Williams named new grid coach at Bayonne High

The famous author Thomas Wolfe once wrote a famous and often quoted line: “You can’t go home again.” Well, Wolfe never met Dwayne Williams, because recently, he proved Wolfe wrong, because after a long journey, going back and forth across the continental United States, Williams has indeed returned to his beloved home of Bayonne, N.J. as the head football coach at his alma mater of Bayonne High School. The 61-year-old Williams was appointed a few weeks ago and was approved by the Bayonne Board of Education last week. Not wasting any time, Williams went right to work as the successor to Jason Acerra, who received an administrative position in the district. For the prior three years, Williams served as the head coach at Barringer in Newark and helped to turn that program around, with the help of super talented quarterback Zamar Wise, now at the University of Massachusetts. Williams posted a record of 9-13 over those three years. He enjoyed his stay with the Bears and was developing a successful program. But when Acerra stepped down at the end of last season, Williams made sure to put his name into the hat for consideration. And it took some adversity for Williams to realize that he indeed wanted to come back home. “I lost my mother, two sisters and a nephew in a span of three weeks,” said Williams, who comes from a family of 12 siblings, 11 of which were/are female. Williams is the lone boy. “That was a big blow to me,” Williams said. “We have a very close family.” And another reason for wanting to return to Bayonne was the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the pandemic and the safety precautions that were taken to combat the virus, Barringer only played three games last fall. “We had no contingency plan,” Williams said. “What were we supposed to do? I was taking kids to get COVID tests. I saw firsthand what COVID could do.” Williams is a dyed-in-the-wool member of the Bayonne Bees as one of the greatest running backs in the history of the program. In the mid-1970s, Williams lit up scoreboards running wild for the Bees. Williams is a three-time All-Hudson County honoree and was twice named All-State. He earned Parade All-American honors, collecting nearly 4,000 yards and 60 touchdowns in his career, playing for the immortal Don Ahern, for whom the stadium where the Bees play is named. Williams then went to the University of Iowa, who was coached by the legendary Hayden Fry. But Williams’ career was stalled due to injuries and his career never really got a chance to blossom like anticipated. When his career ended, Williams returned to Bayonne and began a four-decade journey in coaching. It all began with the Bees and returns to Bayonne when the season kicks off Sept. 2 at Newark East Side. “I think it’s best for everyone,” Williams said. “I’m the last of the Ahern disciples. It’s an honor for me to come back and for all the guys who bleed garnet and white. I can bring the tradition and pride back to the program. I know that the challenge ahead could be exhausting and overwhelming. I’m just happy for the opportunity, but it’s time to go to work.” Williams conducted a youth clinic last week involving some of the returning Bees, then got right to work preparing for the upcoming season. “I’ve never been a guy who backs down to a challenge,” Williams said. “No doubt, I’m going to put my heart and soul into this, because it’s where I’m supposed to be.” Williams was an assistant under Ahern during the mid-1980s, including the great 1988 season that featured All-State performers Ernie Beler and Danan Hughes. The Bees lost to Paterson Eastside in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV state championship game, but that team posted a 9-2 record and won the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association championship in a very competitive league that featured state ranked teams North Bergen and St. Peter’s Prep. After taking a break from coaching for a few years, Williams returned to Bayonne to serve as an assistant coach to Tom Bulwith after Coach Ahern lost his battle to cancer. “Bull brought me back,” Williams said. “I remember sitting in his home with Jerry Castaldo (another key assistant with the Bees) and they convinced me to come back. Bull said, ‘Help me turn this program around.’” They did, but Williams was with the Bees for only one season. Bulwith resigned and was replaced by Rick Rodriguez. “I knew I wasn’t going to be the next head coach,” Williams said. So Williams went to Elizabeth as an assistant to famed coach Chet Parlavecchio and another stint at Roselle High School. However, Williams’ opportunities to be a head coach didn’t disappear. In 2011, Williams received a phone call from Larry Arico, who was at the time the athletic director/head coach at neighboring rival Marist, a school that has now since closed. But Arico didn’t want to do both jobs and asked Williams if he would become the head coach. It wasn’t well received from the cronies in Bayonne, thinking that one of their homegrown would actually move down Kennedy Boulevard to coach Marist. That move was almost like sacrilege. “I didn’t care what other people thought,” Williams said. “I told Larry I was willing to help him out.” Williams was almost like a miracle worker with the Royal Knights, leading them to the state playoffs in 2012 for the first time in seven years, before falling to Montclair Kimberley Academy in overtime in the NJSIAA Parochial Group 2 first round. After two years with the Royal Knights, Williams started to put on his traveling shoes. With the assistance of legendary Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder, Williams made the move to Kansas, first to Highland Park High School in Topeka and finally Schlagle High School in Kansas City, where Williams led that program to never before reached heights, winning nine straight games and earning a state playoff berth with 10 wins his last year. “Schlagle was nothing and we took them to the state sectional semifinals,” Williams said. His former teammate at Iowa Andre Tippett asked him if he would like to come back to New Jersey and coach at Tippett’s alma mater Barringer. “I was getting older and wanted to spend more time with my mother,” Williams said. Williams said that his mother’s dream was to see her lone boy coach at Bayonne, but she passed away in 2020. But he’s home now, ready to take over the Bees, ready to make them buzz and sting. It might be coming a little later than Williams would have liked, but he’s finally getting the chance now, coaching on the field that he once danced on, up and down the sidelines. And he’s coaching on a field named after his mentor. “I will never take that Don Ahern name lightly,” Williams said. “I learned a lot about hard work from that man. I don’t know if this was God’s plan for me, I just think it’s my time. And I’m ready.” And Bayonne is more than ready to have a native son come home again. Take that, Thomas Wolfe.