Immaculata names alum Dallas Whitaker as Spartans’ new football coach, with former mentor Jeff Vanderbeek in tow

Dallas Whitaker will be coaching football in Somerville again this fall, but this time, he won’t be wearing orange and black.

It’ll be with the team wearing blue and white just a few blocks away, at his alma mater, Immaculata.

And his former mentor, Jeff Vanderbeek, will be with him.

The school announced the move in a press release Thursday morning, then held a meet-and-greet with the two later in the afternoon.

MORE COVERAGE: Whitaker, Vanderbeek and Immaculata AD Gambino talk Spartans’ splash with new football leadership

Whitaker will be the head coach and an “athletics associate,” while Vanderbeek will serve as program director for football. Further details are expected later Thursday.

Whitaker replaces Mike Columbo, who was 43-35 over eight seasons, but had only one sub-.500 campaign following an 0-7 year in the challenging COVID-shortened season. His best seasons were the last two, when the Spartans went 8-2 in 2024 and 9-3 this past season.

Immaculata played in the Mid-State 38 his first two seasons, and had planned to join the Big Central Conference in the merger between the GMC and Skyland Conference, but departed before ever playing a game following a disagreement with the league over scheduling.

Since then, they have been in the Super Football Conference, playing in the National White Division with the likes of Jersey City schools Snyder and Lincoln, and Newark opponents West Side, Shabazz and Weequahic.

Whitaker left Somerville after the 2021 season, his fourth, leading the Pioneers to a 36-6 record in that span and two sectional title games – against Rumson in 2018 and Woodrow Wilson (now Camden Eastside) in 2019. They went 7-0 in the COVID-shortened season, a team that very well would have competed for a sectional title, if the NJSIAA would have had playoffs that year.

At the time, Whitaker was about to get married, and received a promotion at his full-time job, becoming a partner at his real estate firm, and he told Central Jersey Sports Radio at the time that he couldn’t devote the time to coaching that he needed to.

Whitaker originally was brought on by Jeff Vanderbeek, the former New Jersey Devils owner who resurrected the program in 2016, after splitting time as co-head coach with Chris Cassamento in 2015. Somerville had lost 26 straight games – the second longest active streak in the state at the time – before snapping the skid with a win against North Plainfield, and finished the season 2-8.

The next year, Vanderbeek took the reins solo. And with Whitaker as Offensive Coordinator, they went 10-1, falling to Rumson-Fair Haven in the sectional semifinals in 2016, before beating the Bulldogs in 2017 to win the Central Jersey Group 3 title.

Between the two of them, The ‘Ville went 57-7, winning a Central Jersey Group 3 title in 2017 over Rumson-Fair Haven at Rutgers. Then, with Whitaker at the helm, finished the state ranked NO. 4 in the 2020 COVID year.

MORE COVERAGE: Whitaker, Vanderbeek and Immaculata AD Gambino talk Spartans’ splash with new football leadership

The move certainly could shake things up in the Somerset County portion of Big Central football, if a higher profile leads to more success in bringing new ninth graders into the program for Somerville and neighboring towns.

Whitaker was a walk-on at Rutgers under Kyle Flood, and later a student assistant coach, after playing for the late Pierce Frauenheim at Immaculata, a 2011 graduate.

He was a big-time pass rusher for the Spartans at defensive end, and also played tight end. In his junior season of 2009, Whitaker recorded eight sacks, eight QB hurries, and 62 tackles, and was a second-team All-Area pick, as well as second-team Non-Public All-State. He only played seven games his senior season after suffering a broken leg. All in all, he played 31 consecutive varisty games, served as team captain, and won sectional titles in 2008 and 2009 as a sophomore and junior.