Sports
Toal Will Be 'Great Influence' On Bergen Catholic Players, Coach Says
Toal retired from Don Bosco, where he won nine state and two national championships, in February. He signed on with Bergen Catholic Monday.
ORADELL, NJ — Greg Toal, the legendary national championship-winning football coach of the Don Bosco Ironmen, is going back to his roots.
Bergen Catholic President Brian Walsh announced that Toal signed a contract Monday to be an assistant football coach and physical education teacher at Bergen Catholic.
Toal was an assistant coach for Tony Karcich at Bergen Catholc in the 1970s. He won 16 state group titles and two national titles in his storied 33-year career at Hackensack, River Dell and Don Bosco high schools. He is the only North Jersey coach to win state titles at three different schools. The majority of his success came at Don Bosco where he guided the Ironmen to nine state championships and the two national titles.
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"We're always chasing excellence in everything we do and this is another step in that direction," said Jack McGovern, assistant principal for student life.
RELATED: Don Bosco Coach Greg Toal Retires
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Toal left the position he held for 17 years at Don Bosco in February quite strangely, in February. Don Bosco announced the move in a press release, with President Jim Heuser later saying in a letter to the school community that a change was needed in the leadership of the school's football program.
Crusader head coach Nunzio Campanile and Toal have known each other since Campanile was 12 and attended Toal's football camp. Toal and Campanile's father and Toal coached in the same football league.
Campanile was Toal's offensive coordinator from 2000-2009.
"There is nothing he hasn't done on the football field, so to bring Greg to our program only augments what we are already offering, which we are very proud of to begin with," Campanile said in a press release Bergen Catholic issued Thursday.
Campaniel described Toal as a "high-character guy."
"I think he will be a great influence on our players," Campanile said.
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