Steinfeld got stellar evaluation from East Brunswick AD Malta a month before being let go

“Andy takes great pride in the organization of the program.”

“He has a standard for his team when it comes to their behavior and character on the field and off.”

“His is respected by his peers and coaches.”

“Andy provides the high ethical and character skills that allow him to lead our student athletes the right way.”

Those comments seem ripped right out of a letter of recommendation for someone seeking a high school football coaching job.

But a little more than a month after receiving such high praise from East Brunswick Athletic Director Frank Malta – and despite such a glowing review – Andy Steinfeld found himself out as Bears head coach, prompting many in the township – including his own players and their parents – to wonder why.

Steinfeld was let go in late July after re-interviewing for his position, just two weeks before preseason camp. And Steinfeld says while he had the full support of Malta, the AD eventually had to break it to him that he didn’t have enough votes on the Board of Education to be approved as head coach.

In New Jersey, high school coaches must be approved for their job on an annual basis. And though Steinfeld says he never had to re-interview after any of his first four seasons, he assumed it was par for the course since he had retired in January after more than 23 years as a physical education teacher, and figured as football coach he’d be considered an “outside employee.” That interview took place on July 23rd. “I had no problem doing it,” Steinfeld told Central Jersey Sports Radio at the time.

Steinfeld was not informed ahead of time who he would be interviewing with. When he arrived, it turned out to be a seven-member committee he that included what he called three “community members” who were “against our program, bashed our program,” and had complaints about East Brunswick’s middle school football program.

There were no parents of any current East Brunswick football players on the committee, yet there were 52 players on the varsity roster for a game Central Jersey Sports Radio broadcast on September 27th at Old Bridge from which they committee could have selected.

The complaints from the community members, Steinfeld says, had nothing to do with wins and losses, treatment of players, or how the program is run. Steinfeld says their issues were that his expansion of the middle school football program to include seventh-graders was chipping away at the numbers in St. Bart’s own program.

Since then, multiple sources confirmed to Central Jersey Sports Radio the identities of those three community members.

They include Chad Seyler – the President of the St. Bart’s Buffalos – along with Dave Lonski, the organization’s treasurer. The third member was Vito Tropeano, Sr., whose son began his scholastic career with the East Brunswick high school football team, transferred to Elizabeth for one year, but returned to the Bears’ program for his senior campaign in 2023.

Seyler – reached for comment in July – declined to speak about the issue to Central Jersey Sports Radio, saying he had signed a confidentiality agreement.

Steinfeld told CJSR recently he was never asked to sign such an agreement.

The revelations continue to prompt questions that, so far, have been unanswered by school officials in East Brunswick, including why those with outside and competing interests with the East Brunswick football program were allowed to have what appears to be an undue influence on the re-hiring of a football coach, and why the district waited so long to address them and head in a new coaching direction, especially when seventh graders remain on the middle school team to this day.

Typically, when districts let go of coaches – unless there are extenuating circumstances – it happens within a month or two after the season, to allow the new staff to work with and get familiar with players in the off-season.

The Board of Education was scheduled to vote in July on the entire coaching staff, and approved all of the Bears’ assistants at that meeting, but tabled the matter of Steinfeld pending the interview, meaning there was no chance for public comment after his re-hiring became a potential issue. No vote was ever held on the record about Steinfeld’s job status by the Board of Education.