The Evolution Of Wing-T Offense
Is New Book By A Veteran Coach

Ed Sadloch has believed in the value of the Wing-T for more than half a century as a coach and dedicated student and proponent of the time-honored offense, which has led to the success of many a high school and college team.

Now, a dream of authoring a book about one of his lifelong passions has been fulfilled as the former Cedar Grove state championship head coach, who has worked at a number of different schools along the way, including as the offensive coordinator at Bloomfield and as a line coach at state powers St. Peter’s Prep and his alma mater, Don Bosco Prep - where he is still working today - is continuing to spread his love and knowledge of the Wing-T around the world for all interested coaches, players and fans.

The Evolution of the Wing T Offense by Edward J. Sadloch is now available for all to read and learn so much more about the very innovative offense.

“It took me a year deciding whether I should write this book, and it took me about a year to research and write it,” said Sadloch, who finished with 203 wins and guided Cedar Grove to five playoff championships in his 25 seasons at the Essex County school. “My goal was to mix both history and the X’s and O’s, and I’m hoping that Wing T enthusiasts, and maybe my former players will enjoy reading it.”

When the single wing offense, which was perfected by Lawrenceville coach Ken Keuffel, and the T-formation that legendary figures in the sport, such as Clary Anderson of Montclair, utilized so well combined through the inspiration of coach David M. Nelson of the University of Delaware, a new offense known as the Wing T was ready to take off in the mid-1960s and Nelson’s successor with the Blue Hens, one Tubby Raymond (1966-2001), was just the man to promote what at the time was a revolutionary approach to utilizing motion and misdirection to evolve into a successful offense.

Delaware with Raymond and major college powers, such as Notre Dame under the guidance of the late, great Ara Parseghian, helped popularize the offense which effectively utilizes deception and misdirection, while also looking for balance in the passing and rushing attacks.

Parseghian valued concepts of the Wing T that Raymond helped develop and he guided his teams to national championships in 1966 and 1973, which were the first national titles for the Fighting Irish since the Frank Leahy era.  
Fast forward more than a half century later and the Wing T is still alive and well, thanks to proponents of the offense, including with coaches such as Sadloch at the vanguard.

“When tracing the history of the Wing-T I zeroed in on its early roots which evolved from the single-wing,” said the former Cedar Grove state championship coach. “I followed more of its development in college with Glen ‘Pop’ Warner and Dana X Bible.

“The same goes for the ‘T’ formation. I stayed with the colleges and people like Frank Leahy, Homer Rice and Woody Hayes. I knew that Ken Keuffel ran the single-wing in New Jersey, but did not dig into high school.

“Dave Nelson and Tubby Raymond were credited for getting the Wing T relevant. I worked the Delaware Camp for 11 years and had numerous conversations with Coach Raymond and his staff.

“Those conversations enabled me to better understand the offense. My introduction to it came when I was a young assistant at Garfield High School. We met with John Bauer, Sr. at Randolph, who helped us install it.

“At Cedar Grove our coaches all did a great job not only with the offense, but also defense and special teams. I think the biggest transition we had was when we decided to run the offense from the shotgun. It helped our passing game which in turn helped our running game.

“Most importantly, our kids bought into what we were selling which contributed to our success.”    

In a day and age where the spread offense is ultra-popular along with variations of the multiple attack, the Wing T still has its prime place in high school football as various programs including at Ridgewood and - for a half century - at West Essex, which used variations of the offense mixed in with other wrinkles.

The Knights switched to the spread attack in 2025 with the arrival of former Hanover Park coach Dan Fulton, who took the reins of the program as longtime Wing T coach Chris Benacquista became the head coach at Wayne Valley.

Sadloch gained inspiration about the Wing T as a young man while absorbing the knowledge and helpful hand of a certain Bergen County legend.

“Well, if it wasn’t for Ken Bohannon at Garfield High School I probably would not have run the Wing T as a head coach,” he stated. “And, John Bauer, Sr. at Randolph, Doug Wilkins at Mountain Lakes, Frank Bottone at New Providence and John Senesky at Belleville all contributed to my philosophy as a head coach.”    

Sadloch has also highly valued his long friendship with other devoted Wing T coaches such as retired Lenape Valley head coach Don Smolyn and the late, great William Paterson University and Montville High School head coach Gerry Gallagher.

The three legendary New Jersey high school football coaches and Wing T devotees have been referred to as “The 3 Amigos” because of their close friendship and yearning to keep teaching young coaches and players about the offense and the game they love.

Before Gallagher’s sudden passing last summer, the trio worked together conducting Wing T clinics around the state for many interested coaches.

Smolyn had incredible longevity in the sport, and before he retired from coaching he had been the winningest active coach in New Jersey with 348 wins in 45 seasons at Lenape Valley where his Patriots also captured seven sectional playoff titles.

Gallagher stayed in coaching until the end of his life, and following his success at schools such as ‘Willy P’ and Montville, he had stints as an assistant coach on Brian Bowers’ staff at Delbarton before joining his son Bryans staff at Morris Knolls.

“The three of us have all been very good friends,” said Sadloch. “We all worked the original University of Delaware Camp along with John Senesky of Belleville in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“Gerry Gallagher, Don Smolyn and John Senesky are all part of my inner circle. Their influence and our relationship over more than 40 years means the world to me, and we have worked camps and clinics together while also sitting together at a few different establishments while talking Wing-T football.”

Thanks to the passion of people like Sadloch and Smoyn who continue to promote the very positive elements of Wing T today, the lifeblood of the innovative and effective offense remains vital to many in the sport.

“’The Wing T is a system of offense, ‘an order of football,’ that’s what Tubby Raymond used to preach,” continued Sadloch. “It’s an offense that revolves around angles, misdirection and plays that complement each other.
“It is considered a run first, pass second offense because it is a 4-back attack, but that assertion is not necessarily true.

“I spent five years working with the spread offense at St. Peter’s Prep and it’s my opinion that the Wing T is easier to install and easier to teach.
“You don’t need Division I talent to make it go, although that’s always nice to have.

“Many colleges use concepts of the offense now. I am studying the U.S. Naval Academy football concepts at the moment because their offensive coordinator Joe Cronini has a background in it.

“Any school that uses the ‘Gap Scheme’ concepts can relate to the Wing-T.”
He is a coach, passionate advocate, and now author of a special book about the time-honored offense simply keeps spreading the word and discussing with anyone interested about the Wing T.

The Evolution of the Wing T Offense is available on Amazon.