JERSEY CITY, NJ…Nicole Tallarida `02, a former player for the
New Jersey City University women's volleyball team from 1998-2001, has been appointed the new head coach of the Gothic Knights for the Fall 2009 season.
Tallarida, whose playing name was Nicole Pilla, becomes the 11
th coach in the 27-year history of the program.
“I am very excited to be back at NJCU,” Tallarida said. “I look forward to working with the girls and continuing the success the team has had over the recent years.”
Tallarida takes the reigns of the program from Christopher Feliciano who posted a 131-39 record in five seasons from 2004-08.
While this will be Tallarida's first collegiate coaching position, she comes to NJCU after two seasons at Queen of Peace High School in North Arlington, NJ. She served as the varsity girl's coach in 2008 and was the junior varsity coach in 2007. She also ran Queen of Peace's eighth-grade volleyball camp for two years.
Alice De Fazio, NJCU Director of Athletics, said: “I am confident in Nicole's ability to guide our women's volleyball program. As an alum and a former NJCU student-athlete, I feel she is the ideal candidate to continue the success we have achieved in previous years.”
Tallarida's hiring adds yet another “family” to NJCU athletics, as she is married to assistant baseball coach Michael Tallarida. It will add to the other families that have shared time together as part of the Gothic Knight program. In recent years, NJCU has had more than a dozen siblings competing in one of NJCU's 15 athletic programs.
Tallarida played four seasons for four different coaches—Frank Cella, Henry Martinez, Georgi Vishegonov and Peter Nguyen—as a setter and defensive specialist. In all, she played 85 matches and 253 sets over four years and collected 496 assists, 354 digs, 75 kills and 57 service aces, while helping NJCU win 44 matches. As a senior, the club went 13-13 overall, reached the New Jersey Athletic Conference quarterfinals and won the Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championship.
At the time of her graduation she ranked fifth in school history in assists, 10th in matches played and 11th in digs. Today, she still is ninth in school history in assists and tied for 21st in digs.
A four-year, two-sport athlete at Queen of Peace High School, she played volleyball and softball for the Griffins and earned Honorable Mention All-League honors in each. A two-year varsity volleyball player for Coach Donna Giovia, she was a team captain and earned that program's MVP and Coach's Award. She also played four seasons of varsity softball for Coach Sue Murden, and served as a captain while helping the Griffins to the Bergen County and state tournament every year.
Tallarida is a December 2002 graduate of NJCU with a bachelor of arts in Special Education/Teacher of the Handicapped and holds a May 2005 master's degree from Montclair State University in reading (reading specialist). She has worked as a special education teacher for the Kearny (NJ) Board of Education for six years.
Outside of volleyball, Tallarida is a private reading skills tutor and has also worked with autistic children since she was a college student.
Tallarida, 29, resides in Nutley, NJ with her husband Michael and their one-year-old son, David.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
