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Schools

Dowling Out As Head Coach at Brick High

Athletic director has not recommended a return for Dowling

After two seasons since his controversial hiring in the wake of the retirement of Warren Wolf, Brick head football coach Patrick Dowling was not recommended to be re-hired as coach by Brick athletic director Bill Bruno, it was announced Thursday.

Dowling led Brick to consecutive 4-6 seasons in his two-year stint after the Green Dragons finished 6-4 in the 51st and final season at Brick for legendary coach Warren Wolf in 2008. Wolf initially retired, then tried to come back when he realized his replacement was going to be someone without Brick roots. Prior to Brick, Dowling had compiled a 47-74 career record in 17 seasons, including a 2-8 season at Allentown in 2008. Dowling will speak to his players this afternoon.

"We're just going to take the program in a different direction,'' Bruno said. 

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Several contentious Board of Education meetings ensued before Dowling was approved as the second coach in program history, following Wolf, who is second all-time in state history with 364 career wins. Petitions were signed and large crowds flooded the meetings in support of Wolf before Dowling was approved with the support of Superintendent Walter Hrycenko over fellow candidates Len Zdanowicz and current Jackson Liberty head coach Tim Osborn, who both played for Wolf.

Wolf then took the head job at Lakewood, where he led the Piners to a 3-7 finish this past fall, snapping a 33-game losing streak in the process. Wolf, a former Brick mayor and state assemblyman, also came out of political retirement to run for a spot on the Brick Board of Education because of his unhappiness with the way things ended in Brick, and was elected in April. There was the chance that had Bruno not made this decision now, the Board of Education may have voted not to re-hire Dowling by May.

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Bruno's decision only affects Dowling's status as the head football coach, not his job as a special education teacher in Brick, according to Bruno.

As for the open position, Zdanowicz and Osborn are possible candidates again, and if former Point Pleasant Boro coach Calvin Thompson does not end up with a job in Neptune or take an assistant job at a North Jersey parochial power, he could be a possible candidate as well. Another potential candidate is current Brick offensive coordinator Mike McArthur, the former head coach at Colts Neck, who is a Brick resident.

After long dominating the headlines in the town, Brick has fallen in the shadow of cross-town rival Brick Memorial, which has reached three straight NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV finals under head coach Walt Currie, winning it all in 2008. The Mustangs also won the Class A South title this past fall.

Dowling not being re-hired now leaves openings at Brick, Neptune, Point Pleasant Beach and Jackson Memorial in the Shore Conference.

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