wins that stand out as well, which were losses, but just seeing where we started back in 2009 to where we’ve come now to get to being a top-20 team in the entire state, I’m very proud of that, and it’s nice to be recognized as one of the top teams.”
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You can reach Luis Torres at ltorres@njadvancemedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter @ByLuisTorres.
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