Maloney's Remarkable Season No Surprise With Hewitt at Helm

With a 23-1 record and a second seed in the state tournament, this has been a remarkable season for the Maloney Boys’ Basketball team.  It comes as little surprise, though, since the team is led by the school's all-time wins leader: head coach Howard Hewitt.

Hewitt has been at the helm of the Spartans for 25 years, and became the leader in wins on December 20, 2010 in an early season victory over Berlin, 60-46.  It was the 328^th victory in Hewitt’s career at Maloney. 

“The total is just a nice reflection of the players I’ve had,” said Hewitt.  “I’ve been coaching a long time, and I’ve been lucky to have some good players come along.”

Hewitt’s current victory total is at 349. This year, the team’s only loss came in the finals of the Central Connecticut Conference title game against Windsor. Maloney’s first game in the Class L State Tournament is tonight at home against East Lyme at 7 pm. 

The Spartans will be out for vengeance after losing their first and only game so far this season to Windsor last Thursday, 85-70.  Maloney will not have to worry about taking on Windsor again this season, however, since it is in the Class LL bracket.

As for the head coach, Hewitt is happy with where his team is at this point in the season.

“I have good players that play cooperatively together,” said Hewitt.

It all started for Hewitt, a math teacher, when he was named head coach at Lincoln Middle School in Meriden. The next year, job opening for Maloney’s freshman basketball coach became available, and Hewitt seized the opportunity.

“When the freshman job opened up at Maloney, I was certainly glad it did,” said Hewitt. 

The coach was able to work his way up from there, and has led the Spartan’s Varsity team since the 1985-86 season. 

Hewitt himself is a Maloney alumnus, having graduated in 1970. He went on to graduate from Eastern Connecticut State University in 1975.

After 25 years, some might worry that Hewitt will want to walk away from the game sometime soon.  Maloney’s Athletic Director, Christopher Meyers, hopes this isn’t the case.

“I lobby for him to stay every day, and I never want to have to hire another basketball coach while I’m the Athletic Director here,” said Meyers.