Search for a Brick Township High School Football Coach is Finally Over

After two turbulent seasons at Brick Township High School in the wake of the retirement of legendary head coach Warren Wolf, one of his former players is looking to bring the winning back to the Green Dragons.

Former Brick Township assistant Rob Dahl, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant at Jackson Memorial High School, was recommended by Brick Superintendent Walter Hrycenko at the Board of Education meeting on Thursday night to be the third head coach in Brick history.

Dahl will succeed Patrick Dowling, who was hired in controversial fashion in 2009 after Wolf retired as the state's all-time winningest coach after 51 seasons as the only coach in Brick history.

Dahl has not been officially approved yet because the budget has to be finalized in April first, according to Brick athletic director Bill Bruno, but that appears to be a formality as Dahl will meet with the team on Friday.

Dahl is a 1991 Brick Township graduate who played wide receiver and defensive back for the Green Dragons, and served as Jackson Memorial's offensive coordinator last season.

This is his first head coaching job.

He joined the Navy after high school and then returned to attend Ocean County College before graduating from Georgian Court University.

Dahl was an assistant at Brick Township for four seasons before going to Jackson Memorial.

After Wolf was publicly upset about the fact that Dowling did not have any Brick ties, the Green Dragons and Wolf, who ran for a school board seat and was elected in the aftermath of Dowling's hiring, have now gotten a coach who has direct ties to the history of the program.

"Everything the district did for me made me the man that I am today,'' Dahl said. "This job gave me the biggest opportunity to give back to that program. I was a coordinator a couple different times, and this was the next step. I want to get this program back to where it was.

"I want to keep the tradition and the pride. I put my name in the hat, and figured if I got picked, I would do it the right way and get the program back to where it was years ago.''

"Myself and the superintendent did the final rounds of interviews, and we were very impressed with his demeanor and presentation,'' Bruno said. "He is the most qualified coach for Brick.''

Dahl said he has five or six coaches in mind for his staff and will conduct an interview process to see who will be where.

Many felt that Dowling was treated unfairly and never given a fair chance because of his lack of Brick Township connections, so now that Wolf and the contingent that insisted on having a "Brick boy'' as head coach have gotten their wish.

Dahl understands it is time to deliver.

Dowling was not recommended to be re-hired after the Green Dragons went 4-6  for the second consecutive season.

"I feel a little pressure, without a doubt, but if I prepare the players and the coaches the way I want to, and we work the way we want to work, everything else will fall in place,'' Dahl said. "If I work half as hard as coach Wolf worked, we're going to be fine.''

As for the former coach himself, "I'm in total support," Wolf said of his former player."I'm glad we finally got a Brick Township person," Wolf told Brick Patch.

 "Last time, we got someone from 40 miles away who didn't live in town. I think this time, it was a good recommendation."

Hrycenko said he primarily considered experience when making his selection.

"He is a person who has not only coached in Brick, he's coached in Lakewood and Jackson, so he brings a broad experience with him," Hrycenko said.

After several years of turmoil and opposing factions within Brick Township regarding the football team, Dahl is looking to move past all of that.

"I think stability and getting that trust and unity back within the community, the parents club and more importantly, the players, that's huge,'' Dahl said.

"That's my No. 1 intention. I'm here for the kids. They will see how hard I work for them, and will want to work for me.'