Former Irvington HS football coach ‘Smoke Pierre’ goes to the NFL

IRVINGTON, NJ — Most football coaches dream of joining the NFL someday.

Ashley “Smoke” Pierre has realized that dream.

The former Irvington High School head coach recently has been announced as a Bill Walsh Diversity Fellow for the Indianapolis Colts. He will work with the Colts’ defense.

Pierre, an Irvington native, enjoyed a stellar eight-year run as the IHS Blue Knights head coach from 2016 to 2023.

In 2021, Pierre was named the Star-Ledger/NJ.com state Coach of the Year after guiding the Blue Knights to the state sectional and regional championships. Irvington won its first-ever state sectional title that year, winning the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 crown before capturing the North, Group 4 state regional title to cap the season with an 11-2 record.

In all, Pierre fashioned a gaudy 63-25 record for a .715 winning percentage. Along with the 11-win season in 2021, IHS enjoyed three consecutive eight-win seasons from 2016 to 2018 and another eight-win campaign in 2022. They also had back-to-back seven-win seasons in 2019 and 2020. IHS went 6-5 this past season, reaching the semifinals of the North 2, Group 4 state playoffs.

The Blue Knights won five straight Super Football Conference divisional titles from 2017 to 2021. They won 21 straight divisional games, a winning streak that was snapped in 2022.

IHS made the state sectional playoffs in each of Pierre’s seasons that the playoffs were contested. The 2020 playoffs were canceled due to the COVID–19 pandemic.

Pierre also coached numerous IHS players who have gone to play collegiately on athletic scholarships, including some major colleges, such as Rutgers, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Penn State, Syracuse and Kentucky. 

Pierre coached Adon Shuler, a 2023 graduate who played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Shuler is a rising sophomore safety at Notre Dame.

Photo Courtesy of Felicia Laguerre Owens

  Irvington High School football