Cougars tab their coach

Assistant Kevin Leamy is on the agenda for board approval as Schalick’s next head football coach

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Schalick is a day away from naming its next head football coach.

Kevin Leamy, an assistant with big-picture focus already teaching in the district, is on the agenda to come before the board Thursday night and pending its approval will be the Cougars’ next football coach.

If approved, he will succeed Mike Wilson, who is leaving at the end of the school year to become the head coach at Clearview. Wilson guided the Cougars for five years, taking them from a program that didn’t win a game his first season to playing for a Group I sectional championship each of the last two years.

When approved, he will be the fourth new head football coach hired in Salem County within the past year. Pennsville’s Mike Healy is now the longest active head football coach at a county school.

Leamy, a special education teacher in the district, was an integral part of the Cougars’ staff. He coached various positions in his three years as an assistant, most recently as offensive line coach.

“He was a big help with some of the big picture stuff and you need that to run the program properly,” Wilson said. “It was very helpful to have him on the staff. As a head football coach you’re worrying about all that CEO stuff, so it’s nice to have a guy to help you out with the football stuff.

“He made some good adjustments, some really good calls. He was definitely an asset.”

Leamy played his high school football at Gateway and collegiately at Wesleyan University. He previously had coaching assignments at Gateway and Clearview. His background also includes spending a year and a half interning with the New York Jets game operations.

He declined comment Wednesday night.

On the cover: Schalick assistant Kevin Leamy (R), the Cougars’ recommendation for their next head football coach, stands with linebacker Riley Papiano after a game last season.