Chris Meagher believes “he hit a home run” by adding former East Brunswick head football coach Andy Steinfeld to the Chargers coaching staff. 

With 31 years of coaching football, five as a head coach, Steinfeld joins his son Matt, affectionately called “Coach Stein” by the Chargers’ players and staff.

Matt Steinfeld enters his fourth season with Spotswood and is a guidance counselor at the high school. He did not play football in high school, but he was a member of the baseball team at East Brunswick.

His first year at Spotswood he was offered a position with the football program and made a smooth transition learning the subtleties of the game while possessing a genuine care for the student athletes he would be coaching or advising for the Chargers.

Now, with the addition of his father to the coaching staff, Matt’s quarterbacks will spend plenty of time meshing with the running backs as Meagher intends to use “Coach Steinfeld” as his running backs coach, while Andy has plenty of experience with the zone read offense.

With returning quarterback Senior Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage orchestrating the offense and Senior Sebastian Saracino, a three-year starter at running back, the Steinfelds will play an integral role in the team’s offensive development and success.

Furthermore, Spotswood’s mentor intends to utilize his most experienced assistant coach in the press box on game day as he will be “my eyes in the sky,” since Andy brings a wealth of knowledge, which includes playing for championships in December.

As for Matt, he will be on the sidelines as the Special Teams Coordinator, with the responsibility of getting the correct personnel on the field when needed in a timely fashion.  He will also have time to personally talk to his quarterbacks as they come off the field about any reads or adjustments needed for the offense.

When asked about how unique this opportunity was to coach with his father, Coach Stein said “I may not have the words right now, but one day we are going to look back on this and it’s going to be cool.  I get to coach with the man I idolized growing up.”

For Andy, it was a no-brainer to accept the offer to coach at Spotswood for several reasons. They are a talented team with plenty of experience and the desire to take the program to new heights, but more importantly, it was the chance to coach with his son.

“There is nothing better than working every day with my son. To see him coach a sport he didn’t play, I can be a proud dad and if I can end my career as a coach doing it with Matt, there is not a better situation for me personally.”

As the season gets underway in earnest on August 11, the Chargers will have a practice run with the experienced eyes of Coach Steinfeld in the press box as they take on South Plainfield in a final tune-up before their season opener at home on Thursday August 28 at 7 p.m.