Hrycenko to Wolf : Thanks, but no thanks

Superintendent of Schools Walter J. Hrycenko says the Brick Township High School football program is what it is today because of legendary coach Warren H. Wolf.

But many in town, including Wolf, have misunderstood that picking outsider Patrick Dowling to replace him after 51 years is not an insult to Wolf, Hrycenko said.

"The biggest misconception was when Coach Wolf said it's either attacking him or the program," Hrycenko said. "It was never an attack from anybody on either. Coach Wolf has done a tremendous service to Brick Township as football coach, as deputy superintendent, as mayor. And the football program is what it is because of what he put into it."

But Hrycenko has no intention of allowing Wolf to rescind his resignation and resume coaching the team. Wolf sent Hrycenko a letter May 1, stating that he was rescinding his resignation and wanted to resume coaching.

"No," Hrycenko said during a recent interview when asked if Wolf would be allowed to return to lead the Green Dragons.

That doesn't surprise Wolf, who fully expects the Board of Education will appoint Dowling as head football coach at the May 14 Board of Education meeting. But he doesn't understand why Hrycenko and the board bypassed candidates with "green and white blood."

"I'm upset and I'm just not going to give in to it," Wolf said earlier this week. "It's [Dowling's appointment] going to happen. But that's one battle. There will be other battles."

Wolf planned to attend the Township Council meeting and the Board of Education meeting this week. He and Hrycenko were also slated to meet Tuesday.

Wolf blasted both Hrycenko and Board of Education members at the April 30 board meeting for settling on Dowling, who coached Allentown High School to a 2-8 record last year, instead of longtime assistant coach Len Zdanowicz and former assistant coach Timothy Osborn, who have years of experience in the Brick Township High School football program.

"It's worth fighting for when it's wrong," said Wolf, who retired in December after 51 years as head coach of the Green Dragons. Wolf said at the time he hoped school officials would appoint a Brick Township assistant coach to take over.

"I haven't been this upset in a long, long, long time," Wolf said.

Hrycenko said state law regarding personnel forbids him from discussing the specifics of why Dowling got the job instead of Zdanowicz or Osborn.

"Because of confidentiality, we do not really discuss a lot of reasons about why one person got it over the other," Hrycenko said. "That's against the law."

But he did say he could discuss the head coach appointment in general.

"It's a hard decision to make," Hrycenko said. "It was a very fair interview process. Dowling had a very strong interview."

The athletic directors and principals at both Brick Township and Brick Memorial high schools were asked to submit three names out of the eight finalists, Hrycenko said.

"They gave me their recommendations and gave me the three names," he said. "We all had different rating sheets, which are confidential. I spoke to them all at different times during the process."

Hrycenko said he couldn't comment on whether Dowling was the choice of the athletic directors and principals.

"I can't tell you their recommendations," he said. "That's a personnel matter, once again."

Brick Township High School Principal Dennis Filippone, who played for Wolf at Brick when he was a teenager, said Dowling was one of the three names submitted. He declined to comment when asked if Dowling was the recommendation of the principals and athletic directors.

"I can tell you he was one of three recommended," Filippone said. "I can't comment on whether he was number one, two or three. I'd probably be better off not commenting."

"It was absolutely difficult to remain silent through some of the comments at the meeting," Hrycenko said.

"I think some of the comments [people] made, particularly about Mr. Dowling, were not fair," he said. "I did not want to get into that environment. I'm not going to contradictwhoever gets up there. We listen to what people say. You don't want to make a board meeting an argument between members on the board and the public. Nothing gets accomplished that way. " Wolf also wants to know why Osborn, who is currently head coach at Jackson Liberty High School in Jackson Township, was asked during the interview why he wanted to leave Jackson.

"Timmy is a Brick boy," Wolf said. "He wants to be in Brick Township. That's where he went to school, he graduated from here. Give the local guys a chance. They've paid their dues."

Wolf said he was never consulted about who his replacement should be.

"When a principal retires, you don't ask a principal who do you want to succeed you," Hrycenko said. "I'm not being disrespectful to Coach Wolf at all. We were committed to finding the best person for a particular position. They all had their strengths and their weaknesses. Mr. Dowling had the strongest interview. He has the most experience as head coach."

Dowling turned around the Allentown High School football team, which had 28 straight losses before last season's 2-8 record, Hrycenko said.

"He has the ability to take teams that were in the dumps and really bring them up," he said. "I felt and other people felt that through interviews that if he was able to do that with those types of organizations, what could he do with the program? He could bring them back to the glory days of state championships."

Wolf has not only questionedDowling's record, but the number of schools he has worked in over the past 20 years. Wolf has called him "a mover."

"He looked for opportunities that came his way," Hrycenko said of Dowling. "He was able to use his skills. He lived up north, he wanted to move down here. He looked for opportunities for teaching and coaching positions."

Dowling has committed to staying in Brick at least five years, Hrycenko said.

"One thing the board asked me to do was to get a five-year commitment from him, and that's what he gave me," he said. "He's a special education teacher, highly qualified in math. That's very important for us in any district."

There is one thing Hrycenko regrets about the whole process .

"The only thing I would have done differently … it's always been my policy, especially for high professional jobs is to talk to people who don't get the jobs," he said.

But word leaked out over Easter vacation who the choice was.

"When people starting announcing this was happening, I had to call these people," Hrycenko said. "I feel bad about that. It's the worst thing I have to do is tell somebody they are not going to get a job. My one regret is that I wasn't able to go tell these people personally. It got out through the grapevine. I'm still trying to investigate how that happened."