COACH JOE NAPOLI RETIRES FROM GEORGIAN COURT UNIVERSITY THROWS COACH POSITION

By Elliott Denman

Howell Township resident Joe Napoli is surely one of the nation's finest throwing events coaches.

He has worked wonders the past decade-and-a-half at Georgian Court University in Lakewood and as an independent coach to an array of top throwers in the high school and college ranks, a list topped by Donovan Catholic High School/ UCLA great Alyssa Wilson, javelin star Mike Brazzell, current Princeton star Tyler Konopka and Southern Regional HS pheenom Fabian Gonzalez....and many more.

Cheers again for Joe (who'd been a Shore AC stalwart before focusing on coaching) and his World's Longest Throwers group!

Here is the official message from Coach Joe:

"After 15 years, I have officially retired from coaching at Georgian Court University. It has certainly been a great ride and thankful to all at GCU for trusting and believing in my vision, passion and ability to grow a throws program from nothing to one of the best programs in the NCAA. I am proud to have coached and mentored so many young student-athletes giving them the opportunity to be the best they could be in our sport and hopefully in life. Although I will no longer have the time to coach at GCU I will however still continue to train on Sundays with my throws club. As long as I still have the passion, ability and energy to coach you know I will!! Now it's onto the next chapter in my life spending more time with Ellen and my family watching our grandchildren grow up...very exciting!! "