Sports

Farrell alum Bradley tabbed as Lions new football coach

Football has never been just about wins and losses for Jim Bradley.

“It’s part of the whole education,” the Monsignor Farrell alum said. “It’s not just about winning. It’s about the development of the student-athlete and really preparing them for their next step.”

That’s the approach Bradley will try to bring to players after being named just the fourth varsity football coach in Farrell history this week. The former Lions player will take over for legendary coach Ben Sarullo, who was at the helm for 30 years.

Bradley had been assistant coach at Poly Prep and an assistant on the college level at UMass and Wagner. He embodied all the school was looking for in their next head man.

“He’s not only a good coach, but a good teacher,” Farrell principal Monsignor Edmund Whalen said. “He understands what a program’s relationship is to a school and the particular relationship that football has here at Farrell.”

The job will bring about not only a new challenge, but a major change in his life. Bradley, who was a running back on Sarullo’s undefeated Metro Bowl championship team in 1986, left his position as Assistant Athletic Director of Academics and Compliance at Wagner College and will be opening his own private education law practice. He was one of six people who interviewed for the job after 16-18 applied.

“It is a lot coming together at once,” the 41-yeard-old Bradley said.

He hopes things on the football side do the same in the next weeks as he will begin working on a staff over the mid-winter break. The Lions were a CHSFL and New York City power under coaches Al Forte, Dennis Barrett and Sarullo, but have fallen on tough times the last few seasons. Farrell took steps forward this year, but finished 4-6 and lost to Cardinal Hayes in the opening round of the CHSFL Class AA playoffs.

“It’s what you’re always working for,” Bradley said of bringing Farrell back. “Each game gives you another opportunity to put your hard work together and show how you can execute as a team…As you take care of each step along the way, the ultimate success waits for you at the end of the line.”

There is an eagerness from Bradley to start coaching football. His practices will be energetic and fast paced. Most of the talking will be done in the meeting room and he expects his players to play to their abilities and not to try to do more than they are capable of. Bradley won a Division III national championship team as a senior running back and wide receiver and Division I-AA national crown in 1998 as member of the UMass staff.

“He is a good role model for the kids,” Whalen said.

There have been plenty of reminders of his days at Farrell since his return. Some of his teachers are still there, including Whalen. It been special for him to be back to a place he considers home and an honor to take over a program with such tradition.

“I was sitting in the office and there is an artist sketch of each of the last three coaches hanging on the wall,” Bradley said. “It’s a little daunting when you look at the footsteps you are following in.”