Photo by Tyson Trish
Former Paramus Catholic football coach Chris Partridge announces at the team’s banquet that he is leaving the program.
I heard the rumors all week…and answered questions about the rumors all week. Saturday, I knew it was true.
Paramus Catholic football Coach Chris Partridge was leaving Paramus Catholic.
Where is he going? He’s not saying right now, and if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you. But there are multiple prominent Division 1 programs that have made offers for him to join their staff.
Chris was kind enough to meet with me Saturday night and chat. You can tell this isn’t a decision he is making lightly. The fact that there is a trusted friend about to come in and take the job certainly eases the pain.
I can say, love him, or hate him, Chris made my job, and North Jersey football infinitely more interesting. There are some who will be thrilled to see him leave. Maybe he will come back one day, you never know.
Darren: So you are going to leave Paramus Catholic to go to the college level, what intrigues you about the college level?
Partridge: The momentum that college football has nowadays and I guess, with everything going to the playoff format and the excitement that it brings across the country. I just feel like I want to take a shot. I want to be on that level. I want to see what I can do and I guess make a dent in it.
Darren: But you are at your alma mater, you bring your school out of nowhere to one of the best programs in the state. It has to be hard to leave.
Partridge: This is the hardest thing that I have done I think in my life to be honest. I love those kids. I love the school. I take a lot of pride in Paramus Catholic and I love where we are, but it’s important to me that I leave Paramus Catholic in a good position. I feel like they’re talented. They’re excited. I think the momentum of the program is on the rise, and so the timing was right.
A lot of people would say why not wait, your senior class is pretty stacked, but at the same time, I want to leave them in a good spot. I want them to continue in the success that we have built. I just think the timing now is right.
Darren: What kind of job will Blake do?
Partridge: He is going to do an amazing job.
Darren: Has he ever coached before?
Partridge: He has coached. He has helped me in the summer a lot of times. I have been around him forever. I know who he is. I know how he acts. I know what he thinks. Again, I want to leave the program in the right hands, and he’s the right guy for the job. A close-knit family like Paramus Catholic, you want to keep it in the organization. You know, John Westervelt, the associate head coach would have been a perfect segue, but with his family, he has five kids, and his job and financial constraints, he just couldn’t take a high school coaching job. That’s unfortunate, but I think we found the perfect person that could take this opportunity.
Blake is the co-founder of Livin’, so PC will continue to Liv’ he is just a linebacker like me. He has the same mentality as me. He is really just going to fit in and do a lot of what I have done, with his own little flavor and keep his staff intact and keep the momentum going. It’s going to be an exciting time for PC.
Darren: Can you describe Coach Wes’ contributions to you the last 5 years?
Partridge: No, I can’t. People want to talk about the head coach, and in high school football, it’s all about the head coach, but Coach Westervelt has just been an amazing person for the kids and me, and how much I have learned and mentored off of him, and what he brings to me as an individual and how he helped me grow as a coach, and what he contributed to that program. I can’t describe it and I don’t think I ever will. I have told him I love him many times. He is someone I will always be grateful, and Paramus Catholic will always be grateful for building this thing with me.
Darren: What is your timeline for making your decision?
Partridge: It’s really important for me to finish out the seniors going to college. We have won state titles, and we have got to three (state finals) in a row, but my legacy at least, and what I want Paramus Catholic’s legacy to continue is placing these young men move on and play college football.
I am going to finish out the seniors. I will do that for them. I will make sure that they have good places. I am going to make sure Blake transitions into the role beautifully. I don’t know. I don’t really have a timeline. When I feel right, when I feel like its time to make my decision, we will go from there.
Darren: Did you have fun?
Partridge: I think you can answer that question. I had more fun than you can imagine. It was a lot of sweat, a lot of work, it was a lot of highs and lows, but one thing we always did was have fun. The kids, and the coaches, even through the tough times, I remember….I can’t describe how much of a family Paramus Catholic is. The parents and the kids and the coaches can describe that, but that is what really made it fun. We really truly cared about each other. I think we figured out how to have fun through every adverse moment. I think that is what Paramus Catholic embodies, you see how we act and how we are.
Darren: Then did people not understand that, or was it Paramus Catholic was different, they had a different style….
Partridge: I think they didn’t understand, we came into a position where we had to build a program, how were we supposed to do that like Don Bosco, like St. Joes, like Bergen Catholic. We couldn’t do that. They are perennial powers. They win. They were winning. They were doing a great job, so what are we going to do, just come in and build it the same way. So I did it like I know how.
Darren: So did you sell sizzle before the steak?
Partridge: Of course. We put a marketing plan into place. We have all the video stuff. We were the first to be on Twitter, we did it our way. We went back to the sleek uniforms, we went to ‘hey, we are going to do this against everyone.’ No one thought we were going to do it, and that’s kind of the attitude that we took. We don’t care what you say, we are going to do it this way, and we are going to be this way. We are going to come out to smoke. We are going to have fun and enjoy it. And I think people took it as a sign of disrespect, but it wasn’t. It was a sign of this is how we need to do it to get to where we want to go. We were still taking care of kids, you never heard me come out and disrespect anyone. I have tons of respect for those guys, but it was just the way we had to do it to catch them, because we never would have caught them if we tried to do it like they did.
Darren: Do you regret losing your last game now?
Partridge: Yes. I always say, we are not scared to lose. We are going to do it our way, we will play hard and we will be competitive, but losing your last game is not something you want to go out on, but just this year, just getting there, with how everyone, with all the adversity we had to go through in the media, and with no one really believing that we would be able to do it. We lost 15 seniors last year. We lost arguably the No. 1 player in the country, the No. 1 player in the state all-time. No one thought we would be able to do it again. So there is some gratification in the way we played this year and the way we did things.
Darren: A cynic would say, he’s going to college, it must be a package deal for Rashan Gary.
Partridge: Yes, you could say that, and no one will really know how the positions that I turn down, and the process that I went through in the last couple of years to get to leave. I don’t really care. I never cared what people think, but the bottom line is Rashan, Rashan’s mother, they know that I am never going to do something like that. They know that through the recruiting process, I taught them how the process will be, and they know in their heart, and I’m not going to dupe them. Wherever he feels most comfortable and the best fit, that’s where he will go. That’s not going to be a part of it at all.
Darren: Whatever job you take, will you retain a connection to this area?
Partridge: There is no doubt. This is who I am.
Darren: If it’s a recruiting position, would they then say, Chris, we want you to cover this area?
Partridge: Yes, I would think that’s smart for wherever I am, but I would also say, we have the best players here, so we better concentrate on that.
Darren: Hey, do you have your schedule done?
Partridge: I will finish the schedule. It’s not done, but we will finish it.
Darren: Looking back, what achievement, what accomplishment are you proudest of?
Partridge: I think there are a lot of obvious things that someone could be proud of, leaving this position. Its obviously the wins, and the kids going and playing in college, but you know what, what comes to mind, we treated every kid, and every kid with respect whether they left our program or they’re still in our program. I don’t think you will find anyone out there – even the people who have transferred out, and the parents who have taken their kids out – I don’t think you will find anyone that was in our program in any period of time that wouldn’t say that we did everything with integrity and respected them.
There are a lot of people out there who would talk, and talk bad, but none in our program. I didn’t let people on the outside know what our program was about. I think anyone that came into our program and anyone that had an experience had a good experience. Even if they left, we still treated them with respect, we still did the right thing by them, and I think that’s what I am most proud of.
Darren: Are you sick of answering questions about Jabrill?
Partridge: No. I love answering questions about Jabrill. I love him like a son, like a younger brother. I will answer Jabrill questions my entire life.
Darren: Did you recruit Jabrill when he was still at Bosco?
Partridge: No. No.
Darren: Was it a situation where it was mutual interest?
Partridge: We weren’t scared to take Jabrill Peppers when he wanted to come to Paramus Catholic. I think that’s the answer that I can give. I’m not going to sit here and say we went after and targeted the No. 1 player on the No. 1 team in the country.
Why would I do that and why would I think I could do that?
It was a situation where he needed a change and that’s it. We have had kids leave our program that needed a change, and I didn’t go crazy about it and whatnot. Brandon Simon left, and he’s a fabulous kid and if he called me today, I would do anything he asked me to do and he knows that. Coach Wes feels the same way.
Darren: So then what’s the biggest misconception about you?
Partridge: I don’t really care. People are always going to talk, especially when we go so good, so fast. But it doesn’t matter to me. The myths that I am a bad person, that I don’t treat the kids the right way….all that stuff is crazy. And you know what? I don’t care. If that makes people at the end of the day feel better, or if that gives them validation why we won. Let them think it. We are doing the right thing by kids, we are on them academically, we are teaching them life lessons and how to grow into me. I feel good about myself, because I guess I am very secure in what we have done there and how we have treated the people in our program.
Darren: What’s your final message for your coaching counterparts in the Big North?
Partridge: You’re some of the greatest coaches in the country. Its an unbelievable humbling experience to go to battle every week with guys like that. I respect how hard they work. I respect how much they have put into it. It’s been really fun, shoot, we added our flair to it and some people got angry. We went at it. We butted heads, but at the end of the day I respect them and I think they know that.