In his final season as a coach, Greg Goodwin taught by example and made one of the biggest impacts in a career filled with wins and championships.
Goodwin was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2023. Yet this past winter, he was an assistant with the Absegami High School boys basketball team despite undergoing chemotherapy.
The Braves finished 20-7 and saw daily what it meant to persevere and serve others through tough times.
“For me and a lot of the guys, we would sometimes find ourselves getting caught up in what really amounts to small issues that don’t really matter when you compare it to somebody going through cancer and fighting for their life,” Braves head coach John Arcidiacono said. “It was good for the kids to learn there’s a lot of bigger issues in life. You never quit. You never give up. You keep fighting. We were able to help him like he was able to help us.”
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Goodwin, one of the most successful coaches in Cape-Atlantic League history, died Sunday night. He was 63.
Goodwin lived a diverse and successful basketball and coaching life.
He was a standout player at Millville and then began his coaching career at the now-defunct St. James of Carneys Point. He coached the boys programs at Millville and Absegami but had his greatest success with the Absegami girls.
Goodwin led the Braves to two state titles (2005 and 2006), five South Jersey championships and five Cape-Atlantic League titles. He stepped down after the 2008 season with a 277-54 record in 12 seasons.
The Braves state championship teams that featured standouts Tara Booker, Sara Mostafa Krissy Rosario, Alysha Taylor and Connie James are one of the best basketball teams — boys or girls — in CAL history.
“That was a group that I looked at as the team I wanted to be as good as someday,” retired Ocean City girls coach Paul Baruffi said. “To win two back-to-back Group IV championships. It’s hard to win it at any level, but in Group IV that’s even a bigger accomplishment. You’re going against big schools, strong teams. They just had it all.”
As he did with all his teams, Goodwin had the perfect temperament for that state championship group. He took the game seriously and demanded a lot from the players without putting too much pressure on them.
“He had the proper perspective on the whole thing,” Baruffi said. “He didn’t try to make that team into something they weren’t. He allowed them to be the talented players they were. He trusted them to be as good as they were.”
Goodwin’s overall basketball coaching record was 406-252 in 28 seasons.
“Greg’s teams were always hard-working, persevering,” Absegami Athletic Director Steve Fortis said. “He checked in on his (players) every day. They were in the hallways. The kids knew walking down this hallway coach is going to be sitting outside the doorway waiting to see me. If they had done something dumb or hadn’t done something they were supposed to do, they were going to get questioned by coach.”
Goodwin also was a basketball assistant with the ACIT boys and the Stockton women.
But Goodwin is synonymous with Absegami, where he taught social studies and was vice principal.
He also was an assistant and head coach of the Braves boys lacrosse team. He also was involved with the Absegami tennis, golf and football teams.
Goodwin had three stints as the boys basketball coach, returning twice to help rebuild the program after a couple of down seasons.
“He would joke we’re going back to the bullpen again,” Fortis said. “He would stabilize things.”
Goodwin’s coaching record only tells part of his impact on the people around him. Nicknamed “Goody,” at 6-foot-5, he was larger than life with a boisterous laugh that friends said could be heard from a mile away. Most of all, he was just funny.
Ocean City coach John Bruno was one of Goodwin’s closest friends. The two first met in the late 1980s working at a summer basketball camp. Bruno said he would smile at just the sound of Goodwin’s laugh.
“Goody was always a gentle giant,” Bruno said. “A big man who was soft spoken but also had the biggest heart. What I will miss most is his friendship. I will cherish each and every memory I had with Goody.”
Goodwin is survived by his wife Kim and children Austin, Nicole and Casey.
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