Coaching carousel

Penns Grove sends Maccarone for board approval tonight, Salem to recommend Carr for its opening Wednesday, Woodstown new coach said to be on agenda Thursday 

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

It’s a big week in Salem County football as all three current head coaching vacancies in the county are expected to be filled, the first two with the return of two coaches with a history of winning and relationships.

Penns Grove is putting up former Glassboro head coach and Red Devils assistant Mark Maccarone for approval at tonight’s Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District board meeting. His position and those to approve several other head coaches and assistants are listed in the night’s agenda.

Salem is putting former Penns Grove and Winslow head coach Kemp Carr before the board for approval at the Salem City School District meeting at the high school Wednesday. Salem High School athletics director Darryl Roberts declined to confirm the identify of the candidate.

Woodstown’s next scheduled board meeting is Thursday and its new coach is said to be on the agenda.

Maccarone, who is expected to attend tonight’s meeting, was 43-33 at Glassboro with playoff appearance each of his first five years before the program hit hard times. He won two South Jersey Group I titles and reached the semifinals two other times.

After stepping stepped down from the Bulldogs after seven years of commuting between Bridgeton and the school, former Penns Grove coach John Emel scarfed him up to be the Red Devils’ defensive coordinator during their 2018-19 championship run and has helped with the program in a less formal capacity post-COVID.

Emel, who has worked with, for and against both projected new coaches, has said Maccarone “checks all the boxes.”

The other Penns Grove coaches slated for approval on the agenda are football assistants Damian Ware and Kyle Goodson, soccer head coaches Mano Massari and Shawna Blickle, baseball coach Charles Weigle III, softball coach Dionna Hargrove, track coaches Samuel Alvira and Marcus Dowe, and their assistants.

Carr won 85 games as head football coach at Penns Grove and Winslow. He was 74-34 at Penns Grove from 2004-2013, playing in three South Jersey Group I title games and winning it in 2012. He also coached basketball (137-68) and golf there.

He was 11-18 from 2015-2017 at Winslow, in a program that had won only seven games in the four years prior to his arrival. His final year was marred by a late-season suspension for a head-slapping incident in the locker room captured on video. He was later reinstated by the board after impassioned testimony from players, parents and opposing coaches, but resigned that summer when his hopes of returning to the classroom didn’t materialize.

Carr would replace Danny Mendoza, who stepped down at the end of his first season to pursue other opportunities.

Woodstown is looking to replace John Adams, who stepped down from coaching at the end of this season to spend more time with his family.

Story will be updated after Monday’s board meeting.