SCARLET FEVER: COACH RETURNS TO CASEYS
Just one month ago, Frank Edgerly gave up the head football coaching job at Red Bank Catholic to become an assistant coach for Rutgers University’s Scarlet Knights.
Last night, he was back on the sidelines of an RBC practice, having resigned his new position and resumed the job he held for nine years, according to the Asbury Park Press.
From the article:
“Nothing displeased me (about the Rutgers’ job). It came down to me missing where I came from. I terribly missed Red Bank Catholic,” said Edgerly, a former quarterback at Red Bank Catholic and a 1990 graduate. “I vastly underestimated the impact my position would have on my family. I couldn’t live knowing that I was not being the father and husband that I could be and should be.
“My family is the most important thing to me. To do the job (at Rutgers) correctly, sacrifices had to be made and one sacrifice I was not going to make was my family.
“The opportunity at Rutgers was tremendous. The program is tremendous. Greg Schiano is a class act and a great coach, and he was obviously disappointed, but he was very supportive of my decision.
Returning meant stepping back into the job that had been filled for the past month by Jim Portela. But Portela was nothing if not gracious about Edgerly’s return.
“It’s in the best interest of the program,” Portela said. “When he (Edgerly) called and said he would be the quarterback coach, I said, ‘Come back, just like you were, and make-believe all of this never happened. He’s younger than me, better looking than me and a better head coach than me.”
Edgerly apparently bleeds green and gold rather than scarlet. After a great career quarterbacking the Caseys, he played for Rutgers in 1992 and 1993 before starting out as a student assistant coach on The Banks in 1994.
According to the Press, before Edgerly took over at Red Bank Catholic in 1999, the Caseys hadn’t won a division title since 1989, Edgerly’s senior year. Last season, Edgerly led Red Bank Catholic to a 7-3 record and a share of the Shore Conference Liberty Division title.
The varsity has its second game of the season today at Elizabeth High School.