Bill Schoener, the former head coach at Queen of Peace High School, has taken over at Becton Regional. The hiring was approved at a Board of Education meeting Wednesday night.
Schoener, a 41-year-old Rutherford native, was fired from the Queen of Peace job prior to last season after compiling a 30-24 record. Queen of Peace went on to reach the semifinals of the Bergen Jamboree.
“After the tough year that I went through it was nice to know that I was wanted there (at Becton),” he said. “I had opportunities to pursue other jobs, but the Superintendent and the AD really made me feel welcome there from the first time I interviewed. It was nice to feel welcome and feel that they wanted me. The fact that it’s a stone’s throw from my house doesn’t hurt either.”
Schoener is optimistic about turning around a Becton team that went 5-21 a year ago.
“They have good teams in other sports,” he said. “It’s only been basketball that’s been there Achilles heel.”
In other Jersey coaching moves, Jerry Carino reports that Jeff Lubreski got the Plainfield job that had belonged to Pete VAsil. We still don’t understand how the administrators there let Vasil and his record of 62-20 go, and we hope he turns up somewhere that’s a good fit. Gene McAteer also takes over at Bridgewater-Raritan for Tim Ortelli, who stepped down. Carino says Justin Salton, McAteer’s right-hand assistant last season at Watchung Hills, could get the head job at that school. Joe Whalen, who served as the AD at St. Anthony last year when Bob Hurley’s team played 10 TV games, has accepted the head boys basketball job at Franklin, a Group 4 school in Somerset County.
