Chad King, a former star running back and defensive back at Ocean Township High School, is returning home as the newly appointed head football coach. The Ocean Township Board of Education approved King’s hiring on Tuesday night, according to Ocean athletic director Rusty Todd.
King brings with him a wealth of coaching experience, having served as the head coach at Long Branch for the past two seasons. Prior to that, he spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach under the legendary Dan George, who was also King’s head coach at Ocean through his junior year.
A graduate of Ocean Township High School in 2000, King takes over from Don Klein, who recently resigned after being hired as the head coach at his alma mater, Shore Regional. Klein, the school’s all-time winningest coach, led the Spartans for the past 17 seasons.
During King’s tenure at Long Branch, the Green Wave posted a 14-9 record, which included three NJSIAA road playoff wins. Last season, they reached the NJSIAA Central Group 4 championship game after defeating Jackson Memorial and the unbeaten Brick Memorial. In 2022, Long Branch also secured a first-round Central Group 4 victory at unbeaten Pennsauken.
Under Klein’s leadership, Ocean compiled a 93-75-1 record, with nine NJSIAA playoff appearances, four Shore Conference divisional championships, and seven winning seasons. The Spartans’ most successful seasons under Klein were in 2013 (10-1), 2015 (9-2) led by current Philadelphia Eagles’ backup quarterback Kenny Pickett, 2019 (8-1) with Syracuse University junior wide receiver Trebor Pena, and 2022 (8-1) with quarterback Tyler Douglas, now at Temple University.
Ocean, coming off a 4-6 season, will compete in Shore Conference Class B North alongside Middletown North, Matawan, Freehold, Freehold Township, and Red Bank Regional. The Spartans will also face Holmdel, Manasquan, and Shore in non-divisional games.
With King’s hiring, Long Branch remains the only coaching vacancy in the Shore Conference.
