Overheard: Bob Aughey a Truly Quotable Coach

Boulderdash! Ricochet Rabbit! Where’s the ammo?

It’s fair to say most people wouldn't hear or use these phrases on a daily basis, but they are all in the vernacular of Fort Lee softball coach Bob Aughey.

The seven-year leader of the Lady Bridgemen is full of unique phrases:

• Quicken up your body, it’s not color by numbers!

•  You should be on third, not taping home movies!

• Jiminy Crickets – my grandma could catch that!

Coach Aughey tried to explain the “method to his madness” this week on a coaching style unlike any other.

“It is more to lighten the mood and get the girls to laugh a little,” the softball coach said. “We try to work hard and within that framework of working hard, I think you need to have some levity and you have to have a good time.”

The sayings pop up routinely during practice, pausing the drills for just a moment to react and then resume again.

“With those sayings and getting girls to chuckle and laugh at it, I think induces a good time for everybody,” said coach Aughey. “But then as soon as that is over, you go right back to work. It’s what we call flip the switch. Now you’re back into being serious.”

The Lady Bridgemen softball team has embraced the system of blending sayings with seriousness.

“We need to know when he is being serious or joking around with his sayings, and [the team does] balance it well,” senior third baseman Brianna Mattessich said. “It is also just how he talks. It is natural to him.”

Some of Aughey's quotes come from television shows:

“Ricochet rabbit – that was an old cartoon show and the thing used to bounce around like bing-bang-boom….that’s not one of my favorites because that tells me we’re [bouncing the ball] off of our bodies,” Aughey said.

Others come from film:

“You got to get a little oil – you went after a [softball] kind of stiff…It’s like you’re the Tin Man [from the Wizard of Oz]. We got to oil you up so you can move like an athlete,” the coach said.

And some lines even come from personal experiences:

“Put your work clothes on – he told us how the kids came to practice with actual work boots on,” said senior outfielder Morgan Romba.

But whatever concoction of words combines for a one-of-a-kind phrase, coach Aughey wants you to know that none of them are pre-planned.

“They just randomly come to my mind,” said coach Aughey honestly. “I don’t make them up. I don’t sit at home and write them out. Whatever strikes me at the time, that’s what I do.”

The use of these phrases has helped the Lady Bridgemen want to come to practice each day, where other teams may dread another round of drills.

“I love going to practice and he is one of the main reasons,” said senior Brianna Mattessich. “He is such a great coach and one of the best coaches I have ever had by far. We love [Coach Aughey]. He is like a second dad.”

All jokes aside, the Fort Lee Lady Bridgemen softball team is 7-3-1 this season and one of the top teams in Northern New Jersey with coach Bob Aughey at the helm.

“To tell you the truth, I like to have a good time, I want to have laughs, and I want to have fun,” the softball coach said. “Game-time, there is not a whole lot of fun unless you are really winning and making a good play. There is fun within that, but it is never laughter-fun, and I think practice is for that as long as you don’t overdo it.”

The next game for the team is Monday when the Lady Bridgemen host Westwood at 4:15 p.m.

Until then, expect a few more quotes like these from coach Aughey when the team practices again:

• That glove has magic in it – I knew it when you bought it!

• She was looking into outer space – we got enough of those.

• That’s your Sunday best – that was well done!

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