Brick School Board Names Zdanowicz As Dragons' Football Coach

Len Zdanowicz, the longtime assistant coach and former Brick Township High School football star, has been named the Dragons’ head football coach, succeeding Rob Dahl, who resigned the post in March.

Zdanowicz has been a physical education teacher in the district since September 1998 and an assistant coach in the Dragons’ program for most of that time.

“I am honored to be given this opportunity,” Zdanowicz said after the Brick Township Board of Education voted unanimously to approve him as the coach.

The approval received a round of applause from the audience and cheers from several of the Dragons’ current seniors, who Zdanowicz thanked.

“It means a lot to me that you are here showing support,” he said, wiping his eyes. “I promise to make sure you guys are successful off the field as young men in the future, and hopefully win another state championship.”

Parents who spoke at the meeting in favor of the hiring said Zdanowicz, who coaches youth football in town, has stressed good character continuously with the players he coaches.

“He is teaching them manners, and teaching them to be good young men,” said one mother whose son plays for Zdanowicz in the youth program.

“I couldn’t think of a better candidate to lead our youth,” said Dave Christopher, who said he has known Zdanowicz for several years. “He has ways of developing the character of our young men.”

Zdanowicz, who will receive a stipend of $8,625 as the head coach, takes over a program that is coming off two straight trips to the NJSIAA sectional playoffs under Dahl, winning the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV title in 2013 and the Shore Conference Class A South title last fall, both achievements reached for the first time in several years.

He is a 1993 graduate of Brick Township High School, and continued his football career at William Paterson University, where he was the team captain.

He was an assistant coach in the Brick program from 1998 until 2009, when he coached at Jackson Liberty under Brick alum Tim Osborn during the tumultuous tenure of Patrick Dowling, who succeeded the legendary Warren Wolf when Wolf retired after 51 years as coach.

That hiring was controversial, in part because Dowling was a program outsider, with protests at school board meetings and Wolf himself running for school board because of his frustration with the choice of Dowling. Dowling was removed as coach in 2011 after back-to-back 4-6 seasons, and Dahl was hired to replace him. Zdanowicz returned to the coaching staff at that time.

Dahl, a 1991 Brick High School graduate who played for Wolf, coached the Dragons for four years that saw a revival of the program. The Dragons went 27-16 under Dahl and have now made back-to-back trips to the NJSIAA playoffs for the first time since the 1980s. Brick won the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV championship in 2013, its first state title since 1994, and last fall won its first Shore Conference Class A South title since 2008.

“The goal was to put Brick Township football back on the map where coach (Warren) Wolf put it, and I feel we did that as a coaching staff,” Dahl told the Shore Sports Network in March when he announced he was stepping down. “I’m very proud of the boys and the coaches, but this is a time when my family needs me, and I can’t let it go on any more.”