Brosky officially approved as new Northampton football coach

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Jeff Brosky received a unanimous vote of 9-0 from the Northampton Area School District School Board on Monday night, approving him as the school's new head football coach.

Brosky, who had been an assistant coach for 21 seasons at various programs -- 13 as a defensive coordinator -- replaces Bob Steckel, who resigned after five seasons.

Steckel had a record of 26-32, 3-9 in the 2011 season.

Brosky, who had been an assistant at Northampton in the late 1990s on John Bendekovits' staff, is excited about the challenge. In one of those seasons, 1997, the Konkrete Kids won a Mountain Valley Conference title and in four seasons under Bendekovits, Northampton reached the Eastern Conference playoffs three times.

So, Brosky knows Northampton can be a success.

"Becoming a head coach has been a long time coming," he said. "I've thought about becoming a head coach for a long time, but for one reason or another, things just didn't work out. I figured the timing was good right now. If it didn't happen now, it probably never would happen for me. I'm very happy that things worked out here with Northampton."

Brosky said Northampton has a rich tradition and he is excited about doing what he can to energize the program.

"We're just trying to get to know the kids and get them to trust in the system," Brosky said. "There are some principles I'd like to discuss with the kids in terms of trust, leadership and commitment. We are going to do what we can to get them to move forward and have some success again.

"Once we get to know the kids and learn their goals for the program, what they want out of the program, we can go about laying the foundation. I'm not sure what the challenges have been for the previous coaches, but I am coming in with a new perspective and a lot of energy and want to do what I can to get things going."

Brosky is a 1979 Central Catholic graduate who had a stellar career as a cornerback at East Stroudsburg University.

Among his coaching stops were at Freedom when Sam Senneca was in charge; at CCHS under Donnie Roberts; at Emmaus under Tom Serfass and at both Whitehall and Northampton under Bendekovits.

He spent last year on Joe Henrich's staff at Bethlehem Catholic.

Brosky, who is a phys ed teacher at Whitehall, did not coach for a handful of football seasons over the past three decades because of family reasons.

His oldest daughter, Emily, was an outstanding volleyball player at CCHS and Marist and his youngest daughter, Olivia, is a member of the current Whitehall girls basketball team.

Mike Schneider, Northampton's athletic director, called Brosky a "terrific guy."

"Jeff is a good family guy, who has been with some great coaches and in some top positions," Schneider said. "He feels it's time to take the next step."

Schneider said it's always preferable to have coaches who are teachers in the building, but being that Brosky is not that far away at Whitehall, the distance and timing shouldn't be an issue.

"My priority is to get a staff together as quickly as possible and get a program in place," Brosky said. "I want to hammer out some playbooks and get rolling before the spring season is upon us. We need to get ready for what is going to be an outstanding Lehigh Valley Conference season. It's going to be a much tougher league this year."

Brosky said he's going through the process of hiring a staff.

"There are some guys I need to talk to, some guys are scheduled this week and some guys I have already spoken to," Brosky said. "There's a lot of interest, but a lot of guys are up in the air because the Central Catholic job is still open. A lot of guys want to see what happens there first."

One thing Brosky is looking forward to is the Thanksgiving Day game against Catasauqua.

"It's not just a football game, it's an event," Brosky said. "To me, it's an untouchable event that should be ongoing. it's a tremendous tradition for both communities. It's one of the reasons that Northampton is a great place to be. I am excited and looking forward to it."


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