Poppy prepared Randolph boys swim team for success

Linda Poppy liked to joke that she was coaching "the cross-country swim team." After Randolph High School revised its school day, the swimmers wound up with quite a time crunch to get to their pre-scheduled practice time at County College of Morris.

The final bell rang at 2:45 p.m., and everyone needed to be on the bus within five minutes or risk being left behind.

The Rams' pool time started at 3 p.m., impossible with the later dismissal. But new Randolph assistant coach Krystal Hoffman, the CCM aquatics supervisor, made sure each lane had its own workout posted when they rushed onto the deck — usually no later than 3:10 p.m.

Poppy's pre-practice talks were pre-empted until afterward. She sometimes offered snacks — homemade cookies, gummy bears, chocolates wrapped like ladybugs or blue stars — to the first swimmers to dive in and start working out.

Poppy, the All Daily Record Coach of the Season, was able to make everything fit together.

The Randolph boys won their first sectional title this winter, edging Northern Highlands on the final relay in NJSIAA North 1-B. The Rams also won NJAC Southern I for the third time — opening the season with a victory over division rival Mountain Lakes — and placed third at the Morris County Championships. Freshman Vinny Marciano became the first Randolph boy to earn a NJSIAA title, claiming the 100-yard freestyle and also finishing second in the 50 free at the Meet of Champions.

The Rams broke eight of the 11 school records in yards, and five in meters.

"Everything runs by the clock, tick-tock," Poppy said. "There's no catching your breath until practice is over."

Though Marciano got most of the headlines, Randolph was about more than just its middle-lane stars. Poppy emphasized depth, inducting swimmers in the One-Point Club for being part of a third-place relay in any meet the Rams won by less than 10 points.

"If you look at those meet sheets, they're a big part of what happened … part of the story that you don't always read in the paper," she said. "That's the depth of the team."

Poppy may have been proudest of the Rams' 200 free relay, which made it back to the MOC bonus final though three of the four swimmers — sophomore Chris Ross, junior Brian Hermes and senior Theo Everett — are not club swimmers. Randolph added more distance to its workouts this winter with an eye on swimming in Morristown's meter pool, doing 150-yard sets instead of 100 to increase endurance.

"She coached the whole team, not just the top kids who won every race. Even the kids who, in the big meets, didn't even swim," Hermes said. "She emphasized cheering people on and staying positive. She said, 'You get points all the way to fifth place,' and tried to teach even the kids who won't get first or second to get fifth or fourth. … She cares about everyone on the team no matter how fast or slow you are. She wants to see everyone do their best and pushes everyone to do their best."

A swimmer since 8-and-unders at the Madison YMCA, she was a butterflyer and IMer for former Chatham coach Dave Steele. But Mendham High School didn't have a swim team when Poppy attended, so she played field hockey and basketball.

Poppy decided she was going to become a physical education teacher and coach while still in high school and got started not long afterward. She coached swimming, basketball, field hockey and softball.

Poppy went to the University of Miami, then transferred to East Stroudsburg, where she majored in health and physical education and minored in special education. She couldn't find a teaching job when she came home, so she worked for AT&T for a month and hated it.

Poppy became a permanent substitute teacher at Randolph Middle School the following fall, then picked up a maternity-leave appointment at Morristown in January. She took over coaching the Colonials' swim team in 1986, when Ed Johnson retired, and led the girls to a sectional championship victory over Westfield.

Poppy next moved to Randolph Elementary School, coaching junior varsity field hockey and becoming husband-to-be Dave Poppy's first freshman softball coach. She moved up to the high school the following year and started a 14-year career as the head field hockey coach. Poppy added Randolph swimming a year later, following program founder Don Bostrom.

Poppy gave up coaching softball to avoid competing with her husband after they married in June 1991. She still officiates at track meets and in the summer runs pools at country clubs and gated communities.

Poppy has been named All Daily Record for girls swimming three times in her 28-year career in Morris County high schools. This is the second time she's being recognized for aiding the boys' success.

"She'll never do anything to put you down or destroy your motivation," said Everett, a Rams captain. "Most of what she does is to build up your confidence in yourself and get you to be self-motivated, so someone doesn't have to be yelling at you to do the right thing. … All the years she yelled at me and told me to get in the water, it taught me to own up to my own responsibilities. I owe this team a lot since my freshman year, because they helped me get through a very rough time in my life. Without Coach Poppy and the rest of the swim team, I wouldn't be the person I am today."

Staff Writer Jane Havsy: 973-428-6682; jhavsy@gannettnj.com; www.dailyrecord.com/writerjane/

Readers' picks

The Daily Record staff selected Randolph boys swim coach Linda Poppy Coach of the Season, but Daily Record readers had a different choice. In an online poll held at DailyRecord.com, more than 38 percent of Daily Record readers selected Jefferson girls basketball coach Jim MacDermid as the Readers' Choice Coach of the Season. Congratulations to all coaches on successful seasons.

Here are the results of the readers' poll:

Bobby Jones, Morristown hockey: 14.08%

Dave Leshnower, Mountain Lakes girls swimming: 33.18%

Jim MacDermid, Jefferson girls basketball: 38.4%

Steve Manni, Whippany Park girls track and field: 2.85%

Linda Poppy, Randolph boys swimming: 3.64%

Bryan Stoll, Delbarton wrestling” 5.54%

Luke Suttile, Randolph boys track and field: 0.79%

Matt Tighe, Randolph boys basketball: 1.53%