Ronald San Fillipo (January 23, 1942 – November 12, 2024) was an American

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

and athletics coach. He was the head

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach for Kean College of New Jersey—since renamed

Kean University Kean University () is a public university in Union Township, Union County, New Jersey, Union, Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth, and Hillside, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education and is a state-designated rese ...

—in the early 1970s and was the athletic director for

James Caldwell High School James Caldwell High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in West Caldwell, in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Cald ...

from 1975 until his retirement in 2003.

Biography

San Fillipo was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, and grew up in nearby Belleville. He attended Belleville High School and

Montclair State Montclair State University (MSU) is a Public university, public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton, New Jersey, Clifton and into Little Falls, New Jersey, Little Falls. As of fall 2018, ...

and played football for both. He graduated from Montclair State in 1964. Following his graduation, he served two seasons as an assistant football coach before being hired as the head football coach for

Abraham Clark High School Abraham Clark High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from the borough of Roselle, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Roselle Publ ...

in 1966. From 1967 to 1971, San Fillipo served as an assistant for the

New Jersey City Gothic Knights football New Jersey City University (NJCU) is a public university in Jersey City, New Jersey. Originally chartered in 1927, NJCU consists of the School of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, and College of Professional Studies a ...

team. He was initially hired as the

ends End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) *End (topology) *End (graph theory) *End (graph_theory)#Cayley_graphs, End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) *End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridir ...

coach. In 1968, he shifted to

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage, and players positioned there on offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including the quarterback and running backs ( halfbacks and full ...

coach. In 1969, he shifted again to

Defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

s coach, then again in the following year to

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

. In 1971, he was promoted to

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

. In 1972, he was hired as the head football and baseball coach alongside being named assistant

for the then Newark State. In three seasons as head football coach he led the team to an overall record of 14–13, including an 8–2 season in his last year, 1974. In three seasons as head baseball coach, he led the team to an overall record of 29–29. In 1975, San Fillipo was hired as the athletic director for

, a position he held for 28 years until his retirement in 2003. A resident of

Cedar Grove, New Jersey Cedar Grove is a township in north central Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 12,980, an increase of 569 (+4.6%) from the 2010 census count of 12,411, which in tu ...

, and

Bay Head, New Jersey Bay Head is a borough situated on the Jersey Shore in northern Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 930, a decrease of 38 (−3.9%) from the 2010 census count of 968, ...

, San Fillipo died on November 12, 2024.

Head coaching record

College football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Fillipo, Ron 1942 births 2024 deaths American football ends Belleville High School (New Jersey) alumni Kean Cougars baseball coaches Kean Cougars football coaches Montclair State Red Hawks football coaches Montclair State Red Hawks football players People from Bay Head, New Jersey People from Cedar Grove, New Jersey Sportspeople from Belleville, New Jersey New Jersey City Gothic Knights football coaches High school athletic directors in the United States High school football coaches in New Jersey Baseball coaches from New Jersey Coaches of American football from New Jersey Players of American football from Newark, New Jersey