Carr comes home

Salem brings former Penns Grove, Winslow football coach back to the game to coach at his alma mater

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM — Salem High School went back to its roots to land the next coach for its football program.

Kemp Carr, a Salem native, former Rams athlete and former championship head coach at another school in the county, was approved unanimously by the Salem City Schools board Wednesday night to become the Rams next head football coach.

He replaces Danny Mendoza, who stepped down after his first season as the Rams’ head coach to pursue other opportunities. Carr plans to meet his team for the first time Tuesday and start the process of returning the Rams to their past glory.

The 51-year-old Montclair State grad was approved as a physical education teacher at the high school and the weight room supervisor we well. The positions carry a total compensation package of $96,864, which includes a $5,947 stipend as head football coach. Those figures can be adjusted upon settlement of the contract.

“It’s exciting for our kids, for our school, to be able to hire somebody with the experience, the knowledge, Kemp has,” said Salem principal John Mulhorn, who actually coached with Carr for a year before moving into administration. “Kemp is from Salem, he’s played for Salem, he’s had a lot of success outside of Salem and when we communicated about his possibly coming back for the high school coaching position here I was very excited because I know it’s going to really help continue to move the football program forward.”

The new coach continues a long line of Salem men who have coached the Rams football team. Each of the four coaches prior to Mendoza were former Rams who returned to coach at their alma mater — Montrey Wright, Dennis Thomas, Randy Johnson and Steve Sheffield.

And Carr has a connection to them all, which inspires him even more to keep the tradition rolling.

“Dennis Thomas came in and laid the foundation; Montrey Wright built the structure, did a nice job with that, built a house; we’re coming in to do the interior decorating,” Carr said. “When you understand the tradition of what a Ram means and what it is, and to have sat in the very same seat the scholar-athletes have done is a thrill. Me and my family are extremely ecstatic of the opportunity.”

His friends have been pushing for him to get the Salem job since 2007. Actually, he really wasn’t sure he wanted back in after he left Winslow. He was running two successful private businesses and liked the independence of moving to his own beat. It was actually his wife of 22 years Iris who nudged him back into football.

The job did draw a lot of interest, Mulhorn said, but Carr quickly moved to the top of the list because of his ties to the community and record of success.

“When you and I spoke at the (basketball) playoff game a couple weeks ago I said it was going to make a splash and it will make a splash because it is a big deal (bringing home a native son),” Mulhorn said. “He understands our scholar-athletes, he understands our community and he’s familiar with the conference, which is neat, too. So, it’s a win-win for us.

“To me, with Mr. Wright stepping down, Mr. Mendoza stepping down – two great guys – it was just important to be able to find somebody that we hoped to bring more stability to the program. Knowing that he’s a local guy, knowing this is a job he’s always really wanted, in my opinion, is exciting to me.

“To get someone who wants to be here, who wants to be committed, is always a hard find and I think that’s what we found in this young man.”

Carr brings with him a winning mentality and an ability to forge relationships that go beyond the huddle. He 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, but he was later reinstated by the board after impassioned testimony from the players, parents and opposing coaches he has impacted there and beyond.

He really didn’t want the athletics director position he took with the Winslow football job just to bring some administrative stability to the program anymore and sought a return to the classroom, but stepped away altogether when there were no classroom slots available.

He’s been in private business since.

“You never know where God is going to place you,” Carr said. “This was nothing I saw. I really loved what I was doing, but I prayed and I meditated and it was like ‘you’re needed.’ And when you’re needed sometimes you have to give up what you like to do what’s right spiritually, and that’s how this basically came about.”

Now his charge is to take a team that fell on some hard times last year but still made the playoffs and turn them back into a consistent winner again.

“We made this a full-family tilt; that’s what we’re going to bring at Salem – we’re a family, man,” Carr said. “We’re going to give these kids opportunities and provide them. As long as they put in and do the things that are needed of them and handle their expectations we have for them, they’re going to have opportunities.

“Salem never lacks athletes, that’s never an issue. It’s just going to be about timing, development, getting back to the basics of fundamental football. That’s what we’re going to build from and then we’ll go from there.”

With Carr’s approval Wednesday night, two of the three head coaching openings in Salem County have now been filled. Penns Grove approved Mark Maccarone as its new coach Monday and Woodstown is expected to approve Frank Trautz as its new coach Thursday.