Mone, Joe

Joe Mone has spent his coaching career in Bristol, the same town in which he grew up playing basketball at the Bristol Boys’ Club and the place he attended high school, graduating from Bristol Central. For the last 30 seasons, Mone has served as the head coach for the St. Paul Catholic High School girls’ basketball team, accumulating a record of 465-218 (prior to the 2024-25 season) and three state championships.

Mone, along with his daughter Chelsea as his assistant coach, saw St. Paul win the 2024 Class M state championship at Mohegan Sun Arena, as the Falcons defeated Windham 49-42. Chelsea Mone, a 2010 graduate and 1,000-point scorer at St. Paul, won a title with her dad as a player, as well, during her senior season. She will serve as Mone’s presenter as he is enshrined in the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

“I was always drawn to basketball. It’s the sport I liked most,” Mone said recently. “I learned to play basketball at the Bristol Boys’ Club. Rex Hamilton kept us on the right track and Art Whitehead Sr., at the Boys’ Club, he always let me come play with the older kids. ... The coaching aspect you learn from people you coach for and sometimes you learn from the people you play against.”

He also was a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, particularly Magic Johnson, and “watched a lot of TV.” Mone got his start coaching under fellow Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Tony Floyd at Bristol Eastern, serving on Floyd’s staff for three state championship teams before embarking on his own career as a head coach at St. Paul.

During his tenure, the Falcons have won 11 Naugatuck Valley League divisional titles, four NVL championships and four Northwest Conference championships. St. Paul won Class S state championships in 2001 and 2010 and the Class M title in 2024. The Falcons have also had three state championship runner-up finishes and reached the state tournament semifinals on five more occasions.
Mone said he doesn’t necessarily have a coaching “style,” adjusting to the team’s personnel each season and also to a particular opponent.

“I do demand that we show up for practice every day,” he said. “I want them to play hard. Whatever happens happens, but play to the best of our abilities. Sometimes people are better than you; that’s how life is. I also really believe in defense. If you have a good defensive team, you’ll score enough points to get some wins.

“... I feel honored (to be named to the Hall of Fame). A lot of that’s due to a lot of really special young women that played for me. We take the credit, but most of the credit goes to the 400-something young women that have come through the program.”

Mone is retired from his position as the superintendent of public works in Bristol. He and his wife Shirley have three children, Chandalise, Chelsea and John.