NORTH BERGEN AND BEYOND — North Bergen High School Football Coach Vincent Ascolese retired this past year after a long history at the school. But Sunday’s Star-Ledger paints an unflattering picture, alleging that the coach recruited players from other towns, allowed the players to rent space in his building, then turned his back after the season ended.
The story says: “A four-week investigation by The Star-Ledger has found that the coach — the third-winningest in state history — [allegedly] may have violated keystone rules of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association…” The story says that officials say perhaps the championship title won by the team this past season may be taken away.
Ascolese gives little comment for the story except to make reference to a landlord-tenant dispute. Ascolese’s wife referred the newspaper to a lawyer who declined comment.
The story makes reference to the cases of players Denzell Leitch and Eric McMullen. Our sports columnist wrote about the latter recently in his column here in the Hudson Reporter newspapers.
Watch hudsonreporter.com for updates on the aftereffects of this story.