Edgerly goes back to the start of his football journey
Former RU player and RBC coach returns to college as staff member
BY DOUG McKENZIE Correspondent

Frank Edgerly has once again found a way to walk away from his roots, while simultaneously returning to his roots.

Edgerly, who for the past nine years has been methodically earning his stripes as one of the up-and-coming high school football coaches in the state, has made the difficult decision to walk away from a Red Bank Catholic football program he has dramatically improved in order to accept a role at his collegiate alma mater, Rutgers University.

Edgerly stepped down as head football coach of RBC, his high school alma mater, on Aug. 4 to assume the role of director of recruiting operations for RU head coach Greg Schiano's budding program.

So while his playing career took him from RBC to Rutgers, his coaching career has now taken him from Rutgers to RBC and now back to Rutgers.

However, through all the ping-ponging between the two programs, one thing has remained constant: Edgerly has proved that he knows how to build winning football teams.

"Frank did a great job for us while he was here," said longtime RBC Athletic Director Joe Montano, who hired Edgerly when he was just 26 years old to take over his football program. "When he came aboard, he was a young guy with virtually no experience, but we knew he had a great work ethic. I think our kids fed off that work ethic, and as a result he was able to greatly improve the football program during his tenure here.

"He also served as my assistant athletic director," Montano added, "where he helped manage the athletic department. That is something we're really going to miss around here. But this is a great move for him, and I'm very happy for him on a personal basis."

The decision to leave RBC, a program that has emerged as one of the very best in the Shore since Edgerly took over in 1999, was not an easy one for the popular coach to make.

"It was the hardest thing I ever did," he said. "I've said all along it would have to be the right situation [for him to leave RBC], and I was addressing my coaching staff all along. I was upfront with them throughout the process. And I conducted my business up to my very last day. On Aug. 4, when I walked out, everything was completed as far as my responsibilities."

And while Edgerly was certainly eager to take on his new position with a Rutgers programthat continues to emerge as a national power, he admits that the emotions he felt while addressing his players for the last time surprised him a bit.

"I had no idea it was going to be that hard," he said. "Anytime you have something that you put your heart and soul into and feel so strongly about, obviously there's going to be a real sense of disconnect. And of course you know it's going to be emotional, but I just didn't realize how strong those emotions were going to be."

For certain, those in the RBC football community feel the loss as well. In his nine seasons at RBC, the former Casey quarterback led his team to a 48-42 record, earning a share of two division titles and six NJSIAA playoff appearances.

Last season, Edgerly led Red Bank Catholic to a 7-3 record and a share of the Shore Conference Liberty Division title. While RBC has routinely had one of the Shore's most prolific offenses under Edgerly, the Casey defense has made tremendous strides over the past several seasons as well. While ultimately, most teams' success is largely measured on its level of postseason success, it would be unfair to judge RBC in such a manner. One needs only to look at the teams that share affiliation to the state's Non-Public Group IV section to understand how a team like RBC can enjoy such consistent regular-season success without accumulating its share of state playoff glory. When routinely facing the likes of perennial powerhouses Don Bosco Prep, St. Peter's Prep, Bergen Catholic and Paramus Catholic, among others, in the state playoffs, more often than not, you're lining up against one of the elite teams in the state in the first round of the postseason.

Interestingly, for Edgerly the experience of consistently facing some of the best teams in the state while at RBC will certainly help him in his new role.

"My job is to facilitate the recruiting program, in coordination with Joe Susan [the recruiting coordinator]," Edgerly said. "I'm in charge of tracking prospects and commitments, and organizing the program's recruiting strategy, among other things.

"Being a high school football coach in New Jersey and having enjoyed some degree of success in that role gives me some insight in recruiting players here, in terms of what the players need and are looking for and what the coaches need," he added. "Having been through the process as both a player and a coach certainly helps to understand what the process entails. And my Rutgers background was helpful as well. Having played here and having started my coaching career here, it seemed like the perfect fit."

Edgerly's departure took a lot of people by surprise (though not his coaching staff at RBC), mainly because it all happened rather quickly.

"It popped up in the spring, and after showing some interest in the position, I got the call in mid-June," he said. "They launched an interview process which was very detailed and involved every aspect of my background. And it all culminated in the end of July.

"It's going to be a bit of a learning process, I'm sure," he added of his new position. "Like any other new position, there will be things that surprise me along the way that I'll have to learn from as I go."

The first surprise that was in store for Edgerly was the difference from the Rutgers program that he graduated from to what Coach Schiano has built today.

"In a word, the difference is immense," he said. "That's no slight to my teammates and the coaches who coached me here during my playing days, but this program is on a different plane now. There is a climate and a cultural change here that is significant. We have great expectations for this program.

"People from the outside are amazed at what they see when they get close to this program now, and that's a sign of progress."

As for the RBC program, it is now in the hands of Jim Portella, who served as the defensive coordinator under Edgerly from 2003 to 2007.

"Jim is great," Edgerly said. "Right after the 2001 season, Jim [who was a defensive coordinator at St. John Vianney at the time] called me and said "Hey, do you have any openings, because I might be out of a job soon.'

"Now his being at Vianney certainly didn't help," the coach added, jokingly. "And I didn't know very much about him, but I told him to come in, and once we talked it was very clear to me that he is a quality person and a quality coach. Now here we are seven years later, and I know that he's more than prepared for this opportunity, and quite frankly he deserves it."