Massive change is coming to Jackson Memorial and Liberty sports: ‘You have to hope for the best’

Massive change is almost certainly coming to the Jackson Township school district, and the sports teams at the town’s two high schools will be swept up in it.

At its next meeting on Feb. 5, the Jackson Board of Education will potentially vote on a proposal put forth by Jackson Superintendent Nicole Pormilli that will consolidate Jackson Memorial and Jackson Liberty into one high school, housed in the newer Jackson Liberty school building. The Jackson Memorial building would then become the district’s one middle school.

The potential change comes with the school district facing about a $13 million budget deficit for the 2025-26 school year, according to an outline of the plan on the Board of Education website. The board’s business administrator said at a meeting this month that state aid for the district dropped from $49.6 million in 2017-18 to $23.4 million for the current school year, according to NJ Advance Media.

The district’s public school enrollment has declined as the Orthodox Jewish community in the town has grown because the Orthodox community sends its children to private religious schools. The board’s business administrator said the dramatic drop in state aid has outstripped the decline of public school students. Public school enrollment is down nearly 2,000 students in Jackson over the last decade, while there are now about 4,000 private school students in the district, according to a report by The Asbury Park Press.

If the plan is approved, it would mean Jackson is going back to having one high school in the town, starting next fall with the 2025-26 school year. Jackson Memorial had been the town’s only high school since opening in 1963 before Jackson Liberty was created in 2006.

It would mark the first time a public high school in the Shore Conference has closed (or in this case, been repurposed) since Atlantic Highlands High School in 1962, which was replaced by Henry Hudson, a regional high school. One of the more recent consolidations around the state was Union City in Hudson County, which merged two high schools in 2008.

While the proposal has elicited strong reactions from parents and students across Jackson, it also would have a dramatic effect on the high school sports teams. It has left teachers, coaches and other school personnel wondering about the status of their jobs, in addition to leaving players in limbo.

“The kids don’t like the anxiety of not knowing,” Jackson Memorial football coach Vin Mistretta said. “We just want to know where we’re going so we can go to work. We have good, hard-working coaches on both sides of town, and we just want to go to work.”

Here’s a look at the issues facing varsity athletics in Jackson if the plan is approved.

Who will be the coaches?

With two schools consolidating, that means there’s only one football team, one girls soccer team, one boys basketball team, etc. One of the head coaches from either high school is going to be out of a job, or at least will be an assistant on the unified team rather than the head coach.

Coaches have not been informed of how the process will be determined, according to multiple coaches who spoke with Shore Sports Insider. Multiple head coaches also did not return messages seeking comment.

“There’s two schools of thought,” Mistretta said. “Either it’s a seniority-based thing if they don’t want to make decisions, or the other option is everyone goes and interviews, and they choose the best candidate.”

Greg McLain, the athletic director for both high schools, did not respond to a request for comment.

Each varsity coach is essentially on a one-year contract that must be re-approved by the Jackson Board of Education every year. The most likely process will be that none of the coaches will be re-approved for 2025-26 and will have to interview to be the head coach at the new consolidated school, rather than having it based on which person has been a head coach for longer at their respective high school.

“The morale is a little on edge because of a lack of information,” Mistretta said.

“Right now, it’s like we’re in a holding pattern to find out,” Jackson Liberty football coach Jim Sharples said. “From my perspective, me and Vin (Mistretta) have been staying in touch. We’re going to try to make the transition as smooth as possible, no matter who gets chosen to be the coach. The kids are curious, everyone’s asking.”

There’s also the aspect of who is doing the hiring. Will it be an official with closer ties to Liberty or Memorial who is making the decision, and will that bring complaints about bias?

“A lot of the details are going to have to get figured out later, and it’s going to cause a lot of confusion until then,” said Jackson Liberty quarterback Mason Ciccariello, who will be a senior next fall. “You just have to hope for the best, and you can’t worry about it too much.”

That anxiety over the unknown has been palpable among the Jackson coaches. Jackson Memorial boys basketball assistant Mike Antenucci has seen things from both sides as the former head boys basketball coach for both Memorial and Liberty.

“If you know the merge is happening, the first thing I would’ve done is I would’ve handled personnel first,” Antenucci said. “Tell them that while we don’t know what building (the unified high school) will be in yet, when we do merge, this is going to be the reality. We want to give you enough time and notice so you and your family can make alternate plans if necessary. We’re worried about a building before we’re worrying about human beings?”

The choice of coach could also affect whether players want to stay at the school. If their coach does not get the head job at the unified school, they may want to transfer, which they can do without penalty by NJSIAA rule if it’s their first transfer and they’re not going into their senior season.

It’s unclear whether the NJSIAA would grant any kind of special waiver for rising Jackson seniors to transfer to another school without having to sit the required 22 days or one-third of the games. An athlete could theoretically argue that his or her school closed, especially if it’s a Jackson Memorial athlete and the new high school is housed in the Jackson Liberty building.

The longer the process drags out, the more antsy athletes may get to make a change.

“Who’s to say that the longer this goes on without a resolution, a kid might say, ‘I’m getting out of here,’ and the town loses a quality kid and athlete,” Antenucci said.

Will there be a new team name, school colors, logo and mascot?

Another logistical question is what the new unified teams will be named. Will they be the Jaguars, which is the longtime name of Jackson Memorial’s teams, or the Lions, which are Jackson Liberty’s teams. They also could just pick an entirely new name, logo and mascot to represent a new school.

“I don’t know what we’re going to be,” Jackson Liberty standout junior wrestler Tucker Pazinko said after the Shore Conference Tournament on Jan. 25. “I hope it’s like (Jackson) Township Spartans or something, that would be pretty cool. I don’t know what they’re going to name it, but I think they’re rebranding the entire thing completely.”

Another consideration of a rebrand is the cost of new uniforms and redoing the gym and playing fields with new colors and logos.

Liberty could argue for making it Lions if it’s their building that becomes the high school, while many former Jackson Memorial stars have expressed their fear of the school’s proud athletic history being erased.

The Jaguars have won five state sectional titles in football, compared to zero for Jackson Liberty. The Jaguars’ wrestling and baseball teams also have illustrious histories in comparison to their younger counterparts at Liberty. Jackson Memorial girls basketball coach Rachel Goodale recently reached the 400-win milestone and has led the Jaguars to NJSIAA sectional titles in two of the last three seasons. The Jaguars girls soccer team also won a sectional title in the fall.

Jackson Memorial’s John J. Munley Field, aka “The Jungle,” is also one of the Shore’s more storied football venues. Simply put, Jackson Memorial’s sports teams have mostly been better than Jackson Liberty’s teams, although Liberty has been around for much less time.

“Over the past 25 years, I’ll put our athletic resume up against anybody,” said Mistretta, who is a former Jackson Memorial athlete himself. “And now that all goes out the window? There’s been no guidance on that. It’s frustrating.

“This can’t be an emotion-based decision. You have 60 years of a school and people with positive feelings and memories of winning.”

“To say I’m heartbroken is an understatement,” Goodale wrote on Facebook.

Former Jackson Memorial basketball star Eric Carter, who played at Delaware and professionally, also weighed in on Facebook.

“Memorial wasn’t just a school—it was a symbol of the town’s spirit, its pride, and its achievements,” he wrote. “Not only in sports, but in the classroom as well, thanks to the incredible teachers who poured their hearts into the students.

“Now, this district has created a divide so wide, it’s fractured everything. We’ve reached a point where we can’t even have a proper cross-town rivalry. And now, the answer is to combine the schools BACK but at Liberty? That makes absolutely no sense.”

“Say what you want about the town, but when people think of Jackson, they think of Jackson Memorial,” he continued. “That identity should remain intact—for the sake of what’s left of Jackson. This isn’t a knock on the teachers or the athletics at Liberty—I know there are amazing educators and coaches (like my cousin Giovanni with the wrestling program!) But if you want any part of this town’s tradition to survive, Memorial needs to stay as the high school, and the district and BOE needs to find a way to make that work.”

While it’s further down the list of concerns, there also is the matter of school records.

Is the all-time leading rusher for the football program at the unified school Mike Gawlik from Jackson Memorial, who had more yards than anyone from Liberty has ever had? Is the all-time leading scorer in boys basketball Liberty’s Daniel Sofield since his total is higher than anyone who ever played for Memorial?

Or do the records belong to Jackson Liberty athletes because it’s their building? There’s also the possibility that school officials decide the records from both schools will essentially be frozen in time and the new school will wipe the slate clean and have its own program records.

“I set a couple (school) records this year throwing, but I don’t know how that’s going to end up,” Ciccariello said. “I hope I get to keep my records. It’s another one of those details. If we’re in the state finals next season, it won’t matter to me.”

The silver lining? Combining the talent

While the likely consolidation of the schools has created worry about potential job loss and other concerns, it also has quietly created some excitement about the athletic potential of the unified teams.

The combination of an experienced quarterback like Ciccariello from Liberty returning along with Jackson Memorial star tailback Jonah Glenn is an enticing one. Same goes for baseball, soccer, lacrosse, basketball and more.

“We have an opportunity, if done right, to make this a powerhouse,” Mistretta said. “I’ve been selling these guys from the jump and really, although we’d all like to stay at our home in the building, it’s not the end-all, be-all. We’re excited to get to work to get that greatness back with the entire town on one team.”

“Ever since the youth football days, we wished we could all stay together because we would be so good,” Ciccariello said. “I think everybody in the class of 2026 is very excited.”

The downside is that players who would’ve had a spot on Memorial or Liberty may not see the field on a unified team, which goes for all the new combined teams.

A unified Jackson football team would be a Group 5 squad competing in the Shore Conference’s Class A South, while Liberty would be deleted from opponents’ schedules as a team in Class C South, according to Sharples.

Combining the teams would also eliminate an ongoing issue. Athletes living in Liberty’s sending district fudging their addresses to play for teams at Memorial has become a major source of tension in the district, according to multiple sources.

It has reached the point where Liberty and Memorial have not played each other in a single varsity sport during this school year, compared to past years when there almost always was a rivalry game. That issue would be resolved with just one high school as an option.

While there is an eagerness to see the full potential of combined teams, there’s also the potential worry about team chemistry at first. Fierce rivals will now be teammates.

“It’s weird. We’ve been rivals,” Pazinko said. “There’s no bad blood, compared to maybe in the past. Now we just have to recognize and accept it. Everything we’re lacking, they can give us. Everything they’re lacking, we can give them.”

“There will be a little bit of issues in the beginning, but we should work through it by the first game,” Ciccariello said. “I’m not too worried about it.”

No matter how it shakes out, the landscape of Jackson athletics is about to be a lot different.

“We knew this was coming,” Sharples said. “When we were playing in our last game this season I was telling the kids, ‘This might’ve been it for Jackson Liberty football’ in our last huddle. It’s just dealing with change.”

“We have to practice what we preach,” Antenucci said. “We’re always telling the kids about dealing with adversity and fighting through adversity, so we have to make the best of it.”

Scott Stump is a freelance reporter, newsletter writer and editor who first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point. 

You can contact Scott at [email protected]