Paramus Catholic football coach Greg Russo got his day in court. Here's how it went
HACKENSACK − Paramus Catholic football coach Greg Russo and assistant coach Christian Maldonado must wait a little longer to learn their fate.
After a hearing that lasted more than two hours on Monday, Bergen County Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian said he will issue a decision on Friday, Aug. 11 regarding whether the coaches' suspensions for alleged recruiting violations will be upheld or overturned. The decision will be issued virtually.
"Obviously time is of the essence," Jerejian said Monday afternoon, and Paramus Catholic's first game is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 26 against Cleveland Heights High School in Ohio.
"This is the world we live in," the judge said of the murkiness of modern-day recruiting, "It's literally the Wild West out there, and the rules are changing."
As it stands now, Russo is suspended for the first four games of the season and Maldonado is suspended for the entire season, stemming from contact the latter had with a public-school player who later transferred to Paramus Catholic.
Monday's arguments centered around whether or not Russo was involved in the recruiting of a former Belleville High School player to Paramus Catholic.
"There's absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Russo had anything to do with this transfer," said Russo's attorney, Patrick J. Jennings.
READ MORE: Paramus Catholic football coach Greg Russo waits for his next day in court
"I thought that went very well, he's a very fair judge, and hopefully the decision on the 11th will be in my client's favor," said Maldonado's attorney, Dan McNerney.
"It's in the judge's hands," said Steven Goodell, general counsel for the NJSIAA, the state's governing athletic organization, who argued that Russo, as coach, is responsible for his assistants, as "The buck stops with the head coach."
How we got here
Last fall, Russo and Maldonado were suspended by the NJSIAA based on allegations of illegal recruiting of a Belleville player.
A month earlier, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association had placed Paramus Catholic on two years probation and banned the team from the 2022 playoffs, but did not issue any coaching suspensions.
Russo and Maldonado were later given suspensions after Belleville appealed, saying the penalties were not harsh enough. Following the appeal, the NJSIAA issued Russo's four-game suspension and ordered Maldonado to stay away for the duration of the team's probation. Maldonado received a stiffer suspension because there were text messages showing his communication with the player.
Russo and Maldonado appealed their suspensions in Superior Court in April and Jerejian vacated the punishments, kicking the case back to the NJSIAA because the coaches were not present, and thus not able to defend themselves, at the October hearing. Only a Paramus Catholic representative had attended.
At the NJSIAA’s May executive committee meeting in Robbinsville, the coaches and their attorneys were able to attend a new appeal hearing, but the suspensions were upheld by a vote of 31-0 with one abstention. So Russo and Maldonado brought the case back to Superior Court.
After Monday's hearing, attorney Aron Mandel, representing the Belleville board of education, said, "The board of education feels the NJSIAA executive committee got it right both times they considered it and we look forward to the court's decision."
Russo is a 1998 Paramus Catholic graduate who later served as a Paladins assistant on three state championship teams, most recently in 2016. Prior to being hired as Paramus Catholic’s coach, he led Northern Highlands the previous three seasons and won two sectional titles.
"Greg Russo did not violate any NJSIAA rule or regulation," Jennings reiterated after the proceedings. "We await the court's decision"
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paramus Catholic NJ football: Greg Russo suspension appealed in court
