By Wayne Witkowski
Just a short time after announcing that he would retire from 35 years as softball coach and some 40 years as a physical education/driver’s education instructor at Middletown High School South following an NJSIAA Group III championship game loss, Tom Erbig took his wife, Carol, on their boat June 12 to a favorite spot at the Beachcomber in Sea Bright.
As they docked, Erbig was greeted there by a surprise retirement party reception by more than 35 former players along with friends.
“There were ex-players from the early ’80s and every decade from teams I had [coached],” Erbig said. “There were people I never thought I’d see again. There was a half-hour video of my career, which was so special.
“I was overwhelmed — shocked out of my mind.”
But it all was warranted for the state Hall of Fame coach and all-time leader in victories at 743-232-1. His team this season finished 28-5, and Erbig repeatedly said it overachieved in winning the school’s 17th sectional championship and reaching its ninth state championship game in its history.
“It was so nice to see the girls come together and share their stories,” said Lisa Schutt-Smith, an assistant at Middletown South.
She is regarded as a frontrunner to be the next head coach at the school, where she played on the first of five state championship winning teams in 1995. Others followed in 2002, 2009, 2010 and 2015.
“He was hard on you, and we poked fun with him [at the reception],” Schutt-Smith said. “It was not about playing for yourself but for the girls before who ever stepped on the field. It’s about the program.
“He’s been a great mentor for me as a teacher, coach and friend. He can be your toughest critic and your biggest fan. Honesty is the best policy for him, and he pays better attention to details than any coach I’ve worked with.”
Schutt-Smith also coached against Erbig in her prior two stints as head coach for four years at Holmdel High School and six at Middletown High School North before going to Middletown South three years ago.
Erbig said he did not recommend or get involved in the district’s selection process for his successor.
“They’re making the right decision,” Erbig said.
Rod Murchie also has been on Middletown South’s coaching staff.
Erbig declined to single out any team, player or season during his legendary career. As only the second coach to surpass 700 victories in state history, he realizes his benchmark is in jeopardy soon if the third coach to reach 700 wins behind Erbig this season — South Plainfield High School’s Don Panzarella — continues his winning ways.
Middletown South beat South Plainfield, 1-0, for the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section II, Group III championship last month on a suicide squeeze in the 10th inning by Hannah Wisialko.
Although softball became his signature sport, it was not the only one coached successfully by Erbig.
“Softball always was my passion,” Erbig said. “I wanted [to coach] baseball, but there was no position [open to apply]. But in softball, I saw the girls were eager to learn.”
Erbig was an assistant coach under Tom McDermott, who built a 67-21 record while winning Shore Conference and division titles when McDermott coached from 1980-86. When McDermott stepped down, Erbig stepped up.
“He laid all the groundwork for me. I used his guidelines,” Erbig said of McDermott. “I was never thinking I’d be there until 2016 — a pretty long time.”
Unlike many coaches in recent years, Erbig allowed his players to enjoy their summer break and never interfered with their schedule for workouts, camps or programs.
“They should play summer softball, but I would not coach them there or at summer workouts; I’d let them be,” Erbig said. “If they want to be successful, they’d do it on their own.”
That approach of just coaching in season helped him juggle his coaching experiences in other sports, although there were times they overlapped.
Erbig was an assistant football coach at Allentown High School in 1976 and 1977 before moving over to Middletown South for teaching and coaching football until 1984. He also coached wrestling for more than 20 years at Middletown South, first as an assistant from 1976 to 1984 and then as head coach from 1995 to 1987. He said his success was capped by seven district champions in his last season, as he earned selection to the Region VI Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1999.
“I’m honored to be there,” Erbig said.
He said he particularly remembers Glenn Pritzlaff, a three-time state champion and the fifth and final one there in 1992-94 with 113 career victories mainly at 171 pounds under Erbig. Pritzlaff is No. 2 on the school’s all-time wins list at Middletown South. There also was John Fagan, a state champion at 122 pounds in 1987 who was state runner-up the previous year and won 102 bouts in his career.
“It’s the same as softball, doing it regimented, with purpose to what we did,” Erbig said.
He also was head coach for Middletown South’s field hockey team from 1998 to 2000.
“They needed someone to get it back on track. I didn’t know much about the sport — my daughter played on the team — and I learned some things from her,” Erbig said.
“It wasn’t always easy. Carol (his wife) kept me in perspective of what’s really important. That kept me on an even keel to help [the softball players]. Softball is a small percentage of the kids’ lives. It’s what you learn from life’s lessons and the camaraderie, pouring out to the community.”
To Erbig, family comes first, along with school and community, which showed when his team volunteered to pick up trash and cages and to bring dog food for the dozens of neglected pets that were recovered by authorities from a home in Howell.
“We want [players] to carry on a sense of community and pride in the program and learn from every situation they’ve been in,” Erbig said. “A lot of teams are not ready to do that, but you have to teach them.”
That calls for some principles in competing that Erbig professed throughout his career.
“Stick to the basics, show passion for the sport and install that passion in each player for what they’re doing in the sport at the moment,” Erbig said.
“The biggest thing for him is to keep it simple, no fancy drills you see on the internet, but he stuck to the basic drills of hitting and fielding,” Schutt-Smith said. “It’s how he challenged the players to get better every day. He doesn’t settle.”
As an assistant coach under Erbig, Schutt-Smith said she learned that he makes you look at a player not as she is now, but what she can be and sees how she grows during the season.
Erbig said the players remain the same despite more complex lifestyles with more options in their lives.
“What has changed is the parents and how involved they want to be,” Erbig said. “You see that a lot more.
“Now there are so many things for the players, but you just stay with the basics. Only the elite players do things away from the basics.”
Erbig warns that it could lead to a few cases of players overlooking fundamentals.
“Each year, you get a different group of kids,” Erbig said. “Some talk a good game and not do what they can to be better.”
But this spring’s young group started unimpressively and battled through injuries while Erbig said it didn’t do the little things at the outset that teams like last year’s state championship team had done all season. Erbig deflected any credit to his coaching expertise for its eventual success, saying there were other teams of his that enjoyed great success while overachieving. He credited much of this past season’s success to the masterful ball movement of pitcher Maddie McMahon, who is headed to Siena College, and her confidence that spilled over to what became a well-knit group.
“The young kids did the best they could do,” Schutt-Smith said. “When they finally got the confidence in themselves, you knew things were going to go their way.”
Now, those intangibles will be tasked to the first new coaching name in Middletown South’s lineup card since the 1970s.
