New Brunswick head football coach Don Sofilkanich steps down

Veteran mentor Don Sofilkanich has stepped down as the head football coach at New Brunswick High School, where he remains a special education history teacher, to spend more time with his family.

“For 25 years I’ve been coaching other people’s kids and I wanted the ability to see my kids play,” said Sofilkanich, a father to three daughters ages 13, 10 and 6 who compete in multiple sports.

“Maybe down the line this idea will change, but right now that’s a part of it. I want to have an opportunity to see them play a little bit.”

Sofilkanich engineered a remarkable turnaround at New Brunswick, taking over a struggling program in 2014 that posted a 2-36-1 record during the five seasons prior to his arrival, including a 26-game losing streak.

After posting 3-7 mark in his initial campaign with the Zebras, Sofilkanich led New Brunswick to a 9-2 record and its first postseason appearance in nearly a decade.

Five New Brunswick football players earned Division I football scholarships under Sofilkanich’s tutelage, the most prominent of which is 2015 Home News Tribune Offensive Player of the Year Maurice Ffrench, who is at the University of Pittsburgh.

A sophomore-laden team, New Brunswick finished with a 2-7 record this season, during which junior running back Dylan Johnson emerged as one of the league’s best players, rushing for 1,427 yards and 11 touchdowns on 179 carries.

“I think we got it turned around, but I don’t think we got it where I wanted it, obviously,” Sofilkanich said. “I think we made improvement, and that’s what you kind of look for, and that’s what we kind of strive to keep doing.”

Based on enrollment numbers, New Brunswick was elevated from the White Division to the Red Division for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, during which the Zebras won just six of 20 games.

“Obviously it had a negative impact as far as wins and losses,” Sofilkanich said of playing a Red Division schedule with which the Zebras opened each of the past two years against perennial state powers Piscataway, South Brunswick and Sayreville.

“There are some good young players,” Sofilkanich said of New Brunswick’s future. “I think it’s an opportunity for someone to take over the program and be successful.”

Sofilkanich previously served as head coach at Bishop Ahr (2011-13), Asbury Park (2007-09), Neptune (2010) and Holmdel (2006).

Renowned for building strong defenses, Sofilkanich was an assistant at New Brunswick under John Quinn from 2002-06. The Zebras appeared in the playoffs during each of Sofilkanich's years with the program, finishing undefeated in 2003 for the second time in school history and the first time since 1926.

Sofilkanich had success turning around a once-struggling Asbury Park program. He inherited a 1-9 team in 2007 that went on to post a 33-3 record and claim three consecutive Central Group I championships over the next three seasons.

Sofilkanich guided Neptune to a 6-4 record and a Central Group II playoff berth. He led Holmdel to an identical mark and a share of the Shore Conference Class C South title.

Sofilkanich went 12-18 at Bishop Ahr, which was always competitive under his direction, losing seven games by a total of 21 points.

Sofilkanich graduated in 1988 from East Brunswick and later served as an assistant at his alma mater under Hall of Fame mentor Marcus Borden.