Tony Karcich, the long-time Athletic Director of Saint Joseph Regional High School,
will retire from that position at the conclusion of the 2018 academic year.
will retire from that position at the conclusion of the 2018 academic year.
Coach Karcich began his tenure at St. Joe’s in February of 1985, when he was hired as head
football coach and physical education teacher. In 1993, he became the school’s Athletic
Director, and for the next twenty-five years, directed a program that has gone on to achieve
national prominence.
He had previously retired as head football coach following the 2013 season; he was and
remains the winningest head football coach in Bergen County high school history with 338
career victories and 20 state titles, 17 of them at St. Joe’s.
“Because I have been blessed with a great assistant in Ms. Sharon Kozuch, I have been able to
continue in this role on a part-time basis these last couple of years,” Karcich said. “That
arrangement has enabled me to spend more time with my family and grandkids than I was
able to do previously, and I am grateful to everyone at SJR for that opportunity. However, in
light of the challenges that come with any elite high school athletic program, it is my feeling
that the school needs a full-time Athletic Director going forward.”
Coach Karcich’s arrival as head football coach in 1985 immediately resulted in a winning season
and a state championship just two years later in 1987. His leadership as Athletic Director very
quickly instilled a winning attitude in all of SJR’s athletic programs and by the late 1980s and
early 1990s, the Green Knights had emerged as state powers in football, ice hockey, wrestling
and baseball. He also oversaw the addition of lacrosse as an interscholastic sport in 1988.
“I have had the pleasure of working with Tony Karcich throughout his thirty-three year tenure
at St. Joe’s, and I can think of no one who has represented our school better or served our
students with greater passion and integrity than he has,” said SJR President Barry Donnelly.
“He has been a truly legendary presence in our athletic program for all these years. He will be
greatly missed.”
at St. Joe’s, and I can think of no one who has represented our school better or served our
students with greater passion and integrity than he has,” said SJR President Barry Donnelly.
“He has been a truly legendary presence in our athletic program for all these years. He will be
greatly missed.”
Among his many honors, Karcich is a member of the New Jersey Football Coaches Hall of Fame,
and is a past recipient of the YMCA Person of the Year Award, the UNICO Citizen of the Year
Award and, most recently, the Mickey Corcoran Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bergen
County Coaches Association (2016) and the Dr. John Bateman Education Foundation Lifetime
Achievement Award (2017).