Long-Time Assistant Expected to Succeed Olsen as Coach

Wayne Demikoff is expected to become the next head coach of the Wayne Hills High School football team.

The Board of Education is expected to approve Demikoff’s appointment to the position at a meeting Thursday night. Demikoff is a long-time assistant coach and defensive coordinator.

If appointed, Demikoff would succeed perennial state-championship winner Chris Olsen. Olsen turned the Patriots into an annual championship contender. He won eight state sectional championships in his 28 years at the school.

Demikoff would make $3,140 for the summer session and $11,800 to coach the team this fall.

Olsen, who until this year, was the athletic director, physical education teacher, and football coach at Hills.

Demikoff and Mike Miello, Wayne Public School District athletic director, and Brad Smith, site coordinator for athletics and student activities at Wayne Hills could not be reached for comment.

A Clifton resident, Demikoff previously coached at Belleville High School and Rutgers University.

"It is going to be hard to walk away, but I realized this week that next week would be the latest we'd be around. I am going to miss the kids, it was a great group to work with," Olsen said after his last game as coach Dec. 1. "All 28 years at Wayne Hills, it has been a pleasure to be around them, a pleasure to be around their parents. I am certainly going to miss them."

The board approved a policy last year that prohibits administrators and supervisors from coaching sports teams or acting as advisors to any athletic or extra-curricular program. The board chose not to renew Olsen’s contract as athletic director last April.

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