Keller takes over as MHS boys’ swim coach

Former assistant inherits new post

By: Justin Feil
   When Montgomery High School decided to expand its swimming program coaching staff, it didn’t have to go far to find a head coach for the boys’ team.
   Noelle Keller already knew the ins and outs of coaching. As an assistant to MHS head coach Claire Scarpa, Keller had shared in plenty of the Cougars’ success, right down to the victory dunking.
   While Scarpa will continue to head the girls’ team, Keller will have to be dunked by the boys’ team as their new head coach this year. The Cougars also welcome new assistant coach Brent Ferguson. Keller had thought she would have to go out of the district to get a head coaching job, but was thrilled by the opportunity in her fifth season with MHS.
   "I’m ecstatic," said Keller, who is a special education math teacher at MHS. "Coming in with Claire and with her being so young, I figured she was going to stay for a while. With the extra spot opening up, it’s just perfect."
   For the past four seasons, Keller had been a faithful assistant to Scarpa. Keller had seen the Cougar boys improve steadily year after year. The Cougar girls showed the potential for the program with a state Division B title three year ago, and Keller is happy to inherit a boys’ team that is poised to build on past success.
   "We’re still a young program," Keller said. "This year we’ll be stronger than ever. Of any year we’ve had in the past, this is our year. We’ve got Drew (Talarick) and Mike (Plas, both seniors) at the top and the Stirlings and then the freshmen and a couple there in the middle. The boys are excited. Their enthusiasm for the team, I haven’t seen so much enthusiasm in years."
   The Cougars are in their second year with their own pool on campus, and they have the size to move up to Division A. It’s a far cry from the beginning history of the program. Keller still remembers those early seasons with the Cougars when they were still renting pool time and scrambling to fill every lane with a capable swimmer.
   "The team, it was smaller," she said. "We did still have a few key swimmers. Our depth this year is strong. We didn’t have as much depth in the past. Besides the depth, I haven’t seen many changes."
   Neither have the Cougars. Go to a practice, and it won’t look much different than in the past four years. Scarpa and Keller are there to help the program, and they have a new assistant to watch their increased numbers.
   "That was a question the kids had," Keller said. "Is Mrs. Scarpa only with the girls, and I’m only with the boys? We work with all the kids. They’re used to it."
   It’s been a smooth transition for the swimmers and coaches. Keller will do more paperwork than she did as an assistant; Scarpa will do less of that paperwork and have more time to focus on her team’s preparations.
   "I love working with Claire," Keller said. "I would have stuck with it a while, I’m sure. She has been good to me. I was lucky in that aspect. She took me on board right out. We work well together."
   It wasn’t hard for Scarpa to see how qualified Keller was. Keller has been around swim teams so long that there wasn’t anything too new to throw at her.
   "I’ve been swimming since I was 5," said Keller, who grew up and resides in Branchburg. "I started coaching at about 17 with some local club teams and summer teams. I was a graduate assistant at The College of New Jersey Aquatic Center and I helped run Nike Swim Camp at TCNJ. I was the pool manager for a couple clubs."
   Keller, who graduated from TCNJ, has also seen how Scarpa has operated Montgomery practices. Other than having access to their own pool which allows for more complete practices, things haven’t changed much. And naming Keller new boys’ head coach hasn’t made for a real big adjustment either.
   "Claire and I work well together," Keller said. "That’s made the transition very easy. I’ve seen how high school works now. I know a lot of our returning swimmers. It makes it that much easier. I know how we practice and what our team is striving for. In that case, it’s nice to be familiar with all that."
   Keller is more familiar with swimming than any other sport, though she has coached in other areas. She formerly coached soccer and track but the demands of her first child have forced her to focus on the one sport that she has always been a part of her life and seemingly will forever — swimming.
   "I really haven’t been away from it," she said. "I think it’s a part of me. I can’t imagine not being around swimming."