Legendary New Jersey coach Jeff Jasper reaches 1,000 wins

Jasper started out teaching English in 1971 and currently teaches history and government. At times, his classroom persona seeps into his coaching. One of his main motivational tools, for example, is a poem. “The Girl in the Glass” is displayed on the door to the school’s coaches’ office, and Jasper references it constantly to remind the girls on his team to play up to their own standards. He has been using it “forever,” he said.

When Pascack Valley trailed by 15 points at halftime in the 1980 county championship game, Jasper tried to rally the team with a novel.

“For like 15 straight minutes he gave us this lecture on The Fountainhead,” Ely said, about how the main character, “through nonconformity, was able to find some innovative way to move through his life, something unconventional, sometimes you have to dig deep and find something different.

“He went through this whole to-do,” Ely said. “We get down on the court, Janet [Schwarz] grabs my shirt and says, ‘What the heck was that all about? You and I are just gonna run and jump. Let’s go kick their ass.’”

Pascack Valley beat Englewood 48-42 to win its first county title, seemingly unrelated to Jasper’s impassioned halftime speech.

“He would always try to bring all his English stuff in and try to give us all this wisdom,” Ely said. “And we were like, ‘Wait, what just happened?’”

After the game ended on Thursday, there was shouting and hugging and posing for photographs. Jasper kissed his wife, Lois. He spoke to the crowd, tearing up while reading a pre-written speech of thank yous.

He mingled with anyone and everyone who crossed his path.

Jasper also spoke to reporters about what the night meant to him.

“It wasn’t about winning the game,” he said.

It was about the players, from 1973 to 2018, from 0 to 1,000.

“They think they learned something from me,” Jasper said. “They have no idea what I have gained from them.”