Judge vacates Paramus Catholic football coach Greg Russo's suspension
Greg Russo will be on the sidelines for Paramus Catholic's first football game of the season later this month.
Bergen County Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian vacated Russo's four-game suspension but affirmed the program's probation and assistant coach Christian Maldonado's suspension for the length of the probationary period through the end of this season. The penalties were levied by the NJSIAA last fall after Belleville lodged a complaint that Paramus Catholic recruited one of the Bucs' football players.
Russo declined to comment via text message.
Jerejian issued his decision in a video conference on Friday following a July 31 hearing.
"When you look at Coach Maldonado, he was the person having the contact. That is pretty clear," Jerejian said. "There is nothing in this record that establishes that Coach Russo knew.
"I just didn’t find it… that tangible link somehow, hearsay or otherwise, that would lead me to conclude that there is the type of evidence that’s needed to suspend Coach Russo."
The judge shared that Belleville High School filed its initial complaint to the NJSIAA on July 8, 2022 and believed the athlete was brought to a Paramus Catholic wrestling match and recruited in person.
Jerejian also addressed the number of transfers that Paramus Catholic has brought in over the years − specifically mentioning Rashan Gary, who is now with the Green Bay Packers − being brought forth as evidence.
“I wasn’t pleased with the 'gotcha' mentality or bringing up transfers, none of that was relevant,” he said.
Jerejian said he felt the initial punishments levied by the NJSIAA's controversies committee were fair and repeatedly pointed out that it was Belleville, not Paramus Catholic, who appealed the original punishments.
Paramus Catholic is scheduled to open the season against Cleveland Heights High School on Aug. 26 in Ohio.
How we got here
Jerejian's decision ends a legal battle that has gone on since last October.
The saga started when the NJSIAA controversies committee put Paramus Catholic on probation for two years and banned the team from participating in the 2022 playoffs (the Paladins went 2-7). No coaches were suspended at that time.
Belleville High School appealed the punishment, saying it wasn’t strong enough, and brought the matter to the next level of the NJSIAA, the executive committee.
After hearing from lawyers from Belleville and Paramus Catholic (but not Maldonado or Russo’s attorney), the executive committee hit Russo with an unprecedented four-game suspension and ordered Maldonado to stay away from the program for the length of the probationary period.
Russo and Maldonado went before Jerejian in April, and the judge vacated the punishments and sent the case back to the NJSIAA executive committee, feeling it wasn’t right that the two plaintiffs had not been able to represent themselves.
In May, the executive committee upheld the suspensions by a vote of 31-0.
Citing new rule changes, and the length of the suspension, Russo and Maldonado went back to Jerejian for another hearing on July 31. Jerejian's decision Friday was the result of that hearing.
Russo is a 1998 Paramus Catholic graduate who was an assistant coach with the Paladins for three state championship teams: 2012, 2013 and 2016. He left the school to become head coach at Queen of Peace, but the school closed before he could coach a game. He was an assistant coach at Northern Highlands before becoming head coach there in 2019 and winning two sectional titles with the Highlanders.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paramus Catholic NJ football: Judge vacates Greg Russo suspension
