Life Has Now Gone Full Circle
For New Montclair Football Coach

MONTCLAIR- Manj Singh’s unique full-circle journey in becoming Montclair’s new head football coach has involved the significant influence of many people along the way in his life including his strong-willed mom, caring Montclair families, and a solid coaching lineage that has included his own high school coach Ed Lebida and renowned North Jersey icons such as Greg Toal and Augie Hoffmann.

The former Glen Ridge and Verona coach was officially approved to become the Mounties’ 13th head football coach since 1920 during Wednesday night’s (Feb. 25) Montclair Board of Education meeting.

“This is a dream come true,” said Singh, who will turn 49 on June 5. “I graduated from Montclair 30 years ago. We have our 30-year class reunion this year, and it feels like my life has now gone full circle.

“I had also interviewed when Jermain Johnson was named as head coach (in 2022), and although I didn’t get the job then, I feel I’ve learned a whole lot more about what being a head coach is all about during these past four years.”

The coaching search process, which included multiple interviews with a committee that included Montclair Athletic Director Matt Belford, Assistant Principal Reginal Clark and Mounties baseball coach Ron Gavazzi, came down to two finalists in Singh and the popular former Mountie player and coach Ron Anello, who after a long career as both a head football coach and North Jersey high school athletic director had returned to his high school alma mater four years ago, first to serve as the line coach when Jermain Johnson became the head coach in 2022 and he then stepped up to the plate as the school’s ‘interim’ athletic director for two years after PJ Scarpello left for a job in Pennsylvania.

Anello then also helped out his alma mater in another tough spot when he agreed to be the high school’s ‘interim’ head football coach for the 2025 season after Johnson resigned from his post in May after three seasons at the helm.

Although the Mounties finished just 1-8 in 2025, it was perhaps the youngest and least experienced team in Montclair football history with just five seniors on the roster plus the fact that the team’s expected, returning starting quarterback, Jaylin Bullock, had transferred during the summer to Seton Hall Prep for his junior year.

While he is thrilled to move into his new post Singh appreciates what Anello has meant to Montclair.  

 “Ron Anello is a Mountie who did everything he could for Montclair, and it’s not easy to take over for someone like him, a fellow alum, who has given so much to the school.

“He left us in a good place with the standards he instilled in the program and he will always be welcome in Montclair.”

Singh Gained Head Coaching Experience At Glen Ridge And Verona

Singh has worked his way up from the under-levels in the sport coaching junior football in both Montclair and Bloomfield before then serving as an assistant coach at North Jersey Catholic school powers Don Bosco Prep and St. Joseph of Montvale before getting his first head coaching position at Glen Ridge in 2022 where he was 11-10 in two years at the helm, including directing the Ridgers to their first playoff victory since 1982 in his second season at the helm in 2023.

He then was selected as Verona’s head coach, succeeding Kevin Batty at the helm in 2024 when he guided the Hillbillies to a 7-4 playoff season in his rookie campaign at the helm.

The ‘Billies then slumped to 2-7 this past fall when there were a number of injuries at key positions.

When the Montclair football job for 2026 was opened up for all potential candidates a second chance to possibly return home in a sense and coach the Mounties was an opportunity that was just too attractive to pass on. 

“For me, to come back to Montclair now as its football coach is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which I’m tremendously excited about and I plan to get right to work in the process of returning the program to being among the best teams in the state,” said Singh. “I want nothing more than to see this team one day raise a North 1, Group 5 playoff championship banner once again!”  

The new Mounties head gridiron mentor worked his way up in the coaching ladder beginning in 2001 with the Nishuane Park recreation town league where then future Mountie stars such as all-state back Khalif Herbin got their starts in the sport. He then coached with the Montclair Recreation Bulldogs program run by Garland Thornton for two years before coaching with the Montclair Cobras from 2008-2014 where he guided the Cobras JV team to championship seasons in four of his five years at the helm.

He then was joined by his brother Sham in coaching in the Bloomfield junior football program for three years while then becoming the freshmen coach at Don Bosco Prep in 2016 where he coached for three years during Toal’s amazing run with the nationally-ranked varsity Ironmen.

He then joined the St. Joseph of Montvale coaching staff where he worked for three seasons (2019-2021) as the head JV coach and as a varsity line coach for both Hoffmann and then Dan Murangi.

Singh’s oldest son Elijah (Class of 2017) was a wide receiver at Bosco on a team that included former Giants quarterback and current New England Patriot Tommy DeVito of Cedar Grove. 

Then came the opportunity to be the head coach at Glen Ridge in the 2022 season where he saw an increase in roster size from just 17 dressed for his team’s first game that fall to a more robust 38 when the Ridgers reached the North 2, Group 1 playoffs the next season.

The 2022 Ridgers finished 5-5 capped by winning an NJSIAA North, Group 1 Regional Invitational Tournament title before the team posted a 6-5 mark in 2023 and achieved the program’s first playoff victory in 41 years as a seventh seed while winning a first-round contest at second-seeded Waldwick.    

Family Has Always Come First For New Mounties Coach

Singh, who has four children, including daughter Nina who is a freshman flag football prospect at Mount St. Dominic, resides with wife Liliana ‘Katie’ Singh in Bloomfield. He has worked in the real estate field for many years following his previous career with PSE&G in their appliance service department and in heating and air conditioning.

While at Glen Ridge he met Matt Warner, a director at Montclair’s ‘Centercourt’ and has worked since 2023 at the facility located at 14 Depot Square as the director of flag football.

He has coached both boys and girls from pre-K through the eighth-grade who are learning about flag football and there is positional work also done at Centercourt with the assistance of Don Massey, who is a former coach at Shabazz and West Orange. In addition, there are efforts to also train basic safety aspects involved with tackle football for those youngsters considering a possible future at the junior youth football or high school levels.

Singh emphasized that a main focus regarding youth football in Montclair will be to create a unified Junior Mounties program for middle school age players in town.

He said he will continue to confer with the powers-that-be with the longstanding Montclair Cobras organization along with the Montclair Recreation Department’s Bulldogs program about how to best fit the needs of the young football prospects from Montclair.

“We’re here to be all-hands-on-deck in terms of promoting both the present and the future of Montclair football,” said Singh. “We have to get with the times in terms of having our Montclair kids all playing together on one team.”              

It’s been quite the journey for the Singh family in the last half century. Mang’s late mom Helen was pregnant with her second son Sham in 1972 when she was accompanied by her husband and oldest boy Anthony in leaving war-torn Uganda - which was then led by the brutal dictator Idi Amin – and making the big move for a new life in the United States.

The growing family was taken under the wing of a Montclair couple William and Elizabeth Knowles, who were sponsors from Union Congregational Church in Upper Montclair helping immigrants in town. The couple provided much moral support in helping the Singhs settle into their new community with Mrs. Singh and her children eventually moving to a home on Belvidere Place where the youngest son Manj and his brother ‘Mo’ were raised.

“Uncle Bill and Aunt Elizabeth helped our family so much and my mom raised four boys while working fulltime in the claims department for an insurance company,” said Singh. “She taught me so much about what hard work is all about, kept us busy, and did whatever she could for her kids.”

Singh Values Influence Of His Own Montclair Coaches

Manj Singh excelled as a pitcher for the Montclair High baseball team and was a wide receiver for the Mounties football team which won a playoff title in 1994, defeating Randolph in a memorable rematch from the famous 1990 game, this time at John Bauer Memorial Stadium, and he was then a senior on the 1995 Mounties team that reached another playoff championship game, playing at Giants Stadium where they fell to Morris Knolls and coach Bill Regan’s very effective, ground-oriented veer attack.

Among the strong influences on Singh were his Mounties head coach Ed Lebida and longtime assistant coach Homer Robinson.

“I learned so much about motivation and building a program from Coach ‘Rob’ and coach Lebida,” he said. “The reason I where sun glasses, even for night games, is a tribute to Coach Rob, who had such a strong influence on me.”

Singh was just 19 when his first son Elijah was born which led him to make the decision not to go to college and - instead - he went to work full- time as another longstanding Montclair couple, family friends Ira and Rita Williams, stepped in to help present an opportunity.

“I had experienced how hard my mom had worked to raise her family without my father around and I was determined to be there to raise my son,” said Singh. “Ira Williams, Sr. helped me get a job with PSE&G where I would work for 20 years while supporting my family.

“Ira, Sr. was a real father figure for me and his wife Rita always welcomed me into their home,” continued Singh. “I was good friends with their son, Ira. Jr., who was of course a football and basketball star at Montclair.”

Ira Jr. played his college football at Wake Forest and also had an opportunity with the New York Giants before hamstring injuries led to an end to his football career.”

Singh’s unique story has evolved with both his rise up the coaching ladder while learning the ropes at different levels, and through his varied experiences off the field as well, including with his early career at PSE&G and eventually into the real estate field.

He made the transition to real estate when he needed to spend more time at his home in Bloomfield while helping to care for his ailing mom who suffered from cystic fibrosis.

The new position as head football coach his high school alma mater also means he can also be in closer proximity to Mt. Hebron cemetery where three very important people in his life, and also for his wife Katie, are all at rest now.

Katie’s mom Ruth passed away in 2021, his mom in 2023, and her dad Ray Aumack in 2024.

“It’s all part of life going full cycle and remaining close to the people we love, whether they are still here with us now or as they remain with us forever in spirit,” said Singh. “There are so many different emotions that I feel now, and the people who have been such a big part of my life are on my mind and in my heart as I begin an important new chapter in life guiding a football program at a school that is also very dear to my heart.” 

NOTES- While the process of selecting members of a new Mountie football coaching staff continues, among those already on board to join Singh with this fall’s team are former Mountie Chris Ferrara, who had been his offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at both Glen Ridge and Verona. Also joining the staff as defensive coordinator will be Gene Coleman, who had been on the Bergen Catholic staff the past four years. Coleman, who is from Montclair, is a former standout wide receiver at Bergen Catholic and also played at the University of Delaware and had a stint with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers…Other assistant coaches already set for the new staff include former Rutgers wide receiver Carlton Agudosi from Franklin, who will be the Mounties passing game coordinator and also coach wide receivers. He also coaches with Singh at Centercourt and played in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles…The Mounties’ new line coach will be Todd Picariello, a veteran of North Jersey football including a long stint at St. Joe’s, and is a former player at Alabama for coach Bear Bryant. One member of the most recent Mounties coaching staff under Anello already set to be on Singh’s new-look staff is Chuck Anderson who will serve as the team’s assistant defensive coordinator…Singh will also be the flag football coach for Mount St. Dominic’s first-year flag football team this spring…He resigned his coaching post at Verona on Jan. 25 and the Hillbillies’ new coach is former Verona standout lineman Matt Riccitelli, a 2014 graduate of the school who played on coach Lou Racioppe’s playoff championship team and coached on Singh’s Verona staff last fall…The 67-year-old Anello was a former Mounties standout lineman for legendary coach Butch Fortunato and later a young assistant coach on Fortunato’s Montclair coaching staff to begin a long career that included being the head coach at both West Essex and Clifton and an athletic director at Wallkill Valley and Ramapo High school.

Montclair High School Football Coaches Since 1920:
Clarence Woodman 1920-1925- 6 seasons (22-27-7, 48.5%)
Ken Sprague 1926-1933- 8 seasons (31-35-6, 47.2%)
Ernie McCoy 1934-39- 6 seasons (23-20-6, 53.1 %)
Clary Anderson 1940-41, 1946-1968- 25 seasons (197-22-5, 89.1 %)
Butch Fortunato 1942-45, 1969-1983- 19 seasons (115-52-8, 68%)
Jack Davies 1984-1990- 7 seasons (52-18-2, 73.6%)
Len Rivers 1991-1992- 2 seasons (7-10-1, 41.7 %)
Ed Lebida 1993-2009- 17 seasons (130-54, 70.7%)
John Fiore 2010-2020- 11 seasons (93-31, 75%)
Pete Ramiccio 2021- 1 season (5-5, 50 %)
Jermain Johnson (2022-2024 - 3 seasons (12-19, 39%)
Ron Anello (2025) – 1 season (1-8, 11%)
Manj Singh (2026)