More questions than answers: Why were St. Bart’s youth football leaders on committee that lead to dismissal of East Brunswick football coach Steinfeld?

Central Jersey Sports Radio has confirmed through multiple sources with knowledge of the situation that two officers of the St. Bart’s youth football program – and the parent of a former East Brunswick player who had transferred out of the district for one season before returning – were on the committee that re-interviewed Bears football coach Andy Steinfeld this July, and ultimately influenced his dismissal just two weeks before preseason practice was set to start.

Just how they influenced that decision is unclear.

Chad Seyler is the President of the St. Bart’s Buffalos, and Dave Lonski is the organization’s treasurer. Both sat on the committee that re-interviewed Steinfeld, along with Vito Tropeano, Sr., whose son began his scholastic career with the East Brunswick high school football team, transferred to Elizabeth for a season, then came back for his senior year in 2023.

Seyler served one term on the Board of Education, from 2017 through 2019.

Steinfeld told Central Jersey Sports Radio in late July that he was informed he would not be returning as coach because he didn’t have enough votes to be approved by the Board of Education, though no public vote was ever cast on the record.

When coaches – who by state law must be approved on a year-to-year basis – are not retained, it is not typical to hold a vote; they are simply not brought back. However, except for extenuating circumstances, most dismissals occur shortly after the season is finished, to allow the next coach to be hired in time to get familiar with the program and work with them in the offseason.

Steinfeld further explained back in July that the seven-member committee he interviewed with included three “community members” who were “against our program, bashed our program,” and had complaints about East Brunswick’s middle school football program. Steinfeld did not name the community members, and the full interview can be heard here.

According to Steinfeld, there were no complaints about his coaching, treatment of players, or even the fact the team had won only two games in two prior seasons, following an excellent 8-2 campaign in 2021, coming off the “COVID season” that disrupted many programs’ development.

Steinfeld told CJSR in July that the middle school team had recently allowed seventh-graders to participate. And he says the community members – who he only identified as people who were involved in youth football leagues in town that aren’t affiliated with East Brunswick schools – told him they were against that concept, saying those students “shouldn’t be playing for the middle school” and believe that the Bears program is “taking players away from them.”

Steinfeld also says he was not informed in advance what community members would be on the committee.

And yet, questions remain, including why those with competing interests – St. Bart’s is seeking the same players from the same group of kids the middle school is – would be allowed to influence how the East Brunswick program is run?

The St. Bart’s Buffalos do not fall under the jurisdiction of the East Brunswick school district, nor the township; it is simply an independent youth football league, and the only connection is that some St. Bart’s players typically end up playing for the Bears.

However, many from neighboring towns like Spotswood, Milltown and Helmetta also participate, as they don’t have their own youth programs in town. Some students end up going to Spotswood High School – including those from that town, Milltown, and Helmetta, which also attend the district.

According to a roster posted on MaxPreps.com, Seyler’s son plays football, but not for East Brunswick. He is a freshman at St. Joseph of Metuchen.

Central Jersey Sports Radio reached out to Seyler for comment in July, and he told us he could not speak to the media, as he had signed a confidentiality agreement.

We also reached out for comment from the Superintendent, Dr. Victor Valeski district in July. We were told by the district to submit a request via email. That request and a subsequent follow-up were ignored. CJSR then filed an OPRA request for emails related to the situation, which has been scaled down as the district said the request was initially too large. A third request to speak to the Dr. Valesky was denied; the district said he could not discuss personnel issues.

It should be noted that Steinfeld technically was no longer “personnel” by the time his appointment came before the board in July – and was ultimately tabled – because he had retired from teaching in July, and his “one-year contract” would have expired at the end of the fiscal year on June 30th.

Having to re-interview for a job is not necessarily standard operating procedure in most districts, but one ex-official told CJSR it is always an option, though usually reserved for some type of extenuating circumstance.

One area football coach we talked to said they never had to interview in front a seven-member committee to begin with, noting that when they were hired, the interview included a couple of administrators, a coach from another sport, a board member, and one parent, whose son was on the football team.

Steinfeld said interviewing before a group so large seemed out of the normal.

The timing of the decision also has been called into question, coming just two weeks before preseason practice was set to begin.

Unless a coach was fired for a particular incident that would be of an emergency nature – none of which were the case with Steinfeld – many wondered why the decision was not made in December or January, in time to conduct a proper coaching search. Especially since, according to Steinfeld, the complaints about the middle school program had been going on for quite some time, at least back to the beginning of the 2022 football, when Steinfeld was still the coach, and first brought seventh graders from Churchill onto the middle school team.