New Varsity Football Coach D.J. Catalano hopes to instill winning culture in “crowned jewel” BRHS football program
BRIDGEWATER, NJ.- The past five years have been anything but pretty for the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Football program. In 2018, the team went 2-7, and in the following year, 4-6. Although the Panther’s record was less than stellar, they made the playoffs in both of these years. Despite these playoff appearances, BR never got out of the first round, losing to Piscataway in 2018, and Westfield in 2019. Many believed that the turn of the decade would yield more than just a first round playoff appearance for the program. In 2020, the season was shortened due to COVID-19. During this shortened season, the team went 3-3, and likely would’ve made the playoffs, although they were not held during the COVID season.
The team looked strong heading into the 2021 season. However, longtime head coach Scott Bray unexpectedly resigned after 14 years of coaching the team. Bray led the program to three consecutive sectional-finals appearances from 2015-2017 (the program’s first ever trips to a state championship game), and compiled a 77-65 record. Former athletic director John Maggio hired former Hillsborough High School Football coach Rick Mantz to fill the void that Bray left. Mantz had 26 years of coaching experience under his belt before coming to BR, amassing 113 wins and a state championship in 2000.
Hopes were high entering the 2022 season. However, the program finished with a disappointing 4-7 record, and lost again to Westfield in the first round of the playoffs. Surprisingly, Coach Mantz retired in December of 2022, citing personal and health issues.
The administration decided to stay in-house when hiring a new coach, and promoted existing defensive coordinator D.J. Catalano to head football coach, who had been with the team for a year prior. Catalano was a standout defensive tackle at Montgomery High School before graduating in 2006, and attended Monmouth College for one year before transferring to Northern Michigan, where he started on the football team for 4 years.
Catalano began his coaching career at his alma mater, Montgomery, as a defensive line coach. He also has experience at the college level at Rutgers University where he was a defensive assistant, and as a defensive coordinator at prominent New Jersey high schools such as Randolph, Neptune, and Somerville.
In 2021, After 3 years as defensive coordinator at Somerville, he left for BRHS, where he was also defensive coordinator before being promoted to head coach this past April.
I I sat down with Coach Catalano to talk to him about his transition to head coach, the current season, and much more.
Catalano has been quoted as referring to the Bridgewater-Raritan football program as “the crown jewel program of Somerset County,” because of BRHS being a bigger school, “which means bigger opportunities,” according to Catalano.
“I think the competition is a lot harder. I think that there's a lot of kids. I just felt like we could make it bigger.”
Catalano quickly outlined his goals after moving from Somerville in a concise mission statement: be the best public school football program in the state of New Jersey.
“This is a place where you can absolutely do that because the resources are here for that.” He said.
As mentioned, Catalano attended Montgomery High School (another large Skyland Conference school), where he was coached by Zoran Milich, who not only has been coaching football at Montgomery for 30 years, but also founded the football program. When asked if Milich had any influence in his coaching style, Catalano didn’t understate the impact Milich has had. “Just the way that he demands excellence,” said Catalano.
“I mean, that was the number one thing. Demands toughness. I am very, very close with him. I mean, he was my high school football coach, and I talk to him almost every week for my entire life since then.”
Milich was also “instrumental” in helping Catalano not only land his coaching job at Rutgers University, but helping him grow as a person.
“He was always the first person I would go to and talk to and get his opinion. He was always there to answer my phone calls when I asked him questions, when I needed advice on everything. ”
Catalano recognized that even though he is a close friend now, he was “really hard on [him].”
“He was hard on all of us, but I appreciated it, because I saw what he was doing. I knew how much he cared about it, because you saw how much work he put into it.” Catalano said.
Catalano picked up his first win as a high school head coach against Edison in late August. He said it was “the greatest feeling in the world.”
“People don't realize this, we were working since June, but even before that, in November [2022], we had our whole off season program. So we've been going, working for a whole year, thinking about that game.”
BRHS’ football season started on July 10th, as OTA’s began. For almost the entire month of July, the team participated in strength and conditioning training, until they traveled to Stevenson University for minicamp in early August.
“ We were in great shape, and our coaching staff did a great job installing a brand new offense, brand new special teams. That's pretty complex. I mean, the thing is that we do things a little bit differently than some other high schools. We run it like a college program. And we run college program type plays.” Catalano said.
The team then spent the rest of August preparing for their game against Edison on August 25th, which ultimately ended in a 44-12 BRHS win.
However, September was a tough month for the Panthers, as they lost 5 straight to Union, Hillsborough, Hunterdon Central, Watchung Hills, and Ridge.
Catalano said it flat out: “I'm not happy with the results.”
“It kills me. It kills me because I know how hard our team is working and I know that it kills them. From an outside [perspective] , like someone from the outside that has no idea what they're doing [might think] “they’re a bad football team.” But, man, the way that they handle themselves in adverse situations and just keep going to work. That's something special. We have a foundation right now that I'm really excited to build on with your class.”
The Panthers had an especially tough stretch, going up against Ridge and Phillipsburg in their last two games. The Ridge game ended in a heartbreaking 30-24 loss. Last Friday, they fell to Phillipsburg 44-19. Catalano said he intended to prepare for these games like they were any other.
“I'll tell you what, I have no problem saying this on the record. I know no one prepares the way that we do.” Said Catalano.
“We prepare like a college. There's a lot of time and a lot of effort if you've ever seen any of our scouting reports on offense or on defense. How detailed they are. Our practice is planned to the minute and there [are] scripts of everything. [Everything is] scripted, to substitutions to the plays, to the calls that are being run. We're using headsets during practice. The way that we film, it’s massive.”
Catalano even went into detail about what preparation went into BR’s game against Watchung Hills, that was played in what could be described only as a monsoon.
“We played in a wet game [against Watchung Hills]. Guess what we did? We wet the balls. We dunked the balls in water. Had them practice it. We had four fumbles, So I look at, how are we teaching ball security? Well, we have a ball security circuit, do we talk about it every day? Yeah, we do.” He said.
A team’s record is only one indication of how they function. Under Catalano’s leadership, that is definitely the case. The implementation of culture throughout the locker room was one point that was emphasized over and over again in the interview. One key point was the leadership meetings that were held during the offseason.
“So, all throughout the year, we had culture talks, or leadership meetings as we would call them. And we talk about, you know, the attitude one, and how to be a leader. That's the first thing. We define leadership as going from A to B and bringing others along with you. We talked about that the leaders need to create the culture, which influences the behavior, which produces the results.” Catalano discussed.
Another major area that was discussed were the two mottos that are visualized over and over again all throughout the Panther locker room. One of them, E.A.T. as Catalano calls it, is placed on the front of the facemask clip on every helmet.
Catalano says it stands for, “effort, attitude, toughness.”
“Those are the three things that we can control.” He says.
Another motto, E+R=O, sits on a giant metal placard above the lockers near the coaches office. Whenever the team sits down to watch film during the week, it is one of the first things they see.
“We talk about that all the time.” Catalano said.
“There are events that happen in our lives, which we refer to as E, that we can't control. But we can control our response, which is R, and that will equal an outcome. We call it E+R=O. If you have a positive response, you're probably going to get a positive outcome. So these are things and lessons that we've gone over all year.”
Catalano also spoke about the biggest catalysts of this culture. When asked if he could provide an example of any player who he thought had the most impact, Catalano wasn’t quick to name names.
“We have a lot,” he said confidently.
“You know, I think the best programs are the ones where every single person thinks of themselves as a leader. And that's why we don't have team captains per se. We have game captains and it's just based on what you do that week of practice.”
Catalano did however name a couple of players who he was especially proud of. One in particular was senior linebacker/wideout Joe Spirra. “He's a really, really good football player,” Catalano said.
“Probably our best football player, right? [It’s amazing] when your best football player is also one of your best people, one of your best leaders. He just does everything the right way and he goes about it in a way that he's very humbled with it. I think, I think people see that and I think people gravitate towards him and just naturally want to follow it and be like him. So I think he's a big reason why our culture has stayed intact through all this adversity.”
I I also sat down with Joe to ask him a few questions.
Spirra has had 3 different head coaches in the 4 years he has spent at BR; Scott Bray for his freshman and sophomore year, Rick Mantz for his junior campaign, and Catalano for this year, which is his senior year. Spirra saw it more as more of a learning experience than a disadvantage. “I would say it only helped me,” He said
“ [It] improve[d] my game because I got to see so many different perspectives of coaching. It prepared me [for] how to learn different ways. Every coach has a different way of teaching it. And you can really see that when you have three different coaches in four years like you said.”
Spirra also talked about what the new locker room culture meant to him. He said it was a “good difference” in culture between this year under Catalano, and last year under Rick Mantz.
“You know, we worked on it all off season. [In the] weight room, really forming a bond with one another. We've grown a lot closer to each other, and we have more of a connection to the coaches than we did last year.”
Most mantras for teams fail to stick or resonate with the players. However, for Joe, it is clear that the E.A.T. motto has an impact on his leadership ability off of the field as well as his play on it. “It's kind of like how you attack life,” Spirra said.
“ You have to try your best every single day. We talk about being elite. That's the first part of [being]the best version of yourself. Be better today than you were yesterday. Be better tomorrow than you were today. So just strive to be better every single day of the week. You know, the EAT motto just adds on to that.”
Spirra expressed his gratitude in the leadership role that he earned, and the fact that many of his teammates “gravitate towards him,” as Coach Catalano put it. “I just think that that is really important to me,” Joe said.
“Because, senior year, you start to really realize, especially later in the year, that you’ve got limited time in high school, you gotta enjoy a lot more. So, I appreciate my teammates looking up to me and like, being able to trust me on things that I can say. You know what I mean? Like, they listen to me and like, I feel like that's how I could have such a big role in leading this team.”
Catalano also mentioned a few others who he believed who were the biggest leaders on the team; Alex Berbarian “who works his tail off”, Steven Pikulin “who doesn’t talk much, but is tough as nails”, Anthony Confalone and Logan Krizan and the way that “they communicate in the back end and make all the checks”, and Joe Loctrotondo and “his passion.”
“Nobody loves football more than Joe Locrotondo.” Catalano said with a smile.
“We’re 1-4 (2-6 now), [but] If you are in our locker room, you see the way we practice, you would have no clue.”
BRHS just had arguably its biggest game of the year this past Friday in their 22-19 comeback win against Elizabeth, which was their homecoming game. The atmosphere was electric, as the BR student section, or the Zoo Crew, organized a ‘pink out,’ which nearly the entire student body participated in. “We can't do it without them.” Catalano said.
“It's support. I mean, that's what it's all about. That's why it's a community and that's why I want to be here. I want to be a part of the Bridgewater community. I live here now. I’m just so excited. They make the game special. I absolutely love it. I hope it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and grows and grows. I love all the little themes that they do. I love the social media.”
The Skyland Conference is arguably the hardest group in New Jersey for football. Even though this year has not gone the way many have hoped, Catalano knows exactly where the BR football program will be in 5 years; state champions and the best public school football program in New Jersey. “ I have no doubt about it.” said Catalano.
“We have just special people like that. When we have a superintendent who just loves sports. When you have that support, I know where we're gonna be. In five years, I expect to be the best public school football program in the state of New Jersey. No doubt about it, because of the way that we do things.”
It’s clear that Catalano is in it for the long haul at BR, and that he is incredibly committed to his goals. The best is yet to come for BR football.
Author’s note: This is the original article that I wrote about Coach DJ Catalano, not the article that is published in The Prowler. I believe that this version of the article best represents the hard work that went into putting this article out. A very special thanks goes out to Joe Spirra and Coach Catalano for taking time out of their busy schedules to let me interview them. I cannot express how thankful I am, and this article is dedicated to them.