By Stacy Drector
For the past 21 years, Jim Foley has been the head coach of the girl’s soccer team in addition to serving as the assistant basketball coach. Before coming to St. Mary’s, he was the assistant coach under Marblehead’s head coach Maura Durgin-Scully for 12 years, and when Durgin-Scully left to come to St. Mary’s where she was a teacher, she brought him with her and an extraordinary career began.
Coach Foley has a special place in his heart for St. Mary’s High School. His wife, Jackie, is the Marian Division Dean and his twin daughters, Jenna and Erin, are 2019 graduates. Jenna, a freshman at St. Anselm, played soccer at St. Mary’s for seven years. Even though he hoped to win the milestone 250th win with Jenna on the team, he is very happy that he reached that achievement with Morgan Mackey, Emily Egan, Gabby Diaz, Katie O’Neill, Riley Lynch and Kayla Demers, all four year varsity players. He is proud of the “great girls” on the team and that 99 percent of them go to college. There are lots of memorable moments for him: state tournaments, North Finals, bus trips, the preseason at the Cape and countless more unforgettable times.
“Coach Foley is a wonderful coach and is focused on us improving. He is very hard working and puts a lot of effort into the sport and helping us out. He constantly puts us first and always wants us to do better. He always tell us, ‘everyone can improve.’ When he says that, he means that there are some players on our team who are more skilled than others, but that doesn’t mean they can’t improve either. There is always something people can get better at and he definitely has shown and helped us achieve that,” said sophomore Anna Parisi. Guaranteed the entire team feels the same way.
Coach Foley looks at St. Mary’s as his second family and home. His appreciates the support of his wife, daughters, his late mom who was his number one fan, family members, players, Athletic Director Jeff Newhall who he says is the best AD there could possibly be, alumni and school administrators. When asked how long he wants to keep coaching, Coach Foley said that he would continue “as long as I keep enjoying it and will stay as long as I can.” We look forward to many more years and victories. Congratulations, Coach Foley!