Piscataway’s Dan Higgins inducted into NJFCA Hall of Fame; Montgomery’s Milich receives Lifetime Achievement Award at Phil Simms North/South All-Star Classic

When Dan Higgins – the longtime head football coach at Piscataway High School – was inducted into the New Jersey Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame this weekend, the honor may have given Piscataway a quite distinct one.

It’s unknown (though we’ll try and dig to find out) whether anyone else has had three consecutive Hall of Fame coaches spanning 55 years in any other program in New Jersey, but that’s what Piscataway now has.

Higgins was inducted along with three others – while Montgomery’s Zoran Milich, who stepped down as coach earlier this year, was given the Dr. John Bateman Lifetime Achievement Award – Sunday afternoon at the Phil Simms North/South All-Star Classic at Kean University in Union.

Higgins’ late father, Tom, was Piscataway’s coach from 1970 through 1989, and Dan was a waterboy for him before he was even a teenager. The senior Higgins was inducted in 2001. Joe Kuronyi succeeded him, coaching from 1990 through 2002, and was enshrined in 2010. Now Higgins, who has been coach since 2003, is in the Hall of Fame with them.

*Longtime Piscataway football coach Dan Higgins was inducted into the NJFCA Hall of Fame Saturday at the Phil Simms North/South All-Star Classic at Kean University in Union. (Graphic by John Thompson)*

That means that for all but eleven years of Piscataway football’s 66-year history on the gridiron, they were led by a Hall of Fame coach.

How many schools can claim that?

Higgins is 173-58 in 21 seasons (Piscataway sat out fall sports in 2020 due to COVID) and has won seven state titles, with ten championship games berths. (New Jersey didn’t start playing to group champions until 2022.) Koronyi won a title in 2002, and Tom Higgins won championships in 1974 – the first year of the playoff era – and 1981. Dan Higgins’ 2018 team won the inaugural North Group 5 NJSIAA “regional bowl” championship, beating Ridgewood at MetLife Stadium.

Zoran Milich – who founded the Montgomery program more than two decades ago, and just stepped down in the off-season – was given the John Bateman Lifetime Achievement Award. Milich won his 100th game this past season, and finishes his tenure at the helm of the Cougar program with a record of 104-121-1. His longtime offensive coordinator, Sean Carty, now is leading the program.

Former longtime Montgomery football coach Zoran Milich was honored with the Dr. John Bateman Lifetime Achievement Award by the NJFCA at the Phil Simms North/South All-Star Classic on Sunday at Kean University in Union. (Source: @FootballMonty on Twitter)

Click here to read out story on Milich from late-January, including a one-on-one interview.

Also inducted into the NJFCA Hall of Fame along with Higgins were:

Longtime Morris County coach Cosmo LoRusso, who coached at Roxbury, Sussex Tech and Pequannock
Nine-time state champion Joe Rotondo, who was head coach at Union City and has been a part of nine state champions, now an offensive line coach at St. Peter’s Prep
Longtime Cranford and AL Johnson coordinator Joe Hubert

Click below to hear Dan Higgins talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko about his induction into the NJFCA Hall of Fame, and his long career with the Chiefs’ program:

What about the game?

The South beat the North 19-18, with the event now split 21-21 with two ties. And two Big Central standouts were critical in the win. Derek Anderson of Woodbridge won the Offensive MVP award, while his twin brother Brian was the Defensive MVP. Both will be playing at West Chester in the fall.