Lou Grasso resigns as Union football coach to become Colonia's athletic director
Lou Grasso is coming home, just, it won’t be on a sideline with a headset.
Grasso was approved as the Colonia High School athletic director at Thursday’s Woodbridge Township Board of Education meeting to replace the retiring Ben LaSala.
Grasso announced on social media Friday that he was stepping down as the Union football coach after 11 seasons. The Farmers had much success under Grasso, including winning the 2019 NJSIAA Group 2 North 5 title.
He said it was bittersweet leaving Union with the relationships he developed, but the Colonia position was a good opportunity he didn’t want to pass up.
Grasso, 48, graduated from Colonia High School, he lives in Colonia and his children go to the school.
“I was presented with a great opportunity,” Grasso said, “and it was something I couldn’t pass up. It’s difficult leaving Union because we built something pretty special there and all the relationships and all the great times we had there, so it’s bittersweet but it’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Grasso got his Master of Education at Kean University and a BA at Rutgers.
“I’ve always had really good athletic directors that I respected and admired and they made the job look like a great role to have with the department and still being around sports," he said. "Still being around kids so, yeah, I don’t know if I thought of it as an end game or anything like that. When the opportunity arised, I thought it should be something I should definitely look into.”
Grasso, whose brother Dan is Colonia’s head wrestling coach and was on his staff at Union, was previously the head football coach at Roselle and an assistant at New Brunswick before his time at Union.
“So many great memories (at Union)," Grasso said. "So much hard work and we accomplished a lot of things. It was everything I could have hoped it would have been. Like I said, it’s sad leaving and it’s sad leaving some of these kids but there’s never really a good time for it. So you kind of have to play the situations as they come. And this situation – my time at Union came to an end.”
Now, he gets to put on the blue and gold colors again, which means something to him.
“It’s my town,” Grasso said. “This is my town. This is where I grew up. This is a place that I love.”
There’s another perk – a much shorter commute.
“Way shorter," he said. "You can’t beat the commute. It’s 30 seconds.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Lou Grasso steps down as Union football coach to become Colonia's AD
