George Najjar out as Sayreville High School football coach

• Sayreville Public Schools posted George Najjar%27s head football coaching position Thursday morning.
• He has been suspended with pay as a physical education instructor at the high school since Oct. 16.
• Najjar was also stripped of his responsibilities as the school%27s strength and conditioning coach.
• He has compiled a 165-54 record during 20 seasons at Sayreville including a 21-13 postseason mark.

Sayreville Public Schools has parted ways with veteran high-school head football coach George Najjar, whose program was embroiled in a hazing and sexual-assault scandal that generated national headlines.

The school district posted Najjar's head-coaching position Thursday morning, the first sign that the New Jersey Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame mentor will not be returning as the Bombers head coach.

"Today we took the next important step toward the 2015 football season," Sayreville Schools Superintendent Rick Labbe said when asked about the job posting. "We are excited to launch a comprehensive search to find the next leader of our football program."

Bishop Ahr Athletics Director Mike Wolfthal, a Sayreville resident who serves as football committee chairman for the Greater Middlesex Conference, of which the Bombers are a member, said he was "not surprised" Najjar was ousted as a coach but that he was "disappointed for George."

"I think he is an outstanding coach," Wolfthal said. "I would tell you he is an outstanding person from all of my dealings with him. I don't think he ever didn't have Sayreville's best interest at heart. I think he got involved in a bad situation.

"Ultimately, as the head coach of the program, he is responsible for anything that takes place in the program. That doesn't mean I think he should have been let go."

Sayreville, which had a string of 20 consecutive New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association playoff appearances snapped last season after Labbe canceled the remainder of the year in late September amid allegations of locker-room misconduct, is widely regarded as one of the state's most prestigious public-school programs. The Bombers won three consecutive sectional titles from 2011 to 2013.

"I think there will be a tremendous amount of interest (in the coaching vacancy)," Wolfthal said. "I think it's a great program, and it's not like the cupboard is being left bare."

Carteret head football coach Matt Yascko, whose program also has enjoyed tremendous postseason success, said he believes Sayreville will be inundated with applicants.

"It's been built into one of the top programs in the county," Yascko said, "and the passion for sports in the town is something that every coach would want to be a part of."

Labbe reinstated the football program during a Board of Education meeting last month. The status of Najjar as a tenured teacher at the high school, however, remains uncertain.

He has been suspended with pay as a physical-education instructor at the high school since Oct. 16, the day school officials began an internal investigation into his football program regarding the hazing and sexual-assault allegations.

Seven Sayreville players have been charged in connection with the hazing and sexual assault of four teammates inside the high school football locker room over a 10-day period last September.

All of the criminally charged players have been suspended from school and none will be tried as adults. One of the alleged victims plans to sue the Borough of Sayreville and Sayreville Public Schools for $1.5 million, according to a notice of intent letter NJ Advance Media obtained last month.

None of the coaches have been criminally charged. Four assistants also were suspended with pay from their tenured teaching positions on Oct. 16, but all were reinstated on Nov. 18.

Najjar last month was stripped of his responsibilities as the school's strength and conditioning coach, a title that top assistant Mike Novak has assumed.

More than 1,100 of Najjar's supporters have signed a petition, which was presented to the Board of Education in November, asking that the district take into consideration their comments when determining the coach's future.

Najjar has compiled a 165-54 record during 20 seasons at Sayreville, including a 21-13 postseason mark. He previously coached at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York, where he went 94-32-1.

Najjar guided Sayreville to a 12-0 record in 2012 as the Bombers finished undefeated for the first time since 1949 and only the third time in school history.

Najjar repeatedly has denied interview requests since the scandal involving his program came to light.

Staff Writer Greg Tufaro: gtufaro@mycentraljersey.com