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For the second time in less than a year, Howell will be looking for a new head football coach.

After only one season leading the Rebels’ gridiron program, veteran head coach Frank Edgerly has stepped down as Howell’s head coach, he told Shore Sports Network on Friday afternoon.

“At this point, I am pursuing football opportunities outside of high school,” Edgerly said. “I loved my time at Howell. My decision has less to do with the level and position of coaching and more to do with opportunities relative to my stage of life.”

In addition to his coaching tenures at Howell and Red Bank Catholic, Edgerly has coached at the collegiate level with Rutgers and Vanderbilt and in the National Football League with the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns.

Howell went 2-4 in Edgerly’s only season at the helm during the COVID-challenged 2020 campaign. He was hired at Howell on May 18, 2020, just a few months after he resigned as the head coach at Red Bank Catholic. He replaced Luke Sinkhorn, who resigned in March of 2020 after six seasons at Howell.

"It was our pleasure working with Coach Edgerly," said Howell Principal Jeremy Braverman. "We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. I am very happy where our program is right now and we are confident we will make a great hire to fill this vacant position."

Edgerly is synonymous with Red Bank Catholic football but he became a coaching free agent when he resigned from his second stint at RBC in February of 2020 after a total run of 14 years at his alma mater. At RBC, he amassed an 85-54 career mark that included five division titles and one state championship. Edgerly set the foundation on which RBC would become a Shore Conference powerhouse when he coached the Caseys from 1999-2008. Starting with a 6-4 season in 2004, the Casey have not had a losing season in 17 years. RBC went 8-2 and won the Liberty Division title in 2005, which was the program’s first division championship since 1989. The Caseys won back-to-back division titles in 2007 and 2008, including a 9-1 season in 2008, and went 31-9 with three division crowns from 2005 through 2008.

Jim Portela took over as RBC head coach in 2009 to lead the Caseys through an unprecedented run. RBC went 61-13 from 2009 through 2015 with five division titles and the NJSIAA Non-Public Group 3 state championship in 2014.

Portela resigned in 2016 and a week later it was Edgerly who returned home to once again lead the Caseys. After a 5-5 season in 2016, the Caseys got back to their usual winning ways with an 8-2 season that included the Class B North division title. The leadup to the 2018 season was filled with hype and potential as the Caseys brought back most of their top players, including FBS recruits Steve Lubischer (Boston College), Charlie Gordinier (Boston College) and Kevin Bauman (Notre Dame). The Caseys did not disappoint, going 10-0 and winning the NJSIAA Non-Public Group 3 state title with a thrilling 14-10 win over Mater Dei Prep at MetLife Stadium.

The Caseys went 5-4 in Edgerly’s final season.

Edgerly is a 1990 graduate of Red Bank Catholic where as a senior in 1989 he quarterbacked the Caseys to a division title. He went on to play at Rutgers and graduated in 1994.

Since reaching consecutive NJSIAA South Jersey Group 5 sectional finals, including a 9-2 season in 2017, Howell has struggled to a 4-22 record over the past two seasons. The Rebels’ last division title came in 2009 when they won the American Division under longtime head coach Cory Davies, who is now the head coach at rival Freehold Township. Howell’s only state sectional championship came in 2007 when the team went 11-1, also with Davies at the helm.

Among Howell's losses to graduation are standout running backs and linebackers Nick Cerulli and Hunter Lino. Among the Rebels' key returners are quarterbacks JT Goodman and Steven Jardim and two-way lineman Matt Ioannides.

Among the assistants on the 2020 team are Bob Generelli, a Shore Conference Hall of Famer who has won multiple state championships, along with former Howell great Bill Hill, who has previously been the head coach at Toms River South and Asbury Park

“I’m very confident that we moved the program in the right direction under difficult circumstances,” Edgerly said. “I know Pete (Athletic Director Pete Meehan) and Jeremey will make a great hire.”

 

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