Abrupt ending

Pennsville girls basketball coach Merritt resigns after two winning seasons with the team, Efelis promoted to head coach

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – On rhe day of one of its biggest games of the season the Pennsville girls find themselves a team in transition following the abrupt resignation of head coach Steve Merritt.

The long-time county coach, in his second year with the Eagles after coming out of retirement, stepped down after practice Monday night. 

Assistant coach Robin Efelis immediately was promoted to head coach. The Eagles host county rival Woodstown tonight in a game that has some bearing on the Tri-County Diamond Division race.

Neither Merritt nor Pennsville athletics director Jamy Thomas would comment on the elements of what led to the resignation.

“It was a very, very, very difficult decision to make,” Merritt said. “In part, for my health, both mental and physical, it’s just not a good idea to continue.”

Merritt, 73, was 28-16 in his two seasons at Pennsville. He came out retirement last year and directed the team to an 18-10 record and the quarterfinals of the South Jersey Group I tournament. He helped produce three 1,000-point scorers – Nora Ausland, Marley Wood and, this year, Taylor Bass.

His all-time record as a basketball coach, including 19 years at Salem, is 285-246. He was inducted into the Salem County Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.

This year’s team is 10-6 and currently tied with Glassboro for first place in the TCC Diamond Division. It beat Woodstown 47-46 in their first meeting in January, ending the Wolverines’ 39-game winning streak against in-county competition.

“I was under the impression the kids had learned some things,” Merritt said of his time with the team. “This freshmen group that came in, the six players who came in, they made some significant improvements over the skills that I saw when they first started, and I’m not going to say it was solely because of me. But they learned some things and I did my best to teach them some things. Hopefully in the future that will carry on, but who’s to say.

“Beyond that, the numbers speak for themselves. We were successful. They have a genuine shot at winning today and if they take care of business against Penns Grove and Schalick then they can share the title with Glassboro. I told them yesterday at the start of practice they needed to do two things – play as a five-person group, not a four, not a three, but as a five-person group, and they needed to take care of the ball.”

Efelis, meanwhile, has been with the program for the last five years, through the tenures of former coach Sam Trapp and Merritt. Thomas said in a statement “the administration is confident that Coach Efelis is the perfect person to help lead us through this transition.”

The Eagles made Efelis’ coaching debut a success, overcoming the turmoil to win the game 47-33.

Top photo: Steve Merritt makes a point during a timeout in one of his first games as coach of the Pennsville girls basketball team.