Wrestling: Longacre choice to guide P'burg

Phillipsburg has a new leader, but the program didn't stray far in the search for its 14th head coach.

As first reported here on Aug. 16, longtime youth coach and high school assistant Tim Longacre was approved as the Stateliners' head coach during Monday night's scheduled Board of Education meeting.

P'burg won its 40th sectional title in 2023.

Earlier this month, after a wild offseason filled with coaching hires and future role reversals at several other prominent Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area programs, along with rumblings about a potential change at P'burg, Brad Gentzle resigned from his post as the Stateliners' head wrestling coach just months from the start of the 2023-24 season.

Perhaps even more stunning is that Gentzle is expected to remain on the Phillipsburg staff as Longacre's top assistant. According to sources, former P'burg wrestlers Bryan Kopesky and Jared Crouse are also staying on as assistants. Former two-time state finalist (three-time placewinner) and Lehigh University All-American Brandon Paetzell was also rumored to be joining the P'burg staff.

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 was a strong candidate the last time around, when Dave Post was not rehired shortly after the 2020-21 season. Gentzle, an assistant under Post, was hired on June 21, 2021 during what was then a trying offseason.

The hiring process this time around at P'burg was certainly brief.

According to several sources, there was only one round of interviews conducted this past Tuesday and Wednesday -- each lasting about 45 minutes. In addition to Longacre, at least five others were known to have applied for the job, but it was unclear if all were granted interviews. 

Former Phillipsburg great and head coach Rick Thompson was among those to submit an application, but was not granted an interview. Hunterdon Central head coach Jon Cantagallo-Rohm and longtime area assistant and South Hunterdon coach Leigh Hall, as well as Notre Dame (Pa.) coach Matt Veres and former Phillipsburg assistant Josh Haines also made inquiries. 

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

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 HWS 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.