Accorsi hits the recruiting trail in first day as Salem CC’s interim head football coach, would like to be the permanent leader when inaugural game comes next fall

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Jay Accorsi really thought he was done with coaching. When he told the Rowan football team he coached for 30 years – the last 22 as the head coach — on the last day of spring practice 2024 he was retiring he thought that was it. When his time was done, he was done and never looking back.

But like a lot of people of that certain age it didn’t take him long to get tired of being retired. Oh, the break was fun for a while, he got to follow his son’s final year of college soccer, but then he got the itch to do something familiar.

There was this little project he’d been quietly dabbling in for a while, this burning question of why there was no junior college football in New Jersey in general and South Jersey in particular when there were so many high school players either going elsewhere to play on the next level or just giving up the game (and the possibility of going to college) because they had no options. 

He had been gathering information in his travels with the Profs, and his retirement days gave him a chance to do an even deeper dive on the subject. The more he worked it, the more he believed this could really work in the right environment.

He took his data to Salem Community College president Mike Gorman and, guess what, he’s back in the game.

On Thursday night, the junior college’s board of trustees approved adding a football program to the school’s lineup of sports and installed Accorsi, who had been the paid consultant in the exploration, as interim head coach (and the betting favorite to become the permanent guy when that move is made.)

Suddenly, the man with the Santa Claus look was given the gift he had always been giving. 

As the interim head coach, it’ll be Accorsi’s mission to recruit players and do whatever it takes to “help the athletic director with everything that’s needed to help the program” as it moves towards a Fall 2026 Opening Day. His first task: Hit the recruiting trail Friday, starting with all the football-playing schools in Salem County (and Pennsville on Monday).

“It’s funny, I never thought I was (going to get back in); I walked away and was happy,” Accorsi said. “Everybody said I would get bored. I was OK for a while and then I got bored.

“Then the football bug hit. The concept of this idea really helped me be creative and put some information together and think if this could actually work. For me, the great part is, that was kind of validated tonight by a board to go ahead and proceed with something that I’ve thought about forever and really started to work on last winter.”

Salem athletics director Bob Hughes couldn’t be happier with the direction things are moving. The Mighty Oaks were going to announce the interim head coaching move Friday in conjunction with their classifying the sport with the NJCAA, but Hughes went ahead and pulled the trigger after Thursday’s board meeting.

“I’m excited to continue to grow the relationship with Jay,” he said. “He’s been a fantastic addition to the college and the athletic department and I’m excited with him to help us get this program truly off the ground.”

Gorman remembers that first conversation with Accorsi about the possibility of bringing football to Salem. Although he was familiar with the former coach and it was that association that got him in the door, Gorman thought they were talking about something else until about five minutes into the conversation.

“I honestly thought he was selling something,” Gorman said. “I knew of him as a football coach, but I didn’t know he was bringing in a proposal of that nature. I thought maybe he was representing a company that was doing equipment or whatever, but until we got into that conversation I didn’t know what we were specifically talking about.’

Actually Accorsi was selling something. He was selling football to a school that had never had it before.

As a former high school and college football player himself and visionary for the college, Gorman could see the merits of bringing the sport to campus. The college had done an analysis five years earlier and thought it was feasible, but with the onset of the COVID pandemic and other factors decided it wasn’t the time to proceed.

Sure, there’s is a financial risk – it’ll run nearly a half-million dollars in startup costs – but the college is said to be fiscally aligned to handle it, but in its mission of “changing lives,” as Gorman puts it, there was really no other capacity that could bring on such increased enrollment in such a rapid period of time.

(The news of the decision is spreading so quickly the athletics department received a half-dozen inquiries from prospective student-athletes before 10 a.m. Friday.)

The timing was absolutely right. As Accorsi had discovered in his research there was a plethora of underserved high school football athletes in the region and only one junior college football program between Central New York and Louisburg, N.C.

It was in that opportunity Accorsi and the college converged.

A national search will get underway to find a permanent leader of the program. It’s a safe bet Accorsi will be the odds on favorite — and he does want the job — but he knows nothing is guaranteed. And frankly he prefers it that way.

“When I was the assistant coach at Rowan and KC (Keeler) left to go to Delaware, I met with the AD several times and it was decided to do the national search and at the time I was very happy about that because I said I just don’t want you to hand me the job,” he said. “I want to earn it against everybody in the country and I feel the same way about this. I want to put myself in a position to earn the title and be able to do it down the road.

“They (Rowan) went to a national search, I had to interview, I had to go through the process. I learned a lot. I was very happy that I became head coach, but I was happy they did it that way and they didn’t hand it to me. I believe you earn things in life; you’re just not given things.”

From there he became the longest-tenured head coach in the program’s history, posting a record of 143-78 with seven conference titles and seven trips to the NCAA Division III playoffs. Two of his teams reached the national semifinals.

He seems to fit at least one of the criteria the policymakers are looking for in the permanent head coach.

“I want somebody who belongs to this area,” Gorman said. “I want somebody who’s really invested in Salem County and the region as a whole and believes in what we’re saying. This isn’t about the X’s and O’s about the game. This is about changing lives for young people.”

But what if he doesn’t become the guy after putting in all the legwork to get the program off the ground? As he has said nothing’s guaranteed.

“I’d still feel like I accomplished something because my main goal was to provide an opportunity for students and especially those in New Jersey to play football in an opportunity where they hadn’t,” Accorsi said. “So if I helped create that which we’re doing today then I’ve reached my goal and I helped do that. 

“I firmly believe that’s why I decided to do this and be involved in this because I wanted to make sure an underserved population was getting what they needed and that’s what I’m really proud of.”

And if he doesn’t land the job he can go back into retirement mode again — until the next big thing comes along to pique his interest. 

Salem CC board of trustees OK bringing football to campus for first time, inaugural game expected in Fall 2026; Accorsi named interim head coach

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT — The Salem Community College board of trustee Thursday approved the president’s recommendation to bring junior college football to the campus, an initiative the college president says will “change lives.”

The athletic department isn’t expected to formally launch the program until January, but Thursday’s vote gives the administrative green light to proceed with hiring coaches, recruiting players, buying equipment and building a schedule for the Fall of 2026.

“And the adventure begins,” president Mike Gorman said after the unanimous vote.

On Friday, the Mighty Oaks are expected to classify the sport with the National Junior College Athletic Association (Division III) and interim head coach Jay Accorsi will hit the road recruiting while a national search gets underway for a permanent leader of the program.

Accorsi, the retired Rowan University head coach, has long been intrigued with the idea of having junior college football in New Jersey. He pitched it to Gorman in the spring and has been a paid consultant on the project since August. His favorite saying throughout the process was “to make it hard for them to say no.”

“That’s kind of what I thought my job was all through the process, to help Bob (Hughes, Salem’s athletics director)) present the material with Dr. Gorman and make it really hard for them not to make the decision to do it,” Accorsi said. “That’s really what my goal was and so far we’ve done that.  We’ve got a ways to go, but so far we’ve done that.”

Supporters of the initiative said adding football would, among other things, raise the visibility of the college locally and regionally and increase enrollment not just through the 80-100 student-athletes the program would attract but through the ancillary programs that go with it such as cheer, band and support groups.

To maintain Title IX balance the school will be starting women’s volleyball in the fall. The board approved the appointment of Delaware club coach Andrea Bartlett as that program’s first head coach Thursday.

With the addition of the two newest sports, Salem now offers cross country in the fall, men’s and women’s basketball in the winter, and softball and baseball in the spring.

“We’re thrilled to have the board’s support; it’s a big day for Salem athletics,” Hughes said. “We couldn’t be more excited to bring football to Salem County at the collegiate level and we’re looking forward to getting to work. The best times are ahead.”

With the board approval and Accorsi’s interim head coaching tag, the school can now begin to recruit players for spring practice, build a schedule and enter formal discussions for a permanent practice site. Among the sites being considered are the preferred Carneys Point Recreation Complex, which could become home to all the Mighty Oaks’ outdoor sports; the local YMCA fields, the Walnut Street Field in Salem City, and the middle school fields adjacent to the Carneys Point/Penns Grove School District offices.

Home games are expected to be played in the Pennsville and Penns Grove High School stadiums.

The Mighty Oaks now join Sussex CC as the only two-year colleges in New Jersey that offer NJCAA-sanctioned football, a void proponents say will help the program attract players. Additionally, two other JUCOs in the region, Lackawanna (Pa) and Monroe (N.Y.), will be reclassifying to NCAA Division II, further opening the door for players.

The team is expected to play initially as an NJCAA Division III independent with a modified seven- or eight-game first-year schedule drawn from regional NJCAA Division I and III programs, four-year junior varsities and two-year technical colleges in the area. They must play a minimum of six games against NJCAA programs to qualify for the playoffs.

The college examined the feasibility of starting a football program five years ago, but decided not to pursue it at that time. This latest exploration was a “much deeper dive.” It was anticipated the board would vote on the proposal last month, but policymakers wanted more time to digest all the information laid out in a detailed report researched by Accorsi and presented Hughes.

The success of the vote was said to hinge on the amount of risk the board was willing to take to launch a program said to have start-up costs of nearly $500,000. Gorman said the college’s budget is aligned in a manner that leaves him confident they could afford it, adding if they couldn’t afford it he wouldn’t have proposed it in the first place. Athletic department officials have said those costs could be recouped within the first two years of operation.

The result of the vote seemed to indicate the risk was acceptable.

“I think once the board realized the commitment we had made on students, not just the game and the expenses, the finances surrounding it, but the commitment we were making to young people who currently don’t have this option and are not necessarily purusing higher education, once they grasped that I really think it turned the tide on everything and they realized everything else will fall into place,” Gorman said.

“If we’re doing this for the right reasons, and I firmly believe that we are, I really look at it that it’s going to change lives and that’s what we’re in the business of doing, changing lives. The whole idea is let’s make sure we are giving as many people an opportunity to pursue their dreams as they possibly can. This is a way we can do it that can change the lives of 100 people tomorrow we couldn’t do any other way.”

Top photo: Salem CC president Mike Gorman (L) talks football with athletics director Bob Hughes (R) and interim head coach Jay Accorsi after the school’s board of trustees approved starting a program for play in the Fall of 2026.

NJCAA DIVISION III FOOTBALL
Central Lakes-Brainerd (Minn.)
College of DuPage (Ill.)
Erie (N.Y.) CC
Hocking (Ohio) College
Hudson Valley (N.Y.) CC
Louisburg (N.C.) College
Minnesota North-Mesabi Range
Minnesota North-Vermilion
Minnesota State C&T
Minnesota West C&T
Nassau (N.Y.) CC
North Dakota College of Science
Rochester (Minn.) C&T
Salem CC

Response to Salem CC’s proposal to start football has been favorable, but it all rests on Thursday’s board vote; without sharing her vote, current board chair would be surprised if it didn’t pass

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – The out-going chairman of the Salem Community College board of trustees said earlier this week she would be surprised if the proposal to bring football to the two-year college for the first time this fall was not approved when it comes to an expected vote at next week’s board meeting.

While sentiment within the athletics department, college community and community at large remains positive, it will be up to the board to decide whether the plan goes forward and that decision hinges largely on the amount of risk policymakers are willing to accept.

Ida M. Bowen, in an interview following the banner-raising ceremony for last year’s Salem CC basketball success, declined to disclose the way she’ll vote on the measure, but she recognizes all the positives adding football would bring to the campus – as well as the risks.

“It would surprise me if it did not pass,” she said. “I can see the cons behind it and I can see the pros behind it. It’s all determined by whether we want to take that risk or not. We’ve done that before. We’ve taken the risk.”

The college has been formally exploring the possibility of bringing football on line since August, when it approved the contract of former Rowan University head coach Jay Accorsi as consultant to the project. Accorsi, the presumptive head coach if the Mighty Oaks add the sport, has been intrigued with the possibility of junior college football in New Jersey for some time and brought his ideas to SCC president Mike Gorman in May.

If the initiative is approved, the Mighty Oaks would begin play in the fall of 2026. They would be one of only two junior colleges in the state to offer NJCAA-sanctioned football, and the only one between Newton, N.J. (Sussex CC) and Louisburg, N.C.

A vote was anticipated at the October board meeting, but members wanted more time to digest the volume of information presented by athletics director Bob Hughes so it was delayed for another month and Accorsi’s consultant contract extended. Vice-chair Jason Supernavage said after the October meeting he wanted time to review the details before casting his vote.

The board held a work session last week and there was a sentiment when it was over of “everybody feeling comfortable” their concerns had been addressed.

“I think we’ve answered some of their questions that put them in doubt whether to do it or not,” Gorman said. “I don’t think there’s anybody who looks at this as a bad idea. What they’re doing is a risk analysis in their own mind … We don’t want to put the college in any jeopardy and honestly if we thought we were doing that, this proposal never would have seen the light of day.”

Bowen said she has not discussed the football issue with other board members individually and to her knowledge they have not discussed it outside the confines of board meeting discussions.

“We left the last meeting knowing next Thursday we’re going to vote,” she said. “We will find out on Thursday.”

Gorman would not presume to speak for the board or speculate on the outcome of the vote. There is history that suggests, however, major initiatives Gorman has brought before the board get approved.

“I’ve been in this business a long time, so I try not to have surprises,” the president said. “If we didn’t think we had support we wouldn’t force this onto the table for a review. It would have stopped by now.”

“It’s a lot for us to undertake,” Bowen said. “It’s a lot of commitment up front. It’s a risk. There’s hesitation of taking that risk, but there have been explanations to try to clear up any of that hesitation, and the comparison of other things we have taken risks on that have succeeded. Because we have that direction with president Gorman, he’s been successful in everything he’s done and we have full confidence in him, and I don’t think he would even offer this if he (was unsure of its success).”

Among the larger issues is securing a permanent practice site for the team. College officials have had informal discussions with potential stakeholders, but have been told no formal talks would occur until the board green lights the project.

Potential sites include the preferred Carneys Point Recreation Complex that currently serves as the Mighty Oaks’ baseball home, the Carneys Point YMCA fields, the Walnut Street Field in Salem and a piece of property currently held by the Penns Grove/Carneys Point School District. A key piece to the site for Salem is whether the property could be built upon.

Even if the board approves the proposal, the plan could be scrapped in January if the Mighty Oaks don’t secure a practice facility, have at least 20 prospective players in the fold and a schedule. Athletic department officials don’t believe the latter two issues are a problem at all.

Top photo: Salem CC athletics director Bob Hughes explains the finer points of the proposal to bring football to the college at the October board of trustees meeting.