EAST ORANGE, NJ — East Orange native Ronly London recently has been named the new head football coach at Newark West Side High School.
London, a 2001 graduate of Clifford Scott High School, returns to West Side where he was an assistant coach for several years under former East Orange Campus High School head coach Marion Bell.
This will be London’s second head-coaching position. He was the head coach at Barringer High School in Newark for three seasons from 2015-17.
London inherits a West Side program that had a strong 7-2 campaign this past fall. The West Side Roughriders lost a tough 7-6 decision to Dumont High School in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 state playoffs.
London was the starting quarterback for Clifford Scott. In his junior year, the Scotties went 0-10. That was the final year for head coach Bill Norwood, who coached the Scotties for 13 seasons.
Larry Schumacher took over as head coach in London’s senior season. That season, the Scotties enjoyed a tremendous turnaround, qualifying for the NJSIAA’s North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 state playoffs and finishing with a 7-3 record.
“Playing at Clifford Scott, it was a very exciting time because we were coming into our own as young men,” said London in a phone interview with the Record-Transcript on Saturday, March 11. “My teammates were from our Pop Warner days, (and) we played four years together in high school. In our senior year, it kind of clicked and it just so happens that coach Schumacher came in at the right time with the system and the mentality that he brought in.”
After graduating from Clifford Scott, London attended Hudson County Community College for two years before transferring to Kean University in Union.
London joined the coaching staff at EOCHS in Bell’s first season in 2004, serving as an offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. London was on the staff for Bell’s 11 seasons at EOCHS from 2004-2014. The Jaguars won the Norrth 1, Group 4 state sectional title in 2007.
London then became the head coach at Barringer. After Barringer, he reunited with Bell at West Side for several seasons. In 2019, the West Side Roughriders went 9-2, losing to Ramapo in a wild 49-40 game in the North 1, Group 3 state semifinals.
For the past two seasons, London was on the coaching staff at Plainfield High School under head coach James Williams, another former EOCHS assistant coach under Bell.
As a coach, London preaches a simple approach that emphasizes speed.
“My philosophy is to make everything simple for the kids so that they can play fast, “ he said. “We try to reduce a lot of the terminology and keep it simple. Our system is literally two plays; we just run the two plays out of every set that you can think of, and again, with the kids having remembered the two plays, they play much faster; make it simple for our offensive line and understand the blocking schemes and everybody just plays better.”
London is excited about being the Roughriders head coach. He is optimistic that the program can achieve great success.
“My short-term goal is to get back to where we left off the year we lost to Ramapo in the semifinals, 49-40,” London said. “Just to get back to that expectation of play; getting our kids to understand that if they focus and hone in on the weight room, that’s the result that we can get – focus on the weight room and in the classroom, and dominate on the field.”
Notes – Clifford Scott and East Orange High School merged in September 2002. Schumacher, who also was the head coach at Bishop Francis High School in East Orange and at EOCHS, as well as the East Orange Recreation director for many years, died in Sept. 2010 at the age of 62. Schumacher, a lineman, played collegiately at the University of Notre Dame.
Photos Courtesy of Ronly London
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