Wrestling: It's a waiting game for next P'burg coach

It's summer business as usual for Phillipsburg's wrestling team. With that in mind, it seems there is no rush to appoint a head coach for the 2021-22 high school season.

Middle school coach Tim Longacre and high school assistant Brad Gentzle have been running things from an offseason standpoint in the wake of the arrests involving former head coach Dave Post and longtime assistant Scott Silvis. Both were charged for their alleged roles in a scheme that involved a threat made for a tenure vote at the Warren County school, where they have been employed in the mathematics department.

As for the high school position, Longacre, 48, said he has not submitted an application, but he did have conversations with school officials about the program's status moving forward in the interim.

Who will become P'burg's 13th head coach?

"We did briefly speak a couple of weeks back," Longacre said. "Brad and I are working entirely through the summer session. I think they were happy with that and the [high school] schedule is full."

Phillipsburg athletic director Tom Fisher and other school officials have not returned repeated phone messages seeking comment about the wrestling program. All high school coaching positions are one-year contracts and the wrestling job was posted earlier this month.

P'burg is set to participate in the Summer Goles event, as well as the Kalahari Duals in the Poconos in June and the traditional 1,000 Island Duals in August. But at some point, the Stateliners will need to name a head coach for the high school season. It was believed that a successor might be named at the next Board of Education meeting on June 7. But according to several sources, that isn't likely to happen this soon -- and possibly not even until the next school year begins in September.

Longacre, a former P'burg wrestler, remains the No. 1 candidate at this point. Former head coach Rick Thompson would love a fourth stint with the 'Liners. 

"No doubt about it. I'm interested," said Thompson, who now resides in Myrtle Beach, S.C., during an exclusive interview with Open Mike earlier this month. "I miss coaching. I miss teaching. I'd like to finish where I started. Garnet and Grey [the school's colors] -- there is no other way. We'll see what happens."

Several other names have been mentioned over recent weeks as potential candidates, including current Hunterdon Central coach Jon Cantagallo-Rohm. That may seem a bit surprising considering the success that Cantagallo-Rohm has enjoyed in his seven seasons in charge of the Red Devils. 

Cantagallo-Rohm's teams have gone 125-30 overall, while winning three sectional championships to go with two Group 5 runner-up finishes. He's also coached 10 state medal winners, including Brett Ungar, who became Central's 13th state champion when he won the 106-pound title in 2019 before he transferred to Notre Dame-Green Pond (Pa), where he won a Class AA title this past season. 

But keep in mind that Cantagallo-Rohm lives in the Phillipsburg area with his wife, Jessica Rohm, an assistant principal at Voorhees High School and whose father was longtime Stateliners football coach Phil Rohm. Continuing that legacy may be extremely enticing under the right circumstances.

"I love where I'm at," said Cantagallo-Rohm, who is recovering from recent hip replacement surgery and said he has not applied for the P'burg job. "It was the furthest from a traditional season [in 2021], but it was enjoyable. It was fun."

Notre Dame coach Matt Veres, a former P'burg youth wrestler and Blair Academy alum, is another name that's been circulating through the rumor mill as a potential candidate for the 'Liners job. 

Since Jan Dutt stepped down following the 1979-80 season, there have been six head coaches at P'burg and only one (Jason Magditch, four seasons from 2006-10 and a Nazareth (Pa.) alum) was not a former Stateliners wrestler. So the thought of going outside the program seems like a stretch.

"My love has always been the middle school," Longacre said. "I never had any aspirations of moving up [to the high school] at all. The middle school is extremely important.

"I love what I do. We worked closely with [Post] and the high school coaches. We do what we can for these kids. To keep these kids with consistency, Brad and I are on board with that 110 percent."

Longacre did not rule out the possibility that he will apply for and accept the job if offered. He recently resigned as Line Club president, a sports booster outfit that organizes wrestling fundraisers such as the Joe Kopesky Memorial Golf Tournament scheduled for Aug. 13 at Harker's Hollow.

"For me personally, I've been at this a long time," he said. "It's about protecting myself as well. I will do anything for the program that needs to happen. The situation would have to be right for the kids."

Longacre, a starter on Phillipsburg's 1992 Group 3 championship team -- a run that included a 56-8 win over Belleville in a now infamous sectional tournament final at The Pit in which there was a mid-match melee involving fans from both schools. The match culminated with six straight forfeits (eight in all) by the visiting team as the 'Liners came out of the locker room one at a time to get their hand raised in an almost-empty gym. Longacre received the second in that stretch at 152 pounds. 

He's since gone on to become one of the most popular and respected middle school coaches and worked well with Post. It's that continuity with staff holdovers and current wrestlers that would make his hiring attractive, even if on a short-term basis.

"I'm hoping to have conversations [with school officials] before school is out," Longacre said. "Time will tell. We're basically waiting on the administration."

One thing is certain, whoever takes over will inherit a program where a premium is placed on winning state championships and beating Easton (Pa.), something the 'Liners have done just 19 times in 83 meetings since the series began in 1947 (the schools wrestled twice a season from 1947-57).

Nine of those victories occurred from 1963-71, including a program-best eight under Thad Turner (8-1 overall vs. the Red Rovers from 1962-70). P'burg has won five of the last seven, including a 42-22 win on the road in 2020 -- its largest margin of victory since 1970 (34-8 at Easton's 25th Street Gym).

"At the end of the day, the coaching job should be about the kids," Longacre said. "I think P'burg adds to the pressure -- and it's undo pressure for anybody. It's the best job in the world and the worst job all wrapped into one."

Thompson, 66, is the program's all-time winningest coach with a mark of 268-54-1 in 15 seasons (2-13 vs. Easton) across three stints (1980-88, 1991-95 and 2003-06). He led the 'Liners to 15 sectional titles, the most under any P'burg coach, and eight state championships (five in Group 3, three in Group 4), as well as six runner-up finishes.

Phillipsburg finished 8-1 this past season in a pandemic-shortened campaign and had no individual state medal winners in back-to-back years for just the third time in program history and first since 1964-65.

Post's teams went 155-24 overall (second-most wins in program history) and won eight sectional and six Group 4 state championships, while going 5-5 against Easton -- second-most wins in that series by a P'burg coach -- during his 11 seasons in charge -- the longest one-stint tenure for the program (Dutt served 10 consecutive seasons from 1970-80, going 132-25). 

Post enjoyed a successful high school wrestling career for P'burg under coaches Mike Rossetti and Greg Troxell, winning four district and two region titles, and placing twice (third at 160 pounds in 2003 and fifth in 2002) in the state tournament. He also ranks 11th in career wins (111-22 from 1999-2003).