“Dan, someone told me that wrestling practices have begun. Not sure if this is true or not but have we even approved a wrestling coach at this point? You know I have my concerns and I’m not gonna rub or stand anyone as the head coach”.
He also wrote to a staff member directly to influence the coach decision:
“Hey Keith, I am sending this email as the former President of RJW and as a resident of Ridgewood.This email in no way reflects my role on the BOE or the feeling of any of the other board members.Keith, we lose so many high level wrestlers every year, my son included, to private schools because we don’t have faith in the program.I’m not going to get into the other issues, this is simply about what the program has to offer wrestlers. We’ve had several great guest coaches in the RJW program and two have coaching experience and have expressed interest in running the HS program.The kids that come out of RJW have the skills, but what about the kids that come out for the first time in 9th grade?The current program does not have the ability to really teach these kids the skills needed to succeed. You need someone with a life time of experience as the head coach. As the AD, I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t want the best for every program.Unless I’m missing something, we are not offering the best program possible for wrestling.I would like to submit two resumes for consideration, following this email.These are two guys that our kids know, respect and trust.I can promise you, if nothing changes we are going to continue to lose top quality kids that would rather go to RHS if the program had more to offer. We all strive to be the best a tour jobs and I think and it would be worth looking into this and at least giving this some real thought.”
During Watson’s tenure Ridgewood High School Wrestling has experienced the most success in its programs history. In the past 10 seasons Ridgewood has qualified for the team state tournament 7 years and finished top 10 in Bergen County in the past 4 seasons in a row. The program has won the last 4 District VI team titles in a row, the only ones in the school history. In his tenure Ridgewood High School wrestling has produced 30 District Champions, 1 County Champion, 2 Region Champions, 7 State Qualifiers, and 2 State Medal Winners. Coach Watson focuses on producing young men within the community that are committed to their families with good character and who are good teammates.
Hmm. Were all of the resumes Kaufman forwarded for individuals who were not of color? Hmm.
Contributing to Kaufman’s campaign was the biggest mistake of my life. He flipped as soon as he got elected.
Remember when he said at the debate that I will not vote on anything without asking questions. Now he is just a rubber stamp and sometimes annoyance as he doesn’t even know or understand what he’s voting on. He doesn’t spend any time in understanding the issues and just likes to debate and shout at others.
Can someone OPRA his board member training dates. Is he in compliance with his training requirements?
Hmmm. So he tried to get a minority and beloved head coach fired and he’s the darling of one village one vote team?
Interesting. Mr Kaufman routinely clashes with Ms. Kwak and Mr. Dani, now this revelation about his dissatisfaction with another non-white school district representative. Wow!
Nothing new…not the first time parents have forced removals of other RHS coaches, i.e. girls Lacrosse, girls Soccer, etc.
Looks like election season has started 🙂 🙂
Wasn’t Kaufman’s supposed to get 4th year like Sheila Brogan as a result of lawsuit the board filed to extend their terms? Why is he up for election this year?
Anonymous, once you become a board member, you can not reach out to staff and advocate against another staff member like any other parent. Influencing hiring decisions is flat out illegal.
He’s just another puppet of Siobhan.
Next!
I love it when Kaufman writes: I am not writing you as a board member.
What a jerk. Kaufman IS A BOARD MEMBER. He cannot drop and pickup and drop and pick up this title as it suits him.
I hope he gets dismissed and charged with ethics violations. Would serve his smug self right.
People send kids to private schools because ridgewood is become more and more woke with all these liberals.
Here’s a little insight for those of you that are unaware of the process. Ultimately, it’s the various team Boosters who “make” the hiring decisions. If the Boosters want a change, then a you’ll see a change. AD/Super couldn’t care less about who the actual coach is. They’ll support whoever the Boosters put in front of them because that means less headaches from disgruntled parents. And that’s not just a Ridgewood thing – it’s common practice all over Bergen County.
Thank you for the insight. Who are the Boosters in this case? Parents?
Is he going to blame this on a “depressed friend of his kids”?
So far EVERYTIME he made a blunder, he has said “oh, a friend of my child was depressed and I was distracted because I was trying to help that kid”.
Torre is way more than a coach. He has had such tremendous influence on these kids over the years. An amazing mentor.
look for more of this coming very soon to RHS. The “boosters” will force out good coaches to pave the wave for their kids. It’s the dirty game and played well beyond Ridgewood.
Kaufman presents himself as a super sensitive, compassionate, know-it-all! In fact, he doesn’t know anything. He blunders up there at the meetings all the time. He clearly is not prepared for meetings and has not read the information. He’s just an embarrassment. Thank God we have Mike, Saurabh, and Hyun Ju on the board leading with brains and brilliance.
Yes, the Boosters called the shots with Girls Lacrosse and Soccer.
And boys soccer too. The current coach got the job via the Boosters who were the parents of kids he trained in the youth program who otherwise wouldn’t have received a minute of playing time in high school. Give it a few more years untill a new crop of parents with little allegiance to the current coach demand a change.
Wash-Rinse-Repeat for every sport.
Very, very few start wrestling in high school. By the time they get there, the starters have spent years with private wrestling coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, nutritionists, sports psychologists, etc. They are going to the best wrestling camps over the summer and travelling year round to tough tournaments to get the mat time in. The high school coach is barely a factor in the teams success. Kids go off to private schools to feed their dad’s egos.
Can someone translate Kaufman’s nonsensical sentence “and I’m not gonna stand or rub any one as the head coach?”. What does that even mean? This is a person who is making decisions for our schools and he cannot form a coherent sentence?
The wrestlers leaving for DelBarton, Bergen Catholic or Blair are mostly from weathly families and they weren’t ever going to attend Ridgewood High School anyway (just look at where their non-wrestling siblings went to high school…it wasn’t RHS). One or two left to wrestle elsewhere….most talented wrestlers, and there were a lot of the, stayed right here in Ridgewood.
No, he won’t blame it on kid’s depressed friends. He will find an anti semitism excuse here. That’s the card he pulls when he can’t find anything else.
Ethics violation. Book him Sgt. Lembo!
Hey, Kaufman . . . . the head coach isn’t going to interact with the overwhelming majority of incoming freshman and inexperienced wrestlers. So better to hire your buddies for that JV coach position if your concern is building a great team and giving the inexperienced wrestlers a good experience. As someone noted above, the starting wrestlers are working out/doing privates at a Apex or Olympic or Edge or somewhere else, etc.
This guy can’t even make a good argument. His critical thinking skills suck.
I have known Torre Watson since he was a young boy. He is a wonderful mentor to young people in and outside his role as a coach. I am horrified that Chris Kaufman used his position to influence others to have him dismissed. Mr. Kaufman is a terrible board member and now it seems a terrible person as well. I hope this issue is front and center when he runs for re election in November.
He was NOT beloved by all for many years as a wrestling coach. Should have been gone years ago.
As an alum parent of a wrestler that was in junior program to have senior.
While he was a beloved man, and no one disputes that. He was not a good coach.
HS coaches do interact with the junior program and the parents of high schoolers.
He refused to expand their skills from the junior program so pretty much all his success came from the youth coaches.
Having kids that played three sports in HS he was definitely the weakest.
But a wonderful man.
Watson is not a wrestler and is not a wrestling coach, I have seen him in action. His accomplishments are not that impressive there at best average.
Watson is not a wrestler no is he a good wrestling coach. His accomplishments are average at best. In a great wrestling state like NJ they are really not good at all. A big change is needed
Mmmmmm
Watson is not a wrestler nor a wrestling coach. His accomplishments are average at best. In the highly-rated wrestling state of NJ they really are not good at all. A change is needed in the highschool
If a change is needed, Kaufman was not the man as a sitting Board Member to weigh in. Also Kaufman is never prepared for any thing no matter how small or large the issue. Based on that alone, I would not trust him in a staffing issue. It is enough to know that he moved his son based on a wrestling program.He is probably one of those parents who sees sports scholarships on the horizon. It is a huge wake up call to find out that one’s child is one of thousands vying for that same scholarship all with equal and/ or more talent.
Watson is a clown
There are very, very few wrestling scholarships available. Take a look at the NCAA webpage…. The max for D1 is 9.9 per team and D2 is 8 per team. Those can be distributed but your chances of getting any real.money from a wrestling scholarship is non- existent. The above poster showed they have little to no knowledge of elite wrestling.
This is not about Kaufman, its about a better program. Watson is not the way to a better program
You’re right, this isn’t about Torre Watson. It’s about a BoE member becoming involved in a personnel decision. Kaufman would like to replace a long-standing coach, with a successful record, with his hand picked coaches. Kaufman needs to resign immediately.
Is about Watson , his accomplishmemts are nothing for a town like ridgewood .
A BOE member can express his or concerns about a school program and how it is run. He, or she, does not lose that right simply because he is a Board member. Check the Code of Ethics, and consult a lawyer (I have). Given the timing of this Opra request with the approaching filing deadline for BOE elections, this appears to be a smear campaign by the same tiresome citizen who spends all her days filing Opras and spewing legal-sounding nonsense (while lacking any proper legal credentials) in the BOE public comments. Consult a real lawyer before you make such accusations.
Asking to replace the coach of a program you are personally involved in, and asking him to be replaced by one of your buddies, is ethically wrong. It certainly reeks of impropriety and conflict of interest. No need to consult a lawyer; he needs to resign for his lack of common sense and ethics. Shame on Chris Kaufman; he has disgraced Ridgewood Public Schools.
And why are you consulting a lawyer over this? Seems a bit over the top.
Watson’s record is not successful. Learn about actual wrestling achievements and you will see its really nothing to brag about
“his accomplishmemts are nothing for a town like ridgewood “
Wow, you really are a Ridgewood asshole.
Its nothing to do with being an asshole, its simply the truth. This is about making the program better for the kids. Towns like Saddle Brook, Garfield, and Clifton have more success tha our town. WELCOME TO THE ELECTION.
When I was in high school 10 years ago, one of my fellow classmates started to speak about how they were told they had to shower, then Watson would wait until they were in the shower together to come in and give them a “pep talk” – before another wrestler “shushed” him and praised the coach. I know it’s all hearsay, but I can’t help but think about it every time I see him, and wonder if that has something to do with this.
Torre is an amazing coach and mentor. Not to mention the kids love him. The one’s that don’t will complain no matter what sport they are in. He has changed kids lives and kept kids engaged. The idea that success at the youth level should gauge high school success is ridiculous! Why isn’t the varsity basketball coach being ridiculed under that thought process? Every youth basketball program is successful, and that success didn’t translate into championships in high school. Parents need to stay in their lane and maybe focus on academics because it is rare for a Ridgewood kid to become a top recruit in anything. If they are that good they go to parochial schools anyway. This is a solid local alumni that has done great job and molded many young athletes into good people. We should be celebrating him not listening to some idiot trying to use his BOE accreditation in an effort to play ‘daddy ball’. Shame on him…. Torre Watson is one of the best influences your child will have in RHS.
Kaufman should be forced to resign. He abused his position and tried to directly influence who’s hired and fired at the high school. That’s an abuse of his position. Watson, in my experience, was an excellent coach. My sons were both on the wrestling team for all 4 years of high school and had never wrestled in the junior program. Watson taught them the sport. More than that, he is a coach that cares about his athletes and sets a high bar for their performance — on an off the mat. He will alway have my support and the full support of our family.
I was one of his kids he coached when he was a track and field throwing coach. He was as my middle school gym teacher. The man is incredible. Always made us strive to be the best we can be. How dare anyone try to get him removed.
I’ve never been one to comment on an article but this has a lot of meaning to me. I had the honor of being on the Ridgewood Wrestling Team for 4 years (class of 2017) and serving as Team Captain during my Senior Year. I walked into Gym 2 (the wrestling Gym) for the first time my Freshmen Year having no experience at all except the desire to get into shape for Lacrosse in the Spring time. From that vey first moment I was hooked. Coach Watson creates the conditions for his athletes to grow into adults and be the best versions of themselves, on AND off the mat. Before practice, during practice, after practice when the Janitors have all gone home, Watson would be there to talk to with the sole purpose of creating better people. It’s hard work, but I can say I am a better person than I ever would be had I not stepped into Gym 2.
The theme in the comments has been getting a new coach would draw in better athletes. I ask you to consider what about the athletes just starting out? The benchwarmers? Those who struggle on and off the mat? That my friends is where Watson makes his money, helping those that a coach focusing solely on all stars never could do. Watson had a way of turning everyone into champions. State level wrestlers would rise to State matches and first timers would become District Champions. However, the overarching goal was the same: make better people coming out of the program. Notice the emphasis on PEOPLE. Ridgewood has a coach who invests in their athletes in a wholistic way, losing that would be a tragedy to all athletes.
To this day I still call up Coach Watson to thank him for all that he has done for me, and I haven’t touched a wrestling mat in 5 years.
I love the above post. I have the highest regard for Torre Watson. He is more than a coach, he is a mentor and gives back to our community in so many ways. I have known many coaches in my life, my children’s lives and I have always appreciated those who never forgot that they were dealing with the whole person not just how well the athlete could perform in their respective sport. Mr. Kaufman needs to grow up and think things through before speaking. Words matter. They are hard to take back once spoken and especially in writing. They are there forever.
Some of these comments are pathetic. And all from people who have never been through the program themselves.
The program has had its most consistent performance under Watson. Prior to him taking over the culture of the team was a mess.
There is not a better leader of young men in Ridgewood than Torre Watson. I learned more from him about becoming a good man and a good neighbor than anyone else in my time growing up there.
The reason kids around North Jersey perform well at the state level in wrestling isn’t the 4 months they spend with their HS team… It’s that they spend their entire year at clubs like Olympic and Apex to get better at the craft, their toughness, and conditioning.
Unless your child is committed to wrestling 365 days a year at clubs like those(yes… in season as well- after their HS team practice)- the chance they go D1 in wrestling is nonexistent.
Torre will prepare your kid for much more than winning or losing on the wrestling mat. No one in the town prepares kids for the real world like him.
Also- don’t live life vicariously through your children’s athletic accomplishments. It’s gross.
The kids need a wrestling coach that can relate to what they are going through, not a person that gives inspirational speeches. We need a strong wrestling program for highschool that doesn’t take 10 season (10 years ) to accomplish a goal.