In the wake of the nationally publicized scandal that had rocked the Sayreville H.S. football program which led to the cancellation of the 2014 season and the suspension of head football coach George Najjar; the coach’s future could be decided very soon, according to officials.

Najjar has had an enormous amount of success in his 20 year span as coach of the War Memorial Bombers.
But his reputation took a drastic hit when news of the hazing incident involving seven players allegedly sexually abusing other members of the team took center stage.

As a result, the football program was cancelled by Superintendent Richard Labbee, and Najjar, along with 4 of his assistants were suspended with pay.

Past and present football players all commented that the assistants and Najjar spent little time in the locker room, and Labbee himself commented he believes Najjar was not aware of hazing itself.

Since that time, Najjar, along with four of his assistant coaches were suspended from their teaching and coaching duties following the season's cancellation. All were later reinstated to their teaching duties, except Najjar who, because he's a tenured physical education teacher, remains suspended with pay.

However his status as coach remains up in the air.
So here’s the dilemma, if you want to call it that.

A well respected figure who’s had a stellar career as head coach of a winning football program, and a mentor to many past players vying to get his position back vs. the reality that he had no idea what was going on in a darkened locker room when his back was turned.

One mistake will cost you dearly.

I’ve no doubt Najjar will be able to revive his career as a coach. The question is: should it be with Sayreville, or with another program – either in state or out of state?

To reinstate him might just give the impression to the community that the incident in Sayreville was just a mere blip on the radar screen – and that the football program would suffer should they lose a coach as indispensible as Najjar.

Still, nothing would have been learned.

And unfortunately, even though he had noting to do with the incident himself, outside of not knowing what was going on – reinstating Najjar would send the wrong message.

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