NJ football: Bill Hill named Howell head coach

Bill Hill will be the head football coach at the place where he first made himself known to Shore Conference scholastic sports fans as one of the conference's all-time great athletes more than 40 years ago.

Hill was named Howell High School’s head coach Thursday night by the Freehold Regional Schools Board of Education, Howell principal Jeremy Braverman said. 

He was a standout running back and baseball player at Howell from 1974-77 and also played briefly in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys.

Hill succeeds Frank Edgerly, who resigned this past winter after one season. Hill was the defensive coordinator/running backs coach under Edgerly. Howell went 2-4 last season.

It is the third head coaching job for Hill. He was the head coach for three seasons at Toms River High School South from 2008-2010. He was also the head coach for one season at Asbury Park in 2014.

Hill has been an assistant coach at several Shore Conference schools through the years, including Lakewood in the mid 1990’s under former Piners’ head coach Len Rivers and Asbury Park in the late 1990’s. 

Several members of last year’s coaching staff, will return including former highly-successful Middletown High School South and Raritan head coach Bob Generelli. Generelli will be the offensive coordinator.

Howell has not had a winning season since it went 9-2 and advanced to the NJSIAA South Group 5 semifinal for the second consecutive season in 2017.

The Rebels will play in the newly named Shore Conference Independence Division this season with Brick Township, Brick Memorial, Middletown North and Lacey. They will also play nondivisional games against sister schools Marlboro and Freehold Township.