‘Fits all the bills’

Assistant coach Leamy approved by board to become Schalick’s new head football coach; choice applauded by players

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Schalick has found its new head football coach – and he was already in the house.

Kevin Leamy, an assistant coach with big-picture focus already teaching in the district, was approved Thursday night to become the Cougars’ next coach in a board meeting at the high school.

“I am super excited, but also humbled, that they decided to go with me,” said Leamy, who attended the meeting. “There were a lot of qualified people who applied for the position who have a lot of wins in high school football so being someone who has no high school head coach experience it was something that was humbling, but I believe I sold my vision on what the program should be, is going to be, and they believed in me, so I’m excited to get started and see where it goes.”

He succeeds 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 Group I sectional championships each of the last two years.

Leamy, 38, a special education teacher in the district, was an integral part of that staff. He coached various positions on both sides of the ball in his three years with Wilson, 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.”

The fact he was already in district, is raising his family in the district and is familiar with the players he inherits checked a big box for Schalick athletics director Doug Volovar, who recommended Leamy after interviews with six finalists that included some current and former South Jersey head coaches.

“He has been a very solid staff member as a coach for the last three years,” Volovar said. “I think he has the depth of knowledge and understand of the game, a very good rapport with the kids he currently coaches and I think he was a good decision with regard what we looking for – somebody who’s a pillar of the community, is vested in the school district and somebody who really cares what’s right for the kids.

“He fits all the bills for it.”

A group of about a dozen players sat in on the board meeting wearing their Schalick jerseys in a show of support for their new coach. Assistant coach Henry Papiano addressed the board during public comments and touted Leamy’s football knowledge and connectivity with the players that he called “second to none.”

“I really like it,” rising senior kicker Hunter Dragotta said. “Everyone knows him, he knows everybody. All the kids love him. When he was at practice he interacted with everybody. We’re all super excited. Everyone wanted it to be him. We were all praying and hoping it would be him.”

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

In his three years on the Schalick staff, the Cougars have gone 26-8 – 7-3, 11-1, 8-4 – won back-to-back WJFL Horizon Division crowns and played for Central Jersey and South Jersey Group I championships 

“I like the idea there’s been a lot of success over last couple years and he’s been a part of it,” Volovar said. “There’s continuity and we have a group of kids (who) like him, they respect him and think he’s a very good football coach.

“Quite frankly, there were great candidates who applied for the job. Something that made sense was the idea he’s here for the long haul and to me that says lot about who he is and his character and that’s what I look for in a coach – somebody who has loyalty, somebody who thinks about our school and district first and is prepared to propel our program to higher level than it already is.”

Leamy’s vision for the program is to sustain the success provided by the “fantastic foundation” laid out by his predecessor. With so many of his players involved in spring sports – a situation he favors, by the way – he said he plans to hold a mini-camp for his team right after the Meet of Champions track championship and get started on meeting some ambitious goals.

“I have two goals and they’re big goals,” he said. “I want to beat Woodstown and Glassboro. That’s my goal.

“Since I’ve been here we’ve had a lot of success but we haven’t had any success against those two teams (the Cougars are 0-17 combined since 2014 and beaten each only once since 2010), and if you want to be what people talk about when they talk about Group I football you’ve got to start beating those teams. So, I think that’s the goal, to get over that hurdle and start beating those elite teams and then keep doing it every year.”

Leamy makes his head coaching debut at home in a Week Zero game against Somerville that originally had been a matchup for the Battle At The Beach. The Pioneers went 12-1 last season and lost to Mainland in the Group 3 state semifinals.

“I love starting the season off with that challenge, especially with the way that powr points and the index is set up,” he said. “Even if you lose that game you’re still going to be in a phenomenal position going forward.” 

Cougars heading to Cooperstown

In other athletics related action, the board approved the Schalick baseball team’s two-day trip to Cooperstown, N.Y., to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and play Bridgeton in a May 12 game at Doubleday Field. It also approved the appointment of Robert Morris as a volunteer golf coach.

“The Cooperstown trip will be a unique opportunity for our players to learn more about the history of the game they play along with creating memories of playing on Doubleday Field,” Cougars baseball coach Sean O’Brien said. “It’s an experience not many players get to have and will create memories with their teammates.

“I have done this trip a couple times before when I coached at Salem and the former players still talk about their memories of playing at Cooperstown.”

Top photo: Kevin Leamy addresses the school board Thursday after being approved as Schalick’s new head football coach.