Jets honor Seahawks’ Stanley

By Jeff Lipton

Under the steady hand of Head Coach Mike Stanley, the Carey High School football squad rolled to its first undefeated regular season since 1978 this fall.

The Seahawks’ terrific 8-0 campaign has not gone unnoticed outside the Franklin Square area. Last week, Stanley earned the New York Jets High School Coach of the Week Award, presented each week to a coach in the tri-state area who serves the best interests of the game by teaching sound football fundamentals, motivating young players to achieve and promoting youth football through dedication to his community, his school and his student-athletes.

“The Jets must have made a mistake,” Stanley joked. “No, really, it’s been great. It’s very nice. It’s good recognition for our program.”

Last Saturday, Carey further validated Coach Stanley’s award by trouncing Westbury, 42-9, in the first round of the Nassau County Conference II Championships. In the second round this weekend, Carey will face Mepham, who beat Elmont 13-6.

Stanley, who is also a social studies teacher and dean of students at Carey, is finishing his fourth year as varsity head coach. “The guy has energy, enthusiasm and passion, which permeates to the rest of the team,” said Matt McLees, Carey’s athletic director, who preceded Stanley as head football coach. “Mike has a passion for the game, a great football mind and a tremendous work ethic.

“The award was well-deserved,” McLees added. “He probably could have gotten it earlier in the season.”

McLees described Stanley as “a great communicator who relates well to all the kids, and the kids respect him. They respond to him as their coach. … While he’s done a terrific job with the program, he’s done a great job keeping the program on track and hopefully bringing it to new heights with a county championship.”

Having won titles in 1974 and 1978, the Seahawks last played for the county championship in 2005, when they lost to Garden City.

Stanley said that what makes his players so special this year is that they “have all done a great job of staying focused and remaining humble. Whatever success they’ve had on Saturday, they’re able to push it aside by Monday and prepare for the next game. They’ve gotten back to work and gotten ready for the next opponent.”

He credited much of the team’s success to his assistant coaches, Tom Aiello and Mike Cellan. “Those guys do an unbelievable job all week preparing our kids,” Stanley said. “It’s certainly not me alone.”

He also attributed his success to a supportive administration and a great staff. “It’s a great place to be,” Stanley said of Carey, where he has taught for nine years and has been a dean for the past two. “Every one of our coaches is in the building. It’s a group effort here.”

McLees added, “I just think they are an extremely well-coached team, a terrific group of kids and one of the best teams in terms of athleticism that I’ve seen in my 21 years at Carey.”

As a Coach of the Week, Stanley will receive $1,000 from the NFL Youth Football Fund to benefit the school’s football program and will be presented with a certificate from the Jets. High school football reporter Mike Quick of the TV show “High School Weekly” and the Jets’ Community Relations department select the winner, who are recognized each Tuesday night during the season. At the end of the season, a Coach of the Year will be chosen, and awarded $2,000 for his school’s program.

Comments about this story? Jlipton@liherald.com.