MHS offensive coordinator seeks win over Bound Brook
By: John E. Powers
Chris Casamento is used to putting football programs back on the right track.
As an assistant coach under Rich Tramaglini at Bernards in the mid 1990s, Casamento helped a dormant program become a perennial Central Jersey Group 1 playoff contender. As head coach at New Brunswick High School earlier in the decade, he changed the Zebras fortunes from a 0-10 team to a team that reached the playoffs for just the second time. In 2002, he went to Bound Brook, which had been 1-9 the year before – – winning that one game by forfeit and helped the Crusaders’ recapture a sense of pride.
After spending a year as an assistant coach at Hillsborough last year, Casamento was hired as the offensive coordinator for Manville head coach Brett Stibitz, whose team started the season with a 20-game losing streak. The streak ended opening night when the Mustangs beat Newark Central 25-0.
This year, the Mustangs have scored 91 points up from the 50 they scored last year when they finished 0-10. The Mustangs scored just 12 points in 2003 when they also finished 0-10. That year, Casamento was the head coach at Bound Brook when the Crusaders beat Manville 49-6 the Mustangs scoring on the very last play of the game.
Thursday, Casamento will coach against his former team, several of the players who played for him and others who were recruited by him out of the eighth grade.
Being in charge of a struggling program, facing the steep task of finding ways to fix it, is a challenge most coaches would love.
"That’s attractive in a way," said Casamento, a graduate of the now-defunct Bayley Ellard High School in Morris County and Northeastern University in Boston. "I think if you can be part of a turnaround that can be very gratifying. Unfortunately, I never got to see it through to fruition in New Brunswick after making the playoffs for just the second time. And I wasn’t able to get it as far as I wanted at Bound Brook, but winning four games (in 2003) and improving things over there was very important."
Casamento, who has also coached at Ridge High under Red Devils’ coach Tom Falato, said he wanted to get back to calling plays and when the opportunity came at Manville and Stibitz was hired as head coach, he was eager to help.
"I really think that Brett has done a fantastic job it’s been an incredibly big jump from where they where and how they were outscored the way they were," Casamento said. "I think it’s been a great accomplishment for him and the team."
Casamento still teaches at New Brunswick High School and lives in Bridgewater with his wife, Trish. He said he’s hopeful to stay at Manville and see the Mustangs become a program that can win five or six games a year. Being able to have enough players the challenge he faced at Bound Brook is something that the Mustangs desperately need before the real improvement can be made, he said.
"Give a team a good number of players and we can make it happen, the numbers are down and we need to work on that," he said.
As for Thursday’s game, Casamento said it will be a little strange seeing the Crusaders on the other side of the field.
"It’s going to be a mixed bag of emotions," Casamento said. "Obviously, I want to see those kids be successful. It’s going to be interesting and I know me being here will maybe give them some extra fuel it’s like playing ball with your big brother, they will all want to play well. I guess it adds a little to the game."

