Wolf stunned by choice of out-of-towner as new coach

For Warren Wolf, it's always been about his boys. He can remember every season of the 51 years he coached the Brick Township High School football team. When he was coach, he looked at every boy's report card. If someone's work wasn't up to par, they got a call from the coach.

He calls many of his assistant coaches his boys, too. And when he announced his retirement in December as coach of the Green Dragons, he had one request. He asked that school officials make sure his replacement was a Brick boy.

He was floored when he learned that the administration's pick was Patrick Dowling, coach of the Allentown High School football team and most definitely not a Brick boy.

"I never in a million years thought they would not take a Brick Township person," Wolf said in an interview Saturday at his Nicholas Road home. "We have three Brick Township people who applied — boys who played here."

Wolf said no one from the Board of Education or Superintendent of Schools Walter J. Hrycenko asked him for any input on the choice of his successor.

"I've been very upset," Wolf said. "I'm dismayed. I would think after 51 years coaching he would say, 'Do you have a thought on this?' But nothing."

An emotional Wolf attended the April 30 Board of Education meeting with about 70 supporters. He went to demand why the administration had picked someone from out of the district. He didn't get an answer.

The board will not appoint Wolf's successor until the Township Council has reviewed the defeated school budget, board President Daniel Woska said several days before the April 30 meeting.

"We have made a selection, but the person is not going to be appointed [at the April 30 meeting]," he said. "We don't have a budget yet. We're not at the point where we are ready to make the appointment. It's not fiscally responsible for us to go ahead and commit money we don't have for next year."

Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis, who played for Wolf in high school, said he was "very disappointed" when he heard Dowling had been chosen.

"As the mayor of the town, as a former football player, I would have much rather the school district pick someone from in-house, someone who is a Brick guy. It's the wrong pick. It's not good for our program. I wouldn't have picked somebody from the outside."

Wolf hand-delivered a letter addressed to Hrycenko to his office the day after the board meeting.

"This letter is to officially inform you as the Chief School Administrator that I, Warren H. Wolf, am rescinding my resignation as Head Football Coach of Brick Township High School effective immediately," the letter states.

The next morning, the mailman rang the Wolfs' doorbell. He had a registered letter from Hrycenko. Hrycenko thanked Wolf for his letter.

"As you know with all your school board experience, every coaching position is a year-to-year assignment. The Board of Education, in reaction to your decision not to return, has already taken steps to select your replacement.

"Again, we thank you for your many accomplishments over the years and your continued support of the Brick Dragon Football Program. However, your replacement as Head Football Coach has already been announced by me," Hrycenko wrote.

Hrycenko attached a yellow Post-it note asking Wolf to meet with him and Woska.

Wolf said the principals of both Brick Memorial and Brick Township high schools and the athletic directors had discussed the eight candidates with him. All four recommended two candidates: Len Zdanowicz, a Brick assistant football coach who coached the offensive line last year, has coached the defensive line and also runs the off-season weight room and conditioning programs; and Timothy Osborne, a retired state police sergeant who has served as assistant defensive coach.

"Both boys played for me and graduated from here," Wolf said. "They coach here."

Don Marino, another Brick assistant coach, was on the list of candidates but couldn't be considered because he doesn't have a teaching certificate, a requirement for the head coach position, Wolf said.

It's Zdanowicz who keeps the program going in the off-season, Wolf said.

"He runs the weight room program," he said. "He was there at 5 in the morning three days a week with our boys for 12 years."

Zdanowicz sat with his head in his hands for most of the board meeting last week.

"I've lived in this town for 30 years, been involved with Brick football for 20 years and was an assistant for 13 years," he said in an interview after the meeting. "This is like being shot in the heart … to feel that you're not wanted."

Zdanowicz and other longtime assistant Brick coaches are worried about losing their jobs if Dowling takes over and begins to dismantle the coaching staff.

"We consider Brick a special place," Zdanowicz said. "It's not just a steppingstone. It's a destination. Some others can use it as a steppingstone to get a coaching job elsewhere. We feel it's not that. There are things here that are special that other programs do not do. I was looking at being here for the long haul, with keeping the tradition … and that could get lost with the new staff, [and] it won't be the same place."

If Dowling is the pick, "he does not have my support," Wolf said.

Dowling called Wolf recently and asked to meet with him. He went to Wolf's home.

"I told him, 'I think you're walking into a hornet's nest,' " Wolf said. " 'It's nothing personal. You've been in eight schools. You don't have a winning record. We got two guys here that have served the boys. You're a mover. You have a losing record.' "

Wolf stressed he had nothing against Dowling personally.

"He's a nice guy," Wolf said. "He's a gentleman."

Dowling also told him Hrycenko notified him several weeks ago that he had the job. Dowling said he had already spoken to the school business administrator to negotiate his contract, which Wolf said left him "incredulous."

"I never heard of that in my 26 years working as a deputy superintendent," Wolf said.

And Wolf wasn't happy when he heard rumors that Dowling was recruiting coaches.

Although Hrycenko has said publicly that Dowling was his choice, Wolf has his doubts. He thinks it's a board decision and a political decision.

"I think it's a personal thing," he said. "They're glad I'm gone. It's my association with people that are my friends. I'm friends with the wrong people. No doubt about it.

"It's 51 years of tradition, and they want to stop it," he said. "It's a political situation. We'd like to continue the tradition we've started here. We've got 27 championships. We've got 27 flags hanging up there."

Board of Education members do not have to accept Hrycenko's recommendation, Wolf said.

"These boys are champions," he said. "They don't know who their coach is. It's unfair to the boys. There's no leadership. When people say it's none of my business, I'd like to say, I think it is my business. I stand by my record. There's people on the board for less than a year who have all the answers. This is unfair to these boys."

— Wayne Witkowski also contributed to this story.