New Fort Lee football coach Mike Gerst is adding to the team motto.
“We’ve been ‘Protect the Fort’ for a while and I love it, but I love the bridge thing and now we’re going to ‘Guard the Bridge’ too,” Gerst said. “So it’s going to be Protect the Fort and Guard the Bridge.”
The 30-year-old, once a standout running back at Bergen Catholic, was approved as Bridgemen’s new head football coach Monday night by the district’s Board of Education.
“Mike brings us years of offensive coordinator experience from one of the prime programs in the Super Football Conference,” Fort Lee athletic director Mike Raftery said. “He is high energy and will fit in perfectly with our program. I am excited to see him continue our recent years of success and bring the program to the next level.”
It will be Gerst’s first head coaching job. He started as an assistant coach at Passaic Valley under Chet Parlavecchio in 2017, and for the last three years has been on the offensive staff at Wayne Valley under Roger Kotlarz.
“When you’re around so many great leaders of men, and so many good organizers for practice and the game of football, you learn what it looks like,” Gerst said. :You just try to learn something from it and then put it into your own style. That’s where I have tried to focus all of my attention.”
After graduating from Bergen Catholic, Gerst played at Columbia and later transferred to Garden City Community College in Kansas, where he lined up opposite current NFL star wide receiver Tyreek Hill. The two remain friends. Gerst eventually finished up playing Division II football in Texas.
When he got back to New Jersey with his degree, Gerst started working as a substitute teacher and latched on with the Hornets, originally in a volunteer role. When Parlavecchio retired, he went over to Wayne Valley.
Gerst, now a teacher in Livingston, had some connections to Fort Lee from his days at Bergen Catholic and liked the pride he sees throughout the town.
“During the interview process, you could see the pride everyone has in the town and the school,” Gerst said. “Everything Charles [Salame] did the last few years… they built the foundation where we can take it to the next level. With the facilities they have here, and the potential, it was a no-brainer as a first-time coach.”
Fort Lee has played in the SFC’s Ivy Division for the last four seasons, winning the Ivy Division title in 2022 and finishing 7-2 last year. Ivy Division teams are ineligible for the NJSIAA playoffs.
Gerst said playing in the Ivy Division is just another step in the process of building a championship program. He’s already been assembling a staff, which includes some former Bergen Catholic teammates, and meeting with returning players.
“My message to Fort Lee is when football is rocking, it’s like nothing else,” Gerst said. “My passion for it and all the experiences the game has given me, I am just trying to give back to the game. Every coach wants to win every game and I’m very dedicated to that, but at the same time it’s about helping the kids and that’s where it starts.”
2024-03-20 09:21:30
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