High schools welcoming new coaches

Local high schools have been filling coaching vacancies with notable names.

Camden Catholic High School recently announced new coaches for both the school’s football and boys soccer programs, which have struggled of late.

Wayne Gilliam II, a 2010 Camden Catholic graduate, is the Irish’s new football coach. He most recently served as an assistant coach at Paul VI High School, Haddonfield, working with wide receivers and defensive backs. In the past two seasons at Paul VI, Gilliam helped the Eagles’ defense by installing new defensive schemes that led to 20 interceptions and Paul VI allowed just 134 total points last year during a 7-3 season. Gilliam replaced Dwayne Savage, who coached the Irish to a 1-8 season last year in his first year on the job. 

On the soccer pitch, Seamus O’Connor was named the new coach of Camden Catholic’s boys soccer team. O’Connor has coached at various levels of both men’s and women’s soccer, including a recent stint as head coach of the Temple University’s women’s soccer program from 2013 to 2019. Prior to that, he coached at Chestnut Hill College and Immaculata University, both in Pennsylvania. He has also coached at Saint Joseph’s High School in Hammonton, Alvernia University in Reading, Pa., and PDA South Youth Soccer Club. He takes over a Camden Catholic program that was 3-12-3 last fall.  

At Holy Spirit High School, Absecon, Domenic LaFragola was named successor to recently retired Ralph Paolone, who served as the Spartans wrestling coach for more than 20 years and won three South Jersey championships. Paolone also coached both Mac Mancuso and Pat D’Arcy to individual state championships.

LaFragola, a 2012 Holy Spirit graduate and a three-sport athlete, takes over a team that went 5-12 in dual meets this season. LaFragola was a part of two Holy Spirit state championship football teams and wrestled under Paolone, posting a 37-3 record in his senior year. Upon graduating from college, LaFragola has served as an assistant coach in wrestling and football at both Holy Spirit and Pinelands Regional High School in Tuckerton. 

At Gloucester Catholic High School, John Eddis will be the new wrestling coach as the school looks to completely rebuild its program from mat level. 

Eddis, who has served as an assistant with Gateway Regional High School, Woodbury Heights, as well as the Highland-Triton cooperative program, will kickstart the Gloucester Catholic wrestling program, which has been dormant since 2018.

“We are very happy to bring back our wrestling program to give our current and future students another opportunity to take part in an aspect of student life here at Gloucester Catholic,” principal Tom Iacovone Jr. and athletic director Ryan Meehan said in a joint statement. “Coach Eddis brings with him an impressive resume and expertise with the sport of wrestling and is a man of strong character, so we are proud that he has agreed to be the person who leads us into the next era of Rams Wrestling. There is no doubt that we will build a competitive program in the very near future.”

The Rams went 0-20 in 2018, mostly because of a small roster, resulting in the inability to fill out weight classes.

“I am very thankful for the opportunity Gloucester Catholic has given me to run my own program, and I look forward to working with the GC student athletes to develop a winning culture with Gloucester Catholic wrestling,” Eddis said.

Holy Spirit will join Gloucester Catholic in reviving a program as the Spartans will welcome the return of boys soccer in the fall. The Spartans named Sean Matteo, the school’s director of guidance, as head coach. Matteo is a Pitman High School graduate who played goalkeeper at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. The Spartans did not field a team in 2022 and played only a handful of games during the pandemic. They have not won a game since 2019.

At Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Newfield, Tabatha Dalponte was named new cross country coach. Dalponte graduated from Buena High School, where she ran cross country and swam. A recreational triathlete, Dalponte serves in OLMA’s guidance department and will be an assistant with the school’s track and field program, which named Leilanie Hinson as head coach in February. 

Saint Augustine Preparatory School, Richland, will be looking for a new swimming coach after John Stinson announced his resignation following a remarkable season. The swimming coach stepped down from his position after 17 years and after adding another state title to the Hermits’ trophy case.

Stinson, a Holy Spirit High School graduate and a state champion swimmer from his own days of high school competition, guided the Hermits to five state titles and 14 Cape-Atlantic League championships. 

This season, Stinson and Saint Augustine went 10-0 in dual meets including a 91-79 victory over Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft, in the Non-Public A state championship, and a 7-0 run in the Cape-Atlantic League. His overall record at Saint Augustine was 168-29-1.