SCOREBOARD Price gets his shot to coach at Snyder

Former Ferris and Rutgers standout now head man with TigersKeith Price knew that it was only a matter of time before he became a head football coach. After all, the 32-year-old Jersey City native had certainly paid his dues in the game, first as a standout All-County player at Ferris High School in the late 1980s, then as a fine defensive back at Rutgers.
Price also served as a dutiful assistant coach at Ferris, then at Snyder, with trips to Woodbridge High School and New Jersey City University intertwined. So the groundwork was already in place. All Price needed was the opportunity.
Price never even considered pursuing a career in coaching while he was playing at Rutgers. He has St. Peter’s Prep head coach and athletic director Rich Hansen to thank for that.
While Price was still playing, he would go to Grand and Warren to work out with the Marauders.
“Coach Hansen told me that I could come and lift at Prep any time I wanted,” Price said. “There wasn’t any other equipment around anywhere else that could keep me in shape, so I went there to lift and worked out with the kids. At that time, Coach Hansen told me that I should get into coaching and that if I was interested in it, he would welcome me there.”
But Price knew that if coaching was going to be an option, he was going to have to do it where he was best known and most comfortable.
“I knew I wasn’t going to the next level [meaning professional football],” Price said. “I saw the writing on the wall. But even though Coach Hansen offered me a chance, I was a public school guy. I had to give back to the place where I grew up. I had to go home first. If I could teach the kids of Jersey City, the kids of Ferris, what I learned at Rutgers from a pro coach like Doug Graber (the former Rutgers coach who is now working in the NFL), then I had to do that. There weren’t a lot of African-American coaches around as well. I had to bring it back home.”
So in 1995, Price took his degree from Rutgers and headed back to his roots. He served as an assistant coach under then-head coach Joe Blasucci. Price was the perfect role model, a kid who came from downtown Jersey City, made a name for himself, got out, got an education and came back.
“Joe Blasucci was the one who pushed me to want to become a head coach some day,” Price said.
Price remained with the Ferris program for five years, but then decided that he wanted a change of pace, so he went to work at Woodbridge High School, so he could tutor his cousin, standout receiver Keith Hemmings, who went on to have a brilliant career at Boston College.
After that season in Woodbridge, Price walked away from football for a bit.
“I sat and thought about it a little,” Price said. “I wanted to do something else. But I found that I missed it. I would go to games and watch the defensive backs and say to myself, ‘They can’t play like that.’ I tried to hold my comments to myself. But I couldn’t do it.”
Price was an assistant coach under Arnold Jeter, his defensive coach at Rutgers, for one year at NJCU, before the Gothic Knights disbanded their football program.
Price came back to Jersey City and became a special education teacher at rival Snyder High School.
“It was a little weird at first, being there instead of Ferris, but kids are kids,” Price said.
After he was at Snyder for a while, then-head coach Eric Piccolo kept persuading Price to join his coaching staff.
“I finally gave in and became a coach at Snyder,” Price said. “It was a little strange looking across the field and seeing the green and gold [Ferris’ colors] on the other sideline. But I got used to it.”
When Piccolo decided at the end of last season that he was going to step down at Snyder, Price figured that his chance to be a head coach had finally arrived.
“When I heard that Coach Piccolo was resigning, I threw my hat into the ring and decided to see what happened,” Price said. “I don’t know whether I ever really wanted it badly before, but this time, I really went after it. I had a portfolio and a game plan on what I would do it I were a head coach. Then, I put it in God’s hands. If it was meant to be, it would happen.”
The returning players at Snyder were hoping that Price would get the job.
“The kids were all asking me in May if I was going to be the coach,” Price said. “That made me feel good that they wanted me to be the coach. I said, ‘I want to be the coach, too.’ But I hoped that someone gave me the Head Coaching Manual, Coaching 101, because I wasn’t sure I could handle all the responsibilities. I never ran an offense before. There were things that were new to me.”
In late May, Price was finally rewarded for his patience. He was given the head coaching job at Snyder.
But the 32-year-old Price knew that he was ready for the most important responsibility – being a leader.
“I knew we had to change the philosophy and the mindset of the kids and make them think and act like winners,” Price said. “In the classroom, in the weight room, on the field. I needed a total commitment. I needed kids who were willing to go out and be proud that they play football at Snyder. When you hear people talking about Hudson County football, you hear the same names, Prep, Hoboken, North Bergen, Bayonne. You never hear Snyder. You want to be able to hear the buzz going about Snyder football far beyond Greenville. You want it all over the county and then the state, make it contagious.”
Added Price, “I’m not here to coach a football team. I’m here to build an entire program.”
Price said that he is enthused about his opportunity.
“I know that these kids want to go out and play hard,” Price said. “They can’t just like to play. They have to love it. I have a couple of kids who are eye openers, who are turning our heads. I’m excited about them. I think they’re going to be good players.”
Price said that he likes senior quarterback Thomas Suber, who has some huge shoes to fill, replacing All-Area standout Larry Holmes, who has graduated. Running back/defensive back Kareem Rivers, whom Price has impressed with his work ethic, has also shown promise.
“I’ve never seed a kid work harder,” Price said of Rivers.
Price also likes linemen Darnell Aiken (6-2, 255) and Maurice Lyles (6-1, 230), with receivers Angel Acevedo and Maurice Jackson also getting on the coach’s good side in early practices.
“It’s been fun,” Price said. “We’re all learning a lot. We’re working on preparation. I’m letting my assistants (Kevin Coleman and Castor Lasada) coach and we’ll do whatever works. But I’m enjoying what I’m doing. I think I have something to offer these kids. They know I’ve done it, went through the college recruiting thing, played in front of 70,000 people on TV. Now, they just have to want to do it like I did.”
Perfect role model indeed.