Football coaching career
Battaglia is a Baltimore County native who played football at Gilman (2004 graduate) then at Division III Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a coach’s son, as Buzz Battaglia was a fixture with the Cockeysville Recreation Council and served as an assistant at Gilman under both Sherm Bristow and Biff Poggi.
The elder Battaglia, who was also president of the Harford-Baltimore County Youth Football League, died in June 2017 at the age of 69.
“I always wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps with the goal of becoming a high school football coach,” Joe Battaglia said.
Battaglia served stints on the defensive staffs of Stevenson University and Juniata College before moving to the Division II level at Midwestern State in Texas. He was defensive coordinator at Brevard College in North Carolina and at Bethany College, a Division III school in West Virginia where he met his wife.
Former Gilman School teammate Napoleon Sykes, who spent a total of five seasons as a defensive assistant at Navy over two separate stints, recommended Battaglia to Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo. Battaglia was hired as a defensive quality control analyst at Navy in 2017.
“I’ve always been impressed with the Naval Academy and what it stands for. I heard Coach Niumat speak at clinics and conventions and developed great admiration for him as a man,” Battaglia said. “I could not pass up an opportunity to be around a program of this caliber. I figured there was no better place to learn about leadership and how to build a winning culture.”
Former Navy defensive coordinator Dale Pehrson had Battaglia perform considerable self-scouting. He took the mindset of an offensive coordinator looking to attack the Midshipmen, looking for play-calling and scheme tendencies. He also did advanced scouting, breaking down the offense of future opponents.
Brian Newberry took over as defensive coordinator last season and brought more of an analytical mindset. He assigned Battaglia in-depth research projects for the purpose of providing advanced analytics.
“I’ve been very impressed with Joe in a lot of ways. He’s very humble, very hardworking and very willing to do all the behind-the-scenes work he was asked,” Niumatalolo said. “Joe is a very smart person and when he spoke up in meetings, he had good thoughts and ideas.”
At Concordia Prep, a Towson school that competes in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference, Battaglia succeeds Josh Ward as coach.
Ward led Concordia Prep, the former Baltimore Lutheran, to a 9-3 record in 2018, its final season in the MIAA C Conference. The Saints moved up to the B Conference last season and posted a 5-5 mark.
Ward took over last month as head coach of his alma mater, Calvert Hall, which plays in the A Conference.
“College coaching is very volatile and can be tough on families. I’m a big family guy who grew up on a ballfield with my father,” Battaglia said. “I knew when I had a family, I wanted to settle in as a high school coach.”