Dave Curtin: Coach of the Year

Head football coach and Columbia Athletics Director Dave Curtin has been involved with football in some way for over 30 years. He has won championships and had former players go on to play professionally.

But, if you asked him to list the top three accomplishments of his career, winning a conference championship and making Columbia football relevant again would be among them.

“It’s because of where the program was and how hard the kids worked,” he said.

Four years ago when Curtin took over the program, the Cougars could not have been at a lower point. They were in the midst of a 26-game losing streak, which would reach 45 by the time it was done. There was nothing even close to resembling a culture of winning.

With the formation of the Super Essex Conference in 2009, Columbia was essentially given a new chance, and capitalized with an 8-2 record, but fell short of a conference championship. However, this past fall season, Columbia was able to take the next step, posting a 9-1 record — the most wins in a season in school history, and won its first conference championship since 1982.

What made it even more special for Curtin was that it came in his fourth season, meaning the kids who came into an extreme losing situation as freshmen were able to graduate as winners.

“What I love about those kids is that they walked in here day one right smack dab in the middle of a disaster. They never gave up,” Curtin said. “I’ll always be grateful to them for that. I’m happy that the seniors went off the field as maybe the most successful group in history.”

When Curtin and the boys look back on this season, there will be two wins that stick out. The first was a comeback victory on the road against Nutley on Oct. 16, the second was a 27-9 payback victory over West Essex to win the division. The Nutley boys went on to reach a sectional championship game, while West Essex was the team that stopped Columbia from winning the division in 2009.

People laughed at Curtin years ago when he declared that Columbia’s goal was to win a conference championship. Four years later, it appears that the Cougar football program is on the rise and that Curtin’s goals weren’t so lofty after all.

Things hit rock bottom, according to Curtin, on Oct. 20, 2008. That was the day the Cougars went to Morris Knolls and got destroyed 55-6. It was Curtin’s first season as head coach, and the boys were in the middle of their third consecutive 0-10 fall. It was their worse loss of the season by far, and maybe it sparked something, because two of the next three losses were by just eight points.

“I said to the coaches, this better be rock bottom. If not. I’m looking for a cliff,” Curtin said. “I said to the kids that we can only go up from here.”

During the 2008 season, things were looking like much of the same for Columbia. They had lost their first nine games of the season, and were staring at another 0-10 season. But a trip to Dickinson High School resulted in a 48-0 season ending victory for Columbia, snapping the losing streak and ending a dark chapter in Columbia football history, mainly because that was the last season they played in the Iron Hills Conference. Since that victory against Dickinson, Columbia has lost just three games.

“We got the monkey off of our backs, the kids were very confident in themselves, and they all wanted copies of the tape,” Curtin said.

Changing the attitude in the locker room and the atmosphere of losing was the toughest thing, Curtin said. But once the kids started winning, it became a habit.

“It was mental, just believing that you can do it and that you can win games and learning how easy it is to lose and how hard it is to win,” Curtin said.

While the Curtin and the Cougars have taken the first steps in becoming an elite program — making the playoffs in each of the last two years — the next step is actually winning a playoff game.

“When you see the big picture, ‘09 was step one, with the schedule changes, there were no more excuses,” Curtin said. “This year it was, well you lost all of those kids, can you do it again?”

The boys will be facing an uphill battle, playing in one of the most difficult sections in the state in North II Group 4, and also moving up a division to the Super Essex American. He said that the eventual goal is to win a state sectional championship.

"You can’t ever say that it’s not your goal,” Curtin said. “You have to make that your goal. If you aim for the moon, you might land in the stars.”

The best way to describe Curtin as a coach is emotional. No one wears the Cougar paw print on his sleeve like Curtin, whose game day laser-like focus can be intimidating at times. According to legend, he took games against Millburn very personally. During the pre-game this fall against the Millers, he picked up a dry eraser board and smashed it against the wall, just getting fired up before a ball was even snapped.

“He was really emotional. He took everything so seriously,” said CHS football co-captain Denzel Nieves. “We didn’t want to mess with him on game day.”

“He’s a real fiery kind of guy,” said CHS co-captain Matt McGriff. “He pushes guys to the limit. He pushes you until you want to quit.... On game day, he’s almost impossible to talk to because he is so focused.”

But Curtin also has a lighter, more fun side that is also very plain to see, especially after a win. According to McGriff, Curtin could be seen dancing in the locker room to whatever music the players were listening to, and also is very superstitious.

When Curtin is coaching, scouting or preparing for football season, there’s a good chance that he is busy with his Athletics Director duties at CHS. In the event that neither of those are taking up his time, Curtin is married with children and just became a grandfather nearly two months ago. Needless to say, his schedule is packed, and an off-season is not something he has the luxury of.

Football practice is set to begin officially within a few weeks where Curtin will try and continue the momentum he has helped to build here at CHS.