After fours seasons as Plainfield’s head football coach – the last of which he spent on the sidelines with a bad back – James Williams and the Cardinals are parting ways.
Plainfield has posted for the head coaching position – with the notice also included in this week’s NJFCA newsletter – and Williams confirmed the news to Central Jersey Sports Radio Tuesday morning.
Laid up with a back injury, Williams didn’t coach at all this season, with assistant Al-Majeed Hutchins taking the reins. He led the Cardinals to a 6-4 record, their best since 2005, which also was the last time Plainfield beat Westfield on Thanksgiving until last Thursday, when they pulled out a 14-9 win in the rain at Kehler Stadium.
Going 6-5 last season, it’s the first time Plainfield has had back-to-back winning seasons since they did it four straight years from 1996 to 1999.
Hutchins told Central Jersey Sports Radio Tuesday he’ll be applying for the post, and he would seem to be a natural fit. He guided this year’s team, of course, and hiring him as the “next” head coach would create a consistency for Plainfield they haven’t had much of before Williams arrived on the scene.
Hutchins played for Williams at East Orange, with his senior season 2006, before committing to and signing to play at Rutgers, later transferring to Stony Brook.
Williams’ three-year tenure at Plainfield – not counting this year, since he wasn’t on the sidelines – yielded a 16-16 record. In the ten years prior, under five different coaches, Plainfield went a combined 15-80.
