A Coach for All Seasons: Championship-Winning Manasquan Basketball Coach Andrew Bilodeau Helps Power Brick Football

Brick’s Jay Graber has been a championship-winning head coach for 16 seasons across three programs and has never had an offensive coordinator until this fall. 

Graber has always run his offenses, and it’s led to a host of state playoff berths in stints at Allentown and Matawan before he took the job at Brick last season. The Redbirds’ high-octane offense was a big reason Allentown won its only state sectional title in school history under Graber in 2016, coincidentally by beating Brick in the championship game. 

However, the spark to add a new coach to the offensive mix began with Graber’s repeated conversations with a coach who is much better known for his accomplishments on a basketball court.  

The two had first met years ago when Graber was coaching boys basketball at Allentown and the Redbirds played Manasquan. The more Graber and Andrew Bilodeau talked, the more it seemed like it could be a great partnership at Brick.

“He was excited,” Graber said. “I was excited more than anything just to be around a coach who’s been that successful. To learn to grow as a coach from him has been an amazing experience. When the time came, the offensive coordinator job was an open spot that he was really excited to fill.” 

“I think Jay’s program is top notch,” Bilodeau said. “I’ve been very fortunate to work with some great coaches in my life, and I just think if you’re a great coach, which I think he is, it’s fun to get to work with guys like that.” 

Bilodeau is better known as one of New Jersey’s top boys basketball coaches, a motivator and tactician who has turned Manasquan into a perennial state championship contender. 

In his 17 seasons with the Warriors, he has a career record of 465-140 and has led them to eight NJSIAA sectional titles, including four straight, as well as two Group 2 titles in the past three seasons. The Warriors have also won the Shore Conference Tournament twice and reached at least the quarterfinals 14 straight times. 

However, this fall he has traded the clipboard for the headset on a Brick team that is off to a 3-0 start after a 26-7 win over Toms River South in Class B South on Friday night. 

While some Shore Conference fans may be surprised to see Bilodeau up in the booth on Friday nights instead of inside a gym, he actually has a history of coaching football. He coached under the legendary Ron Signorino Sr. at Toms River South years ago and most recently helped coach the running backs at Toms River East under Kyle Sandberg in 2022. 

“I’ve always loved the game,” he said. 

Strong Start for the Green Dragons

A Brick team that finished 27th in the Shore Conference in points per game last season (18.4) is averaging 32.3 points per game in its first three games behind the Bilodeau and Graber collaboration. 

“I’ve been lucky and very fortunate that Jay hasn’t fired me yet,” Bilodeau joked. 

Senior quarterback James Hirtes has made a leap in his second season as the starter with 464 yards rushing and 204 yards passing in three games. He’s already more than halfway to his entire total from last season (1,159 yards) and is averaging 9.9 yards per carry. Brick is averaging 7.3 yards per carry as a team, and senior wideout Germaine Rice has 11 catches for 164 yards and a touchdown in the passing game. 

“He’s probably one of the smartest people I ever had coach me,” Hirtes said about Bilodeau. “He’s been a big help. He’s already one of my favorite coaches I’ve ever been coached by.” 

The defense under coordinator Chris Blackburn has allowed 12 points per game, led by 21 tackles and 3 sacks by junior Rowan Foy, 16 tackles, 2 sacks and an interception by sophomore Owen Maffei, and 15 tackles, 5 for a loss, and two forced fumbles by senior Matt McGuigan.

While the numbers have been impressive so far, unranked Brick knows it still has a lot to prove. The three teams the Green Dragons have beaten are a combined 0-9,  and a big test is coming up. They next face a rugged Southern team that just routed Central 37-0 to improve to 3-0. The Rams, a Top 10 team in the Shore, have only allowed 15 total points in three games. 

“We’re happy with the start,” Graber said. “We think that we’ve done what we’ve had to do, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Year Two, we’re not anywhere we think we want to be or can be yet, but we talk a lot about process and not outcomes, and the daily process of what it takes to win. The kids are getting better.” 

“I don’t think we’ve really proved much yet,” Hirtes said. “Once we play some tougher opponents, I feel like the results will speak for themselves.” 

From the Hardwood to the Gridiron

The name Andrew Bilodeau didn’t ring any bells to Hirtes when he first joined the staff. 

“I don’t really watch or follow basketball, so I had no idea about what he had done (at Manasquan),” Hirtes said. “Once I found out, I wasn’t surprised. His accomplishments speak for themselves.” 

“If you came to a practice, you wouldn’t know he’s one of the most successful coaches in the history of the state,” Graber said. “He never talks about it. The great coaches use the word ‘we,’ and not ‘I,’ and he’s one of those guys.” 

Bilodeau has worked with Graber to implement a multiple attack that focuses on getting the team’s playmakers in space to best fit its personnel. 

“We run a lot of read option, which has been easy for me because I’ve literally practiced read option a million times,” Hirtes said. “This offense feels like it was definitely created for me because my whole life I’ve been a spread option quarterback.”

“He’s a Brick kid through and through,” Graber said about Hirtes. “He plays with conviction, and when you play quarterback, that’s a big part of it. You have to be confident, and he has that.” 

A Career in Coaching

Bilodeau’s passion has always been coaching, no matter what the sport. In his career, he has worked on staffs under Signorino Sr., retired Toms River South legend Ken Frank, who is New Jersey’s all-time winningest baseball coach, and legendary former Lakewood and Toms River North boys basketball coach Bob Nastase. 

Now he’s joined with Graber in trying to bring Brick, one of the Shore Conference’s most storied football programs, back to prominence. Graber, who has a career record of 88-63, is just the fifth head coach in Brick’s 66-year history, which began under Shore legend Warren Wolf. 

The Green Dragons have already tied their win total from last season, when they finished 3-6 in Graber’s first year. 

It’s no surprise to anyone who has seen what Bilodeau has built at Manasquan that he’s now involved with a winning program in another sport. Just don’t tell him that. 

“I’ve been fooling people for a long time,” he said. 

Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point. 

Email: scottstump25@gmail.com