With only a few weeks before preseason training camp kicks off, John Bird has been approved as the new head football coach at Keansburg.

Bird was an assistant for the Titans the past two seasons under Chris Damian, who has gotten a teaching job at Raritan and will now be an assistant under Anthony Petruzzi for the Rockets. The Titans finished 2-18 in two seasons under Damian.

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Bird is a 2001 Raritan graduate who played for Hall of Fame coach Bob Generelli. He graduated from New York University in 2006 and started his coaching career under Andy Carlstrom at Holmdel from 2006-8. He then returned to Raritan as an assistant for two years and then coached under Carlstrom again at St. John Vianney for two seasons before joining the staff at Keansburg in 2013.

"I've always wanted to be a head coach, since back when I played for Coach Generelli,'' Bird said. "I love the kids here, I love the people I work with, and I was excited to be able to step in when Chris decided to leave."

Bird's familiarity with the players has helped ease the transition this late into the offseason.

"Without a doubt, it was definitely a pretty seamless transition as far as the kids were concerned,'' he said. "We have a great group of juniors and seniors. They were nervous when Chris was leaving, but it's been a really good summer, and I think the transition went well.''

Bird has retained a pair of coaches from the previous staff and has added former St. John Vianney assistant and current Lancers head baseball coach Mike Morgan as his defensive coordinator. Former Raritan and Holmdel assistant Scott Cannon has also joined the staff.

Under Bird, the Titans will employ the Navy triple option that they ran for the final three games of last season and will switch to a four-man defensive front after having been a 3-4 team.

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