St. Thomas Aquinas taps Bergen Catholic’s Jonathan Germano as new Trojans’ football coach

After just three weeks, St. Thomas Aquinas has found a new football coach, hiring Jonathan Germano away from North Jersey powerhouse Bergen Catholic.

The school revealed the hire on its website, saying “we are pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Germano as our new head football coach.”

Germano was most recently the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for the Crusaders, and was a standout quarterback as well. He led Bergen Catholic to back-to-back state title games in 2011 and 2012, his junior and senior years, and in 2012 was New Jersey Gatorade Player of the year.

He played his collegiate ball at Johns Hopkins University, and has also served as an assistant in college at Syracuse and Nebraska.

“Coach Germano is meeting with football players to outline his vision for the team. He will also meet with parents to discuss his plans,” the school said in its announcement

“We know Coach Germano will not only develop a winning program but will inspire our players to reach their greatest personal potential,” school president Kevin Sacco said in the announcement. “At the foundation of this program will be the bedrock of our Catholic faith.”

On January 10th, St. Thomas chose not to bring back Tarig Holman, who had an unprecedented run in three seasons, going 27-6. He came on board from JFK after the sudden passing of Brian Meeney in the spring of 2001, and continued the success that Meeney had built.

Following Meeney’s 9-1 team in 2020, Holman had the Trojans go 9-2 in 2021, 10-1 in 2023, and 8-3 this past season with a playoff win, the program’s first since 2001.

Aquinas has not lost a single game to a Big Central Conference opponent since Meeney was coach. They have won 31 straight against the Big Central, with their last loss coming to in 2020 to Bernards, which, ironically, has the league’s second longest win streak against conference opponents, now at 23 games.

The school did not give a reason for letting Holman go, declining to comment on personnel decisions when reached by Central Jersey Sports Radio.