Ridgewood elevates Chuck Johnson to 'co-head coach', giving him chance to earn win No. 300
Ridgewood's Chuck Johnson has the chance to join a legendary group of North Jersey coaches as early as Friday when he goes for his 300th win, according to school leadership.
A month ago, the Maroons' longtime coach stepped aside as the team's head coach and moved into an assistant coaching position as part of what athletic director Keith Cook called a "human resource decision" at the time.
But on Oct. 3, the Ridgewood Board of Education reinstated Johnson as a 'co-head coach' alongside Torre Watson, who had been the interim head coach.
Johnson also missed part of the 2019 season and all of the 2020 season due to complications from a staph infection. The school district is crediting the wins during the second half of the 2019 season and the first month of this season to Johnson, but are not counting the wins from the 2020 season.
“The Board of Education and current administration have already acknowledged that Chuck is currently sitting at a win total of 299 after being credited with the wins from 2019 and the current 2022 in its entirety,” Cook said.
Johnson's first chance at win No. 300 will come on Friday against Montclair. He would join Tony Karcich and Greg Toal as the only coaches to win 300 games in North Jersey, and would be the first reach 300 wins strictly at public schools.
Johnson’s 44-year career includes six seasons at Bogota from 1978-83, where he went 35-19-1. From 1984 to the present, he is considered to be 264-125-1 at Ridgewood, making him 299-144-2 overall. A win would also leave him just six wins short of the most wins by a North Jersey coach at one school, a record presently held by Nick Del Calzo of Hasbrouck Heights at 270.
The school district chose to credit Ridgewood's wins in the second half of 2019 to Johnson since he was coaching the team for the first half of the season. The district chose not to count the wins from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season since Johnson did not directly participate with the team. The decision to count his 2019 wins is similar to the Cleveland Guardians crediting all of their 2020 and 2021 wins to Terry Francona, the franchise's winningest manager, even though Francona has to miss part of those seasons due to health issues.
Johnson has been low-key about the milestone, saying that, “it certainly means something to me, and it is a mark I would cherish, but it really speaks to the coaches and players who have been a part of it. Because of their dedication and efforts, this moment belongs to them as well as me.
“It has been a labor of love from day one. To be able to come back to my hometown and be the head coach and be able to have the success we’ve had, to be able to coach the kids of so many people who I’ve been associated with throughout my life, it’s been a great privilege and one that I’ve never taken lightly.”
His first shot at 300 comes at home against Montclair. Should the Maroons fail to defeat the Mounties, the next shot would come in the regular season finale at Ramapo. That game will be played on Drew Gibbs Field, named after the Raider head coach who died suddenly a year ago. Gibbs was a member of Johnson’s staff for 10 years prior to taking the Ramapo position, and the two remained close over the past two decades.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ridgewood NJ football: Chuck Johnson gets chance to earn 300th win
