The commemorative volleyball may have said “Coach Landy 300 Wins” but to longtime Harrison coach Nick Landy the more accurate recipient of the milestone was what listed right below the 300 wins “Harrison Blue Tide.”
Because for Landy, who is in his 15th year as head coach and 17th year involved with the program, Thursday’s win over North Arlington, the 300th of his career, is a team accomplishment as much as it is an individual one.
“You look back and it’s amazing,” Landy said. “I always say it’s technically my milestone, but it’s my whole team, all the teams, my coaches.”
Landy remembers a time when he didn’t have those things. Due to the timing of when he got promoted to head coach in 2008, Landy did not have an assistant or a JV coach for that first season when Harrison won just three games.
Despite the initial struggles, Landy, who was an assistant coach the previous two years, saw the program’s potential.
To be honest, when I first started as an assistant coach, I always thought that we should have been just as successful as the soccer team because we had the same type of kids that were playing with us and we just had to put the time in,” said Landy. “A year later when Anthony (Sabia) came in, we kind of started to create a program that the kids really bought into. And they started to go to play club (volleyball) and we got the district to add a middle school team.
“Everything just kind of fell into place. I think the kids really loved the sport and they just kept playing and kept winning.”
It didn’t take long for the Blue Tide to become a winner under Landy and Sabia. By 2011, Harrison was in the Hudson County Tournament semifinals and in the discussion for the state’s top 20 rankings.
In 2015, the Blue Tide truly arrived as a state power, going 28-3 and claiming their first ever Hudson County and NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 2 tournament championships with Landy being selected as The Record’s North Jersey Coach of the Year.
The next year, Harrison repeated as county and sectional champs, going 37-5 and going all the way to the Tournament of Champions final. After that season, Landy was named State Coach of the Year by NJ.com.
Harrison, which won its third Hudson County Tournament title in 2023, has won five conference championships under Landy. Individually, the Blue Tide has had six different players earn All-State honors, led by star outside hitter Piotr Namiotko, who was named First Team, All-State in 2016 before starring at NJIT. Nine others also went on to play volleyball in college.
Landy, who has been named NJIC Coach of the Year three seasons in a row, has a career record of 301-142 as Harrison defeated Elmwood Park one day later to improve to 17-3 on the season.
“It’s just amazing,” Landy said. “It’s really amazing how it’s caught on and become a big part of Harrison High School athletics.”
A Harrison High School alum, Landy was the boys basketball head coach for six seasons and served more than 20 years as a football assistant coach for the Blue Tide.
Harrison will look to build upon its already strong volleyball legacy on Friday when it begins its defense of its Hudson County championship. The Blue Tide, seeded first, earned a double-bye to the quarterfinals and will face the Hoboken-Secaucus winner.
Kearny, which beat Harrison for the title in 2022, only to fall to the Blue Tide in the 2023 final, is the third seed. The Kardinals (9-5) will face the Bayonne-St. Peter’s Prep winner on Friday.
The semifinals are set for Wednesday, May 15 at the higher seed, while the final is scheduled for Saturday the 18th at County Prep High School in Jersey City.
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)