New Jersey's Best Coaches

I’ve always felt that I could hold my own in a conversation about high school football, basketball and baseball whether it is with a coach or a fan.
However when it comes to wrestling I will admit to being lost when it comes to the intricacies of a sport that is brutal and raw and the ultimate test of man versus man. What I can tell you with supreme confidence is the shore area is loaded with top teams, great individuals and probably the best group of coaches you will find anywhere in New Jersey.

Long Branch has finished the season as the top ranked team in the New Jersey Wrestling Coaches Association poll. The Green Wave join Jackson Memorial and Brick Memorial as the only shore teams to be ranked #1 in the final poll of the season. Long Branch went 26-1 and among their accomplishments claimed the Shore Conference and NJISAA Group 2 titles. Proving how tough the shore area is Brick Memorial, Southern and Jackson Memorial all finished in the state’s top ten.

From an individual standpoint 42 wrestlers will represent the shore at the state championships in Atlantic City this weekend and quite a few of them rate the role of serious title contenders. That group includes returning state champions Vinnie DelleFave of Toms River East and Jimmy Lawson of Manchester. Steve Santos of Brick Memorial and Southern Regional’s Glenn Carson lost in the finals last March and are good bets to go all the way this time around. Throw in wrestlers like Mike Morales of Brick Memorial, Dan Seidenberg of Raritan, Jon Robertson & Omar Akel of Long Branch and a host of others and its easy why some experts think as many as half of the champions crowned in Atlantic City on Saturday could be from Ocean and Monmouth County.

Ask those who have followed the sport for a long time and they will tell you the reason for all this success is the number of outstanding coaches who roam the mats. Danny George of Long Branch, Dan O’Cone from Brick Memorial, John Stout from Southern, Toms River East’s legendary Warren Reid, Ocean’s Ken Hoff, John Gagliano of Howell, Chris Madigan of Toms River North, Rob Nucci of Raritan and Central’s Mike Bischoff to name just a few. Plus the list of assistant coaches is every bit as impressive.

It all adds up to great wrestling and it’s right here every winter.