Measures in the state legislature would offer protections, pensions for high school coaches
Contrary to popular belief, the high school football coach at (inset your favorite school here) is not striking it rich. Quite the contrary. Not only that, but unlike teachers in a district, they have no protection from the whims anyone in charge. There’s no “tenure” for a high school baseball coach. On average, New Jersey State Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson) says high school football coaches make about $9,000 a year. If you broke that down by game for a team that plays ten games, that’s $900 a week for ten weeks. That’s not bad if that was all they did.…
Keep reading
South Brunswick’s Hendricks runs GMC’s social media, promoting league, players and coaches
When C.J. Hendricks put aside his baseball uniform, stepping away from coaching to lead the South Brunswick Athletic Department, the book was out quickly on his style: He would use all the newest technology available to promote his school’s athletic teams, the student-athletes, their coaches and their achievements. Now, he’s added the Greater Middlesex Conference social media channels and website to his list of 24/7 tasks, taking over those duties this past December. Social media knows no deadline, other than “get it up as fast as you can.” It can be a beast to maintain. But Hendricks has the chops…
Keep reading
Joe LaSala talks his exit from Woodbridge, building lifelong connections with Barrons
The news began circulating less than a week ago, making the rounds privately at first, then publicly on social media as current and former players chipped in their praise, plaudits, sadness and disappointment. By Wednesday morning, it was out: Joe LaSala had resigned at Woodbridge after six seasons. It was news that came as a shock to many. The 34-year-old was 37-20 during his tenure, taking Woodbridge all the way to the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 title game in 2019. Their run ended there, losing to Northern Highlands, which won its first of three straight sectional titles. And…
Keep reading
Woodbridge coach Joe LaSala steps down
After six seasons at the helm of the Woodbridge football program, head coach Joe LaSala resigned last night, confirming the news this morning to Central Jersey Sports Radio. LaSala says he plans to meet with with his team on Friday to talk about his decision. “I’ve worked every single day for the last six years, and just recently had my first daughter,” LaSala said. LaSala was 37-20 in his time as the Barrons’ head coach. Debuting with a 5-5 season in 2018, Woodbridge followed that up with a 10-1 campaign in 2019 – its best season under LaSala – which…
Keep reading
Two fundraisers support former and current Central Jersey H.S. athletes
Every so often, a fundraiser will pop up on GoFundMe for some important cause, or someone who needs financial help after a personal setback. It just so happens there are two going on now for a couple of Central Jersey high school athletes. The first to come up was one for Bohdan Biekietov. He’s a junior at Montgomery who only arrived in this country in September with his sister and mother from Odesa, Ukraine. Bohdan is the starting big man on the Cougar basketball team that won the Central Jersey Group 4 title this year, and was named the Central…
Keep reading
Big-name universities aren’t the only ones not thrilled with expanded Friday night college football coverage coming this fall
Earlier this month, FOX Sports announced it will air a package of college football games on Friday nights, involving teams from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West Conferences. But the news didn’t exactly draw rave reviews from everyone. The goal for FOX is to take advantage of what has generally been an open time slot. Typically, Friday night games might happen early in the season or the day after Thanksgiving. But the new package will be for the entire season, though no matchups have been announced. Still, some schools aren’t thrilled. And neither is the NFHS, the National…
Keep reading
Poore brings a wealth of experience in Sayreville tradition, but plans some new traditions, too
If there’s one thing Mark Poore knows, it’s how deeply-rooted football is in Sayreville. Like the sign says, it is Bomber Country. Not every town in Middlesex County is like that. Sure, they may have long histories, and successful pasts, but football beats through the heart of Sayreville like few other places. You could see it when football helped heal the town after Superstorm Sandy, and a couple of years later when a hazing scandal practically ripped out the town’s heart. Poore was there well before all of it, and has been ever since. As a quarterback, he was All-Area…
Keep reading
Bomber alum Mark Poore promoted, taking over the reins as football coach at Sayreville
Sayreville assistant and alum Mark Poore has been promoted and named the Bombers’ new football coach. The former quarterback – who later played at Montclair State – was approved by the Sayreville Board of Education at its February meeting – per the meeting minutes – along with two assistants, Gary Andrewshetsko and James DiPaolo. DiPaolo was previously head coach at his alma mater, North Plainfield, from 2017 through 2021 following two seasons as defensive coordinator. Poore passed for nearly 1,000 yards and ran for more than 500 while running the option during his senior season at Sayreville in 2003, in…
Keep reading
Analysis: NJSIAA’s football changes will bring “multiplier” closer to reality in 2024
For those high school sports fans with a laser focus on Championship Week in basketball – which culminated over the weekend with Friday’s GMC title games, and Saturday’s SCT finals – the approval of changes to the football playoff system last week may have fallen under the radar. But an initial analysis of the tweaks okayed by the NJSIAA’s Executive Committee last week shows the new rules should bring a little more sanity – and fairness – to how multipliers affect playoff standing, even if it makes the system slightly more complicated. In essence, it boils down to this: Multipliers…
Keep reading
Sofilkanich out as Sayreville football coach
After just one season, Don Sofilkanich is out as the head football coach at Sayreville War Memorial High School. Athletic Director Jen Badami confirmed the news to Central Jersey Sports Radio Tuesday morning in a text message, saying “Coach Sofilkanich will not be returning to Sayreville next year.” Badami did not comment further, and a messages for the Sayreville Superintendent, Dr. Richard Labbe, and Soflikanich were not immediately returned. It appears to be the first coaching change in the Big Central following more than two dozen over the past two seasons, with 14 new mentors heading teams going into 2022,…
Keep reading
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.