Toman excited to be coach in EPC
Went 108-54 in 14 seasons at Southern Lehigh before resigning and helping lead Central Catholic to a title
John Toman is not new to Northampton High football.
He coached on Teko Johnson’s staff in 2004 and 2005, seasons in which the Konkrete Kids were a playoff team with records of 7-6 and 8-4 and he saw what type of kids who wore the orange and black uniform.
Remembering those successful years were part of the reason Toman was attracted to the Northampton head coaching position.
He was selected by an interview committee and approved to replace Kyle Haas on Wednesday night.
Toman left Northampton in 2006 to become the head coach at Southern Lehigh where he was 108-54 in 14 seasons before resigning along with nine of his assistants in January of 2020 for unspecified differences with the school district.
The Dieruff High and Bucknell University product spent last year on Central Catholic’s staff and helped the Vikings win the District 11 4A championship.
But he was eager to be a head coach again, especially in the Eastern Pennsylvania
Conference, which was his league as a player at Dieruff and where he coached with Rich Sniscak at Parkland in the late 1990s and helped the Trojans reach two Eastern finals.
Toman also spent time at Salisbury with legendary coach Jim Morgans and also Frank Lane before returning to the EPC to coach with Johnson at Northampton.
“I remember we were successful at Northampton with Teko,” Toman said. “When I coached there before I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the kids. They now have terrific facilities with a top-notch turf field. Everything is in place.”
Toman noted the success Haas had over the last few years.
“We’re going to try to take the base that Coach Haas left behind and build on it,” he said. “I’m just excited for this opportunity.”
Northampton is also excited to have a proven winner like Toman in charge.
“We’re excited for John to be named the football coach at Northampton,” athletic director Shaun Murray said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to this position and his experience as a head coach, along with the experience of his coaching staff, will lend itself well to the continued development of our program.”
Haas, who left to become to become the head coach at Bethlehem Catholic where he had previously been an assistant and an interim head coach, went 19-10 in three seasons at Northampton.
The Konkrete Kids qualified for the District 11 playoffs in 2018 and 2019 and went 8-0 in winning the EPC’s North Division in 2019. Last fall, the pandemic restructured the divisions and the K-Kids went 1-4 with a win over Liberty and losses to Freedom, Easton, Nazareth and Whitehall. The annual Thanksgiving game with Catasauqua was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.
Toman said he sees a lot of parallels between Southern Lehigh and Northampton.
“I really think we can do some special things here,” Toman said. “When I took over at Southern Lehigh they were 1-9 or 0-10 the year before I got there, but
I always thought we could be successful. It took a little bit of time, but we got there.”
Northampton will remain in the EPC North for the next two years, but Toman is looking forward to the Konkrete Kids’ cross-division games with teams from the EPC South.
This year, the first cross-division game is scheduled against Haas and Bethlehem Catholic on the first Friday of the season, Aug. 27. The other game against an EPC South member is against Whitehall, Northampton’s “Cement Bowl” rival.
“While we will be members of the EPC North for two years, our focus will be on getting better so that we can compete with the EPC South and also in the District 11 tournament,” he said.
Despite its revival under Haas, Northampton didn’t win a district playoff game, losing to Easton in 2018 and 2019. Toman’s task will be to get the program to the next level.
“Hopefully we can get over the hump,” he said. “I get how tough it is. I’ve played in this league and coached in this league and I am well aware of the talent and the speed that the EPC players have. It’s a challenge every week, but I look forward to that challenge not just to win in the EPC North but to compete with the South.”
The 50-year-old Toman said he couldn’t wait to meet the players and also to finalize his coaching staff, which will likely consist of guys he coached with at Southern Lehigh as well as some coaches who were part of the recent Northampton staffs.
Shawn Daignault, who was Northampton’s defensive coordinator under Haas, is now the head coach at Liberty.