Drew Gibbs (July 8, 1962 – November 16, 2021) was an American high school
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
coach who was head coach of the Kean University Cougars during the 1989 season and was a head coach at Ramapo High School. Regarded as one of the best high school football coaches in the state of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, Gibbs' teams at Ramapo only missed making the state playoffs once in his first seventeen years in the position.
Born in
Rutherford, New Jersey
Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough's population was 18,834.
Rutherford was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on September 21, 1881, fr ...
, Gibbs moved to
Midland Park, New Jersey
Midland Park is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,128,Midland Park High School
Midland Park Jr./Sr. High School is a six-year comprehensive public high school for students in seventh through twelfth grades in Midland Park, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. Opened in 1957, it is a junior-senior high school oper ...
in 1980, where he played prep football and wrestled at the varsity level. He attended
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg College is a private liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about 2,600 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. ...
and transferred to
Montclair State University
Montclair State University (MSU) is a Public university, public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Little Falls, New Jersey, Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, ...
for his final two collegiate years.
Gibbs served as an assistant football coach at Montclair State University and
Kean University
Kean University () is a public university in Union Township, Union County, New Jersey, Union and Hillside, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education.
Kean University was founded in 1855 in Newark, New Jersey, as th ...
during the 1980s. He was head coach of the Kean University Cougars during the 1989 season, where he compiled a record of 3–7. He then served as an assistant football coach at Ridgewood High School, where he also coached wrestling.
In 2001, Gibbs was chosen to succeed Mike Miello as the head coach at Ramapo High School after Miello became an assistant coach at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
. Gibbs won five Group III, State Sectional Championships at Ramapo and has a career record of 167 wins against 48 losses. He was also named North Section 1 Coach of the Year by the NJFCA in both 2001 and 2009. Gibbs was elected as a member in the New Jersey Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014 for both his accomplishments as a head coach in football and wrestling, a sport where he has also exceeded 100 career victories.
Many of his athletes have gone on to college to play, some major schools include Rutgers University, David Bonagura and James Hogan and Syracuse University,
Ross Krautman
Ross Jordan Krautman is a former All-American football placekicker who played for the Syracuse Orange. Krautman is considered one of the best placekickers of his class. Krautman's NFL prospects were crushed due to a chronic hip injury.
Early lif ...
and Ricky Krautman.
On November 15, 2021, Gibbs experienced chest pains during a practice. He was admitted to a hospital in