Late-hired Big Central coaches may need honeymoon period as they get to know their teams, assemble staffs with little time before camp

By the time the Fourth of July rolled around, eleven new football coaches had already been hired in the Big Central Conference for 2025, with one – Perth Amboy – on the way.

That makes 25 coaching changes in the league in the last two seasons alone. And after the Panthers’ new skipper Evan Baubles got approved by the Board of Education this past Thursday, the 12th coach was in place, but there was to be one more, although it actually had happened earlier.

Phlip McGuane stepped down just a few weeks ago at Dunellen, a year after replacing Dave DeNapoli, the Destroyers’ mentor for the previous 29 seasons. In his place will be the new Coordinator of Athletics, Kyle Baach, in his first head coaching job.

That’s 13 coaching changes for 2026, with 26 of 59 schools changing leaders in the past two seasons.

Some happen early. Andy Steinfeld at Spotswood was one of the first, getting hired in January. So was Anthony Nyers, with the Woodbridge alum getting hired across town at JFK in February. Even a hire like Joe Ascolese at Watchung Hills in April wouldn’t be considered terribly late, since he was already the Offensive Coordinator and in the program for nearly two decades over two different stretches.

But some happen much later, like Baubles, Baach, and North Plainfield’s Steven Brown, who was hired in June to replace Derrick Eatman, who’s now at Franklin as an assistant to Blair Wilson.

“If I was hired July 9th, I don’t know if I’m going to have anyone I want coaching with me,” said Marcus Borden on this week’s special edition of our “Gameday” podcast on Central Jersey Sports Radio. “When I came into East Brunswick, I was hired in the Spring, but I was not able to get to hire any of the asisstants that I might want.”

When he was hired at East Brunswick, Borden says he “took the staff that’s there,” and after that “made some adjustments accordingly” after that first season.

But there’s also the aspect of working with your players – when allowed to by NJSIAA rule – as well as just the simple matter of being in the same building with them, keeping an eye on them, developing a rapport, even down to making sure off-season weight training is going the way you want it to.

There were 13 new coaches in the Big Central Conference in 2025, and at least five were hired in May or later. The latest was Geoff Chrisman, who was already a teacher at New Brunswick, but named football coach in June. The program had not won a game since 2021 under two different coaches, and while the team lost its first nine games, they picked up a 36-0 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro South in their finale on November 29th.

And that was progress.

McGuane was a late hire in May, but Dunellen had been 0-10 the year before (after a 5-4 2023) and the Destroyers went 0-9 in 2025, with a new head coach for 2026. Issa-Abdul Quddus took over at Hillside in May, and went 5-5 after a 6-3 season the year before under Barris Grant. Linden was 4-6 in Al Chiola’s last season, and Mark Ciccotelli went 3-5 in his first season after being hired in May. Ridge fell a bit, but had some big graduation losses, as Jeff Sutherland’s squad went 5-4 following an 8-2 season in 2024 for Andy West; Sutherland – a Ridge alum – had already been the program’s Defensive Coordinator.

In 2024, the stunning resignation of Joe LaSala at Woodbridge in late March set off a coaching carousel that spread into June. Joe Goerge left South Brunswick to lead the Barrons and was appointed in April, Ebrahim Halsey left Roselle to take the Vikings’ post in June, and Tyrone Turner was hired at Roselle in July.

Goegre, of course, walked into a great situation at Woodbridge, with a roster packed with standouts including the Anderson brothers – QB Derek, WR Bryan – and others like Josh Allen and Jahmir Beal. Thye went 10-1 in 2024, and a still-solid 8-3 last season.

But after South Brunswick went 5-5 in Gorge’s final season in Monmouth Junction, Halsey went just 3-6 in 2024 before improving by one win in 2025. And Turner – hired only about a month before preseason camp was set to begin – managed to go 4-7 after a 4-6 season in Halsey’s last campaign, but was not brought back for ’26 after a 2-9 season in 2025.

Dave Markowitch was another one: Hired in June 2024 by Manville, he was already in the program over a decade, working under Pat Gorbatuk, who became the Athletic Director. And he just kept on winning, even bringing the program its first-ever playoff win this season. They’re 17-4 over the past two seasons.

Late hires seem to work better when it’s been someone already in the program. And early hires are no guarantee. But that may not be anyone’s fault; sometimes the talent or numbers just aren’t there in enough quantities to be successful on a regular basis.

Look how long it took Highland Park to snap their 51-game losing streak in 2023. That started long before Shawn Harrison took over the program. Early or not, he worked on recruiting kids in the hallways and putting together flag football in town just to get kids brought up to speed on the basics, so when the got to be an Owl, they had a solid background in the concepts of the game.

Not only did the Owls snap a 51-game, seven-year, 2,534-game losing streak, in their final game of the season, finishing 1-9 in 2023, but they went 6-3 the following season. Sometimes, that one win is all you need.

Sometimes, you just need a little more time, whether you’re hired right after the last season ends, or a month before camp opens.