New Roselle coach Tyrone Turner tells Rams to “go out and have fun” as he takes over program

Well, it looks like the Big Central coaching carousel has stopped for the time being.

Tyrone Turner – who spent the past year as Co-Defensive Coordinator at resurgent Plainfield – has been named the new football coach at Roselle’s Abraham Clark High School, taking over for Ibrahim Halsey, who’s now at South Brunswick.

Getting the job after school is out may bring some challenges, having not been with the program in the winter and spring, but Turner says he just wants the Rams to play their game.

“Go out and have fun like you’re playing out in the street with your friends, ” he told Central Jersey Sports Radio Wednesday afternoon, adding: “Football doesn’t last forever.”

Roselle went 4-6 last season under Halsey, dropping its first four but going on a four-game win streak after that with victories over Metuchen, Ridgefield Park, Bound Brook and Belvidere.

Plainfield last year had its first season with an over .500 record since 2005, going 6-5, and is now 16-16 in its last three seasons. From 2011 through 2019 the program never won more than three games in a year, and only once at that.

In 2023, the Cardinals won six of their first eight games, with two shutouts, and allowed just one touchdown each in two other victories.

Prior to Plainfield, Turner – an East Orange Campus alum – was offensive coordinator at Weequahic in 2015 and 2016, with the Indians going 12-0 and winning the North 2, Group 1 title over Shabazz. He later became the head coach at Shabazz, going 13-23, improving the team to 5-6 his final season in 2022, before heading to the Queen City.

Click below to hear new Rams’ head coach Tyrone Turner talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

The hiring of a Turner – who was not a head coach last year – effectively ends the coaching carousel started when Joe LaSala left Woodbridge in March. The Barrons hired Joe Goerge away from South Brunswick, and Ibrahim Halsey of Roselle left to take the Vikings job, with Turner now taking over for Halsey.