Wrestling: Gentzle resigns, what's next for P'burg?

In a stunning move, Brad Gentzle resigned from his post as the head wrestling coach at Phillipsburg just months from the start of the 2023-24 season.

Gentzle informed the wrestlers and parents that he was stepping down on Wednesday afternoon. Both he and school officials were not immediately available for comment.

Phillipsburg (15-3) is coming off winning the program's 40th sectional championship and a Group 5 state runner-up finish last season.

P'burg will begin a search for its 14th head coach

Under Gentzle, the Stateliners went 31-4 over his two seasons at the helm, winning a pair of North 2, Group 5 sectional titles and the 2022 Group 5 championship, the program's 23rd state title. 

Maybe most importantly to Phillipsburg fans, Gentzle's teams went 2-0 against archrival Easton. The 'Liners have won four straight and seven of the past nine meetings in that storied series since 2014, but are just 21-62 against the Red Rovers in a series dating to 1948.

This has without doubt been one of the craziest Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area wrestling offseasons in recent memory, as North Hunterdon (Dave Bell) and Warren Hills (KC Wanamaker) hired new head coaches, while High Point legend John Gardner is set to serve his final season as the boys' head coach.

The search is on for Phillipsburg's 14th head coach as the program heads into its 76th season. Longtime youth coach and current assistant Tim Longacre appears to be the frontrunner to succeed Gentzle, who is expected to remain on staff. In essence, they would swap roles for 2023-24.

Longacre is a former P'burg wrestler and starter on the 1992 Group 3 championship team -- a run that included a 56-8 win over Belleville in an infamous sectional tournament final at The Pit in which there was a mid-match melee between fans and ended with six straight forfeits (eight in all) by the visiting team. 

Gentzle

Longacre received the second forfeit in that stretch at 152 pounds. He has gone on to become one of the most popular and respected coaches, and he worked well with former coach Dave Post and Gentzle. Longacre was a strong candidate the last time around, when the job opened following the 2020-21 season.

Gentzle, an assistant under Post, was hired on June 21, 2021 during a trying offseason. Former P'burg coach Rick Thompson, who served three terms with the Stateliners, also applied for the job but did not get an interview.

It will be interesting to see who applies this time around. Former P'burg star and state runner-up John Garriques' name surfaced back in 2021, but the longtime and successful Centenary University men's wrestling coach did not submit an application. His son, Owen, an accomplished youth wrestler, will enter Phillipsburg as a freshman this fall.