Joe Kasberger’s 593 wins includes an incredible 64-game winning streak from 1946-1950.

It was a season in which we saw Dennis McCaffery, Jr. hit a walk-off home run to give his dad, Dennis McCaffery, Sr., career victory No. 500. So, it would be hard to top that in 2025.

But much noise and a big shakeup is on the horizon with New Jersey’s All-Time Baseball Coaches Victories List in 2025. First, we’ll rehash the big moves in 2024.

The biggest 2024 news of all was the retirement announcement by Toms River South’s Kenny Frank, who has held the career victories lead in the state since 2012. Frank retires with an amazing 934-356-3 record, a remarkable .724 winning percentage at a public school and an uncountable number of lives touched.

Mike Sheppard, Jr. and his Seton Hall Prep charges had yet another big season as their mentor moved to 871-236-7 (.787) and is now just 63 wins shy of the top spot on the all-time list. Sheppard, Jr. is 65 and retirement from the job he loves has never been discussed.

A very big move occurred this season near the top of the list when the Bishop Eustace Crusaders sent their head man, the affable and frighteningly efficient Sam Tropiano from No. 6 on the all-time list to No. 4. Trop’ boasts a 769-275-1 (.737) record, passing my old friend, the late Harry Shatel (752) and No. 4 Tony Ferrainolo (754) of Memorial of West New York.

Those three gentlemen are your entire 700-club in New Jersey and you can expect Tropiano, in two years, to leave Ferrainolo and Shatel behind in the 700-club for loftier ground in the 800s. Ferrainolo and Shatel, as you know, have left us for the ultimate high ground.

The 600-club took a fascinating turn in 2024 as the nine-member group previously included all retired coaches. But Kurt Hommen of Ridgewood and Rich Horan of Audubon, two very active coaches, joined the exclusive club. Hommen’s Maroons didn’t win the championships they planned for in 2024 but did accumulate 23 wins as Hommen climbed to 618 career victories. That’s significant because that places him just 12 wins behind the next man on the list, Bergen County’s all-time wins leader Frank Salvano of St. Joseph (Mont.). Salvano sits at 630-184-1. That’s a gaudy .774 winning percentage. But we can expect a new Bergen County leader sometime during the 2025 season.

Horan bumped up past the 600-win plateau and his 611-244-3 (.715) record also places him among the 42 coaches in the state with a .700 winning percentage or better.

While we’re in South Jersey, let’s stop at Gloucester Catholic where the Rams rolled to 27-2 and yet another state championship for their coach, Dennis Barth, who now stands at 579-117-1 and within striking distance of career victory No. 600. We must also point out that Dennis sits atop that list of 42 coaches with at least a .700 winning percentage. Barth has won at a stunning .832 pace.

Along the way next year, Barth will likely pass a coach who has been recognized as one of, if not the best, in his craft, the late great Joe Kasberger of St. Benedict’s Prep of Newark. Kasberger retired in 1968 with a then-state record 593 wins attained at an .812 pace. He also registered a gaudy 219-63-5 (.777) record as a football coach. While we are absolutely impressed that he once amassed a 42-game winning streak with his football teams, but how in the world did his baseball teams manage to win 64 straight games during a historic run in 1946-1950?

Okay, back to present day. At least two and possibly three coaches will reach career victory No. 500 in 2025.

Eastern’s Rob Christ and the Vikings picked up 25 wins in 2024 on the way to the Group 4 title game where it fell, 6-4, to Bridgewater-Raritan. Eastern’s big season moved Christ (492-199-1 .712) to within eight wins of No. 500. Right behind him is Steinert’s Brian Giallella (488-144 .772), just 12 wins short of No. 500.

A third coach will need a huge season to pull off No. 500, but considering Gov. Livingston’s Chris Roof’s Highlanders will still be loaded coming off a 28-5 season that ended with the Group 2 championship, maybe 24 wins isn’t asking for too much. Roof sits at 476-184-1 and his winning percentage continues to skyrocket, now at .721. Since nailing down career victory No. 400 on May 15, 2021, Roof’s teams have gone 76-21, a staggering .784 pace, especially for a public school.

Roof has managed to develop into one of the state’s finest coaches after a great playing career at Montclair State and has achieved all that while being one of the most-liked coaches in the state. A life lesson for all.

Another gentleman who will ask about your family before the baseball talk starts, Greg Trotter of Roxbury is closing hard on career victory No. 400. Trotter (387-268) is just 13 wins short of that milestone while two other veteran mentors have put No. 400 on their radar. Notre Dame’s Joe Drulis (383-158-2 .708) and Brian Anderson (375-186 .668) of Shawnee have some work ahead but 2025 should at the very least put No. 400 in their immediate range in 2026.

Five coaches, and possibly a sixth, should make career victory No. 300 a reality in 2025, a number that is special in its own right since it requires both success and longevity.

Figure the slam dunks to reach No. 300 will be Edison’s Vinnie Abene (298-250), Pete Mueller (293-258) of Montgomery, Rutherford’s Carmen Spina (291-137-2), Tom Blackwell (288-193) of Ridge, and Allentown’s Brian Nice (286-151-2). Wayne Valley’s Jeff Hoover sits at 283-187, so needs 17 wins, always a tough ask in the rugged Big North Conference but Hoover’s boys won exactly that number in 2022.

There is a seventh coach encroaching on No. 300, but is 23 wins shy of the milestone. Because of the coach and the program, such a single-season achievement cannot be discounted. Millburn’s Brian Chapman’s Millers will be coming off a very unMillburn-like 11-16 season. Even with that, Chapman’s career winning percentage sits at .739. His career record of 277-98 certainly grabs the eye. We figure if Millburn is coming off of 11-16, there is no better reason to bet high on much brighter days for the Millers and Chapman.

As impressive as this list is, it is not 100 percent perfect. We would love for that to be true. We have identified 17 coaches whose won-loss records have been elusive. Any help in that area would be appreciated. The great Stan Wnek from Irvington, for example, likely has between 350-400 wins. We know he won his 250th in 1975 then coached eight more years.

Here are some of the coaches’ records we’ve been chasing; Bob Giberna, Piscataway, Art Collazo, J.P. Stevens, Kevin Murray, Parsippany Hills, Leo Danik, Metuchen, Dave Marzano, J.P. Stevens, Anthony Guida, South Plainfield, Larry Ennis, Emerson, Tom Bukowski, Bayonne, Bob Chandler, Madison, Pete Litichevsky, Randolph, Mark Rizzi, Randolph/Pat. Catholic, Doc Goeltz, Verona, Lou Racioppe, Verona, Jon Lennon, Montclair Immaculate, Dennis Sasso, Essex Catholic/Midd. South/Nutley, Paul Miller, New Providence

(If you have information on any of the above coaches or someone not mentioned, please contact Bob Behre at bbehre@diamondnation.com).