Robert Swercheck – interim football coach at Scotch Plains-Fanwood since mid-September – will now be the coach at Middlesex. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
This one’s not part of the coaching carousel that’s already been in motion, from Woodbridge to South Brunswick to Roselle, but it may have started a new one.
Robert Swercheck has been named the new head football coach at Middlesex High School, coming over from Scotch Plains-Fanwood. His hiring was approved Wednesday evening by the Board of Education.
He takes over for Phlip McGuane, who was 11-8 in his two years at Middlesex. McGuane, however, was recently diagnosed with cancer, and Athletic Director Mike O’Donnell says though he’s feeling fine, McGuane didn’t know how he would respond to potential treatments during the year, and wanted to make sure the football program was in good hands.
Swercheck had been working under Austin Holman last year, when Holman abruptly stepped down. Swercheck became interim head coach in mid-September, with the Raiders 1-3. They went 2-4 the rest of the way to finish 3-7, with wins in their last two games against JFK and South Plainfield.
Swercheck is a North Brunswick alum who played defensive tackle and tight end for the Raiders, and was later an assistant there prior to the arrival of current head coach Mike Cipot, who coached him there as an assistant under Mark Zielinski in 2007.
He later played at Kean and was a freshman on the 2009 team that 9-2 and was the ECAC Southwest Bowl Champions, as well as a junior on the 2011 team that was 10-2, NJAC Champions, and made the second round of the NCAA Division 3 Tournament.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with new Middlesex football coach Robert Swercheck:
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