Large turnout for first-year program reassures head coach
By: Bob Nuse
He’s not coaching at his alma mater, but for Kevin Kehoe, being the head football coach at West Windsor-Plainsboro High North comes pretty close.
Kehoe is a 1984 graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High. For the past five years he has served as an assistant coach at the school under his former coach, Tom Stuart. This year, Kehoe takes over the new program at WW-P North, where he will be the school’s first head football coach.
"It’s a little surreal," said Kehoe, who began practice with the Northern Knights last week. "I have a great relationship with Coach Stuart and we talk frequently. We don’t look at it as a North against South, but more for the game itself.
"We have a common thinking that it’s for the sake of football. It was great to work with him and I consistently find myself falling back on the things he said when I was a player or a coach. I keep reflecting back on those things. It was tough to leave him."
But when the opportunity to be a head coach in his home district presented itself, Kehoe was ready for the challenge. Even if that challenge meant coaching his first season with a roster that includes no seniors and just one returning player with extensive varsity experience.
"I can’t complain one bit," said Kehoe, a former WW-P quarterback who still holds the school record for career pass attempts with 399, as well as the single game and career yards gained records. "The kids are excited and everyone has stepped up to the plate and delivered. The thing that has pleased us as a staff is that these are not just kids that have come out to give football a shot because it’s a first-year program. These are kids that want to play football."
Despite this first season of sports at WW-P North being played without seniors, Kehoe welcomed 60 players to the first week of camp. Of that number, just nine are freshmen. It’s a roster that he looks forward to working with.
"We shot for that, but that was a liberal target," Kehoe said of the large number of players to turn out for the first week of practice. "When we got the list from the nurse of all the kids that had taken their physical, we were pleased with the numbers. And I think once school gets started we’ll get some more of the freshmen trickling in.
"I can’t emphasize enough about how happy we are. And they’re quality kids who may not have played football before, but they can play. You see the potential there each day in practice."
The only "returning" player on the varsity roster will be junior Brian Dimitruk, who not only saw varsity action a year ago for what is now WW-P South, but was also a varsity performer in basketball and baseball as well.
"He’s come out ready to go," Kehoe said. "He’s a good leader and I’m real happy to have him here with us. I know he established roots with the varsity players in football, basketball and baseball, but it’s nice to have him here."
Kehoe is also happy with his coaching staff, which includes Jason Petrone, who coached at WW-P last year, as well as WW-P grad Jim Griffin Jr. Two other members of the staff are Tony Piscotta and Michael Jackson.
"Jason Petrone will run the defense and he and I have known each other for a long time," Kehoe said. "There is some familiarity there, which I think will help us. His parents and my parents were friends when we were growing up, and I also played against Jason when he was at Princeton High."
Along with the rest of the WW-P North coaches, Kehoe knows this season will bring some unique experiences. But he also knows he and his staff are starting with a clean slate, which should make it an interesting season regardless of wins and losses.
"We started triple sessions Friday and I said that no matter what happens, I really want to enjoy what’s going on here," said Kehoe, a graduate of the University of Maine. "I told the kids we’ll have a tough year. And I don’t mean that in terms of wins and losses, but that these kids have so little experience that they have to get used to being ready to play every week. That’s something you need to go through to learn."
And while being away from the coaches and players he knew that are now at South will be tough, Kehoe is ready to learn right along with them.
"It’s funny because, since I live here in the district some of the seniors will stop by to talk and it’s strange knowing I won’t be with them," Kehoe said. "I was in the weight room at South a couple weeks ago and there were guys in there working out, but they’re on another team now."
And Kehoe, despite the fact he’s in his home district, is coaching at another school. It’s a challenge he’s certainly looking forward to.