Lakeland basketball coach tabbed to lead the school's football team
Ryan McCarney is going to do double duty at Lakeland.
McCarney, the Lancers' head basketball coach for the past 10 seasons, was approved as the school’s head football coach by the Board of Education on Tuesday night.
The 37-year-old Jefferson native becomes the only coach in North Jersey to currently lead both a boys basketball and football program at the same school.
“I guess I am glad to take that title,” McCarney said Wednesday. “I really haven’t had time to think about that. We were preparing for the state tournament [in basketball] and then I planned a meeting with the [football] coaches and players. We are hitting the ground running from basketball to football.”
Plenty to lean on
McCarney is taking over for Joe Purcella, who went 7-13 in two years directing the Lancers and took the team to the playoffs in 2021. McCarney said Purcella was moving back into an assistant coach role.
There are now four Lakeland assistant coaches who have been head football coaches in North Jersey: Purcella (Teaneck and Lakeland), Tom McCormack (Lakeland), Leo Ciappina (Saddle Brook) and Jared Luciani (Mount Olive).
“That experience is going to pay dividends and benefit our players,” McCarney said. “Every position group is getting coached by guys who have won and understand the right way to do things.”
The McCarney file
McCarney played both football and basketball at Jefferson. He went to St. Peter’s College (now St. Peter's University), where he played football before the program disbanded his junior year.
Jefferson was where McCarney got his coaching career started, starting as an assistant with the football program and JV basketball coach in 2008.
He’s been a teacher at Lakeland since 2008 and was named the head basketball coach in 2013. He’s been an assistant football coach with the Lancers since 2013, working mainly with wide receivers and defensive backs. For the last two years, he coached the Lakeland freshman team.
“I wanted this job because this is my No. 1 passion,” said McCarney. “I never had the opportunity when I was an assistant at Jefferson, and when I came over to coach at Lakeland, Bill Wiegel had the head coaching job and then Tom [McCormack] and his record speaks for itself, and then Joe, who I always had a good relationship with.”
McCarney was an attractive candidate because he works in the school building and when his wife, Danielle, told him to go for it, he listened. The couple have two young children.
“I think I am a family-oriented guy and I pride myself on the preparation aspect of all sports,” McCarney said. “At the end of the day, we want to produce some real positive members of society. We have what, 60 kids? A handful will play college football, but what they do after they leave our program is what matters most.”
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Looking ahead to 2023
McCarney said more than 50 kids showed up for his first meeting. Wanaque, Ringwood and Haskell remain fertile grounds for football players. McCarney believes the future is bright.
“We have an intelligent senior class that is eager to learn and be coached and I think that will help us out,” he said. “We bring back quite a core of returnees from last year, both skill players and on the line.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Lakeland NJ football: Ryan McCarney tabbed as new coach
