The Mepham Pirates have been shipshape for nearly two decades.
Girls head basketball coach Jim Mulvey and generations of his skilled swashbucklers have made the playoffs 17 straight seasons in Nassau County — and his team looks to keep the streak going for years to come.
“Our motto is, ‘When a coach sets high standards, the winners will love it, and the lazy will leave,’ ” Mulvey told The Post.
“Either way, the team improves,” added the proverbial captain of the Pirates, who has won eight conference titles — the most recent in 2020 — in over two decades at the helm.
The maroon marauders have huge expectations these days, but laugh as they reach them season after season, as Mulvey, a former Cortland point guard, keeps things loose with his players on the court.
“It’s fun to win — it’s fun to work hard,” said the elementary school teacher in the district, who can spot his future stars years ahead of their time.
The varsity girls turned rebounding and scoring drills into exhilarating, small-group competitions during a Tuesday practice, where players were shouting with excitement to outdo their peers in a friendly manner.
“When you laugh, and you have a good time at practice, it’s more fun, and it makes me want to work harder,” said senior guard Sienna Linekin.
“Because of that, our team has grown so much throughout the season so far.”
Lost at sea
When Mulvey started coaching at Mepham in 2004, he didn’t quite have the crew he does nowadays.
“There were some good players here, and they had all graduated, and the coach had left, and it was an opportunity to come in here and start fresh,” he recalled.
“I do remember our one win that season — a crazy game where we scored in the 20s. … I think it was in overtime that we got the win.”
Mulvey mulled over quitting coaching in the days when the record reeked like a freshly worn sneaker, but ultimately cared more about molding impressionable teens into young adults than wins and losses.
“It’s not about the talent, it’s about making kids be the best that they can be,” he said.
It quickly became evident that he turned the program around and motivated his players to push themselves, leading to his first playoff appearance in the 2008-2009 season.
That tight-knit team had an undefeated regular season and went 19-1 overall, beginning a new, lasting culture on Mulvey’s vessel.
“We always say kids have changed. They really haven’t. They want to come out, they want to work hard.”
Anchors aweigh
Current players — they bond out of school with pasta parties and white elephant Christmas gift swaps — eye the road ahead rather than looking back at generations past, according to Mulvey’s new assistant coach, Anthony Novello.
“They’re focused on what they have to do to win the next game. It keeps their attention on the right thing,” he said of the near .500 club.
“I think that’s a reason we will get to the playoffs again this year.”
Another big M.O. of the program is “keeping the standard” of finishing plays and giving 110 percent.
That came into effect during a tight December duel with the Farmingdale Dalers, recalled junior guard Mia Troiano.
“Everyone came in and played a part, working hard throughout the whole game, even off the bench,” she said of the turning-point, 47-41 win.
“It was a big push.”
The emotional aspect of play is something Mulvey harps on with his athletes as he sharpens their focus.
“I think we also know not to stoop down to other teams’ level,” said Linekin, who stressed that it’s a big part of the team’s way to not engage with trash-talking opponents.
“And we keep each other elevated and high energy.”
Just like Mulvey, the Pirates also seek to plunder the postseason again and again.
This time, though, they hope to finally conquer an elusive Nassau County championship for the first time in the head coach’s lengthy tenure.
Players are certainly on board.
“It’s also my senior year, so I’d definitely love to make it to the playoffs and keep it going as long as we can,” Linekin said.
“Our team chemistry is just growing and growing. I feel it every day in practice, so it’s really fun working with all of them, and our teamwork is really fun.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
