Girls Wrestling: North Brunswick's David J. Saley is the 2024-25 MCJ Coach of
the Year


David J. Saley had a fine career in construction ,swinging a hammer and managing project sites, dealing with mercury and other hazardous materials, knowing the intricate process of handling claims after storm damages.

Life was good.

But one thing led to another and before you knew it, Saley was a fulltime teacher and head wrestling coach at North Brunswick.

“I always thought that that’s how it would be,” Saley said. “Just, you work hard, you surround yourself by the right people and the world will take care of you as long as you’re doing the right thing every day.”

That’s the mentality he’s brought into the Raiders' wrestling program, and the athletes have responded.

Saley is the MyCentralJersey Girls Wrestling Coach of the Year in his second season. The Raiders (18-4) captured the program’s first Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament title and were a state top 10 team – as high as No. 3 – traveling just about anywhere to take on the other power squads.

Gabrielle Roberts and Rahkai Degrasse each earned state medals, and Melani Contreras also reached Atlantic City.

Saley could have been a candidate for the Boys Coach of the Year, as well. The program doesn’t differentiate between the genders, and the boys and girls practice alongside one another.

The North Brunswick boys captured the GMC Blue Division with a 7-0 mark, including a thrilling 35-34 win over second-place North Plainfield. The Raiders (14-11) finished with their first winning season since 2019 and first double-digit win total since 2010.

Saley helped turn around a program not known for wrestling success. He’s done it simply by stressing commitment, offseason wrestling and doesn’t sugarcoat his message.

“Saley really pushes us,” Roberts said after the GMCT win. “He pushes us really hard, and he does everything in his power to get us things that we didn’t even know we could get.”

Saley noted, “One of the big things I say in the room is we might not be the best athletic team in the school, but we by far have the most discipline.”

He acquired that discipline starring at Monroe, earning four district titles, a GMCT gold medal and a top 12 finish in the state his senior season (2010) at 152. He wrestled at Division 2 Belmont Abbey College (NC) and graduated with a history-liberal arts degree and a minor in physics.

He’s been around construction nearly his whole life working with his father Dave, a master carpenter, in his business. First, they were doing residential house building and public works like schools and hospitals.

However, David’s grandmother lost her house during Superstorm Sandy, and the company’s focus shifted to helping people navigate insurance claims and reconstructing homes from damage such as fire, mold and water.

He enjoyed his work but saw a sign for the state police on the Garden State Parkway, and something sparked an interest. So, he filled out an application, had a background check and went through physical tests.

Near the end of the process, Saley said, the police found a doctor’s note. He explained an opponent kneed him in the head during a college wrestling match, and he suffered a concussion. It led to a diagnosis of epilepsy, and Saley said the state police process ended because he couldn’t be exposed to sleep deprivation. (He added a joke about wrestling coaches knowing all about sleep deprivation during the season.)

Saley called it “a strong punch to the gut” and added that, “I’d say wrestling prepared me well for that phone call.”

“That feeling like, ‘Oh, I can’t be a trooper,’ was kind of like that last match at states,” Saley said. “Like all this work and all this time and all the bleeding and giving up this kind of food and that kind of food, and my career’s over?”

The next day, though, North Brunswick principal Michael Kneller said they had a job opening as an industrial arts technology teacher.

“You just find the next horse to jump on and get back to work,” Saley said. “That’s how it works.

Saley decided to leave the family construction business for his next calling as a woodshop teacher and took over as the Raiders head wrestling coach.

“I’m looking to build positive, productive men and women where you’re just used to working,” he said. “There’s no such thing as excuses. Just, go find another solution. All right, apply it. Did it work? Find another one. How many times are you willing to do this to be successful? That’s what I’m teaching them. And winning comes along with a little bit of the mentality change.”

He gets just as excited talking about teaching. His students are building sheds for the high school, and he hopes they can build houses to be donated.

When it comes to girls wrestling, he credited former coaches Bill Ojeda and Dina Fleming as “the pioneers” of the program and Dayana Hoyos, the school’s first state girls placewinner in 2022.

Couple that success with the rise of college and international girls wrestling, the interest is growing in the North Brunswick hallways. The team started with 42 wrestlers and finished with 39 – one of the larger rosters in the area – and it’s about 10 more than last season.

“It’s definitely a historic year for the school,” Saley said. “Like kids at schools that aren’t known for wrestling just need to know the path and stay on that path to work hard. It’ll get you the goals that you’re looking to get.”

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