Watchung Hills veteran Joe Ascolese promoted from OC to head coach of Warrior football program after departure of Rich Seubert

Joe Ascolese, the Watchung Hills football team’s Offensive Coordinator who has spent nearly two decades on the program’s staff over two stints, has been named the Warrriors’ new head coach, following the recent departure of Rich Suebert.

The move was approved Tuesday night by the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education, according to Athletic Director Dan Root.

Ascolese has been the team’s OC since 2019, and also was with the program as an assistant from 2005 through 2015. In between, he coached split ends, tight ends and defensive backs at A.L. Johnson in Clark.

He has also been a teacher at Watchung Hills for more than two decades, and was named Watchung Hills Regional High School Educator of the Year in 2024.

Seubert stepped down in late March after a ten-year run leading the Warrior football program. He turned the program’s fortunes around in a few years, getting the team to .500 at 5-5 in 2019, and went 5-2 in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

The Warriors’ best two seasons under his tutelage came in 2022 and 2023. The first of those teams went 7-3, while the ’23 squad went 8-3, with an opening round playoff win over Bridgewater-Raritan, just the program’s second playoff win ever. In 2023, Seubert was named Somerset County Coach of the Year by the Bill Denny/Rutgers Football Letterwinners Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

Seubert’s squads finished 41-57 over ten seasons, and Athletic Director Dan Root says Seubert’s impact was felt more than just in terms of wins and losses, and Xs and Os on the football field.

“We were very fortunate to have him as our head coach for as long as we did,” Root told CJSR Saturday morning via text message. “He gave so much to the program, the school and the community, and for that I am incredibly grateful. I know that ultimately whatever he decides to do, he will be successful.”

Suebert was a starter on the Giants’ offensive line in their Cinderella Super Bowl XLII run that culminated with a 17-14 win over New England, the David Tyree “Helmet Catch” game. According to the Giants website, he played in 104 games for Big Blue with 88 starts over nine seasons after joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2001.

Please check back later for an interview with Coach Ascolese!