Keith Fithen instructs Tyler Hughes during a practice at Lawrence High School on Aug. 17, 2015. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
Aside from the legendary Lou Angebranndt glory days, it’s safe to say the second greatest boys’ soccer coaching era in Lawrence High School history belongs to Keith Fithen.
And now he is back for Act II.
From 1987-2006, the man known as Lefty guided Cardinal teams to over 200 victories, including an NJSIAA Group III state title in 1994, a Central Jersey Group III crown in 1992, three Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division championships and 20 state tournament wins.
Fithen won multiple Coach of the Year awards from both the daily papers and the CVC coaches before stepping down in 2006 so his wife Kim could coach field hockey at Bordentown High School while he watched over their then 6-year-old daughter Kelsey.
In 2013, Fithen returned to the soccer sidelines and coached the Lawrence Middle School team for two seasons. He was all set to do that again this year, when former coach Brian Rostron left for a teaching job at Manasquan in mid-summer.
“I was just shocked when the job became open,” said Fithen, who also coached the LHS varsity softball team for several years. “My wife isn’t coaching anymore so I said ‘Let me try it.’ We were very family oriented, my daughter was playing Princeton University club field hockey, but the position came up and I said ‘Let me give it one last shot. I still have the knowledge, still have the passion and I have the experience to run a varsity program.’
I said ‘Let me apply, if I don’t get it, I don’t get it. If I do, I’ll be giving Lawrence 100 percent of myself.’”
Fithen’s work ethic has never been questioned. He not only works hard for his program, but for the CVC as well. He is one of the old guard who wants to preserve the tradition of a proud conference, especially since he is a product of it.
Fithen moved from North Jersey—where he never even heard of soccer—to Ewing and attended Notre Dame High School. After two years on the Irish JV, he thought he would easily make varsity during the first year of the Mike Perone-Ziggy Zegarski regime.
But he showed up out of shape, was gasping and fighting cramps on the first day of practice and knew the inevitable was coming as he was put back on the JV. Fithen was called up later in the year, scored several goals and went on to play during the Irish’s run to the Non-Public A state championship.
He came back ready to roll as a senior but injuries slowed Fithen. He showed enough, however, to leave a lasting impression on Perone.
“I thought Lefty always gave the game a lot of thought,” Perone said. “He knew tactics for a high school kid, and I think he just got so much better once you saw him take charge of Lawrence when first got job. I was heart broken when he left.”
So were numerous other coaches around the CVC, as Fithen was extremely popular with his peers. Only five still remain from his first stint: Perone, Steinert’s Todd Jacobs, West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s Trevor Warner, Princeton’s Wayne Sutcliffe and Hightstown’s Tim Kalick.
Sutcliffe has already provided Fithen valuable input on some of the newer coaches and several of the teams and what they have. And Perone is celebrating his return.
“We were happy when he got the job in the first place because he’s always been so amicable to work with,” said Perone, the dean of Mercer County coaches in his 39th season. “I’m thrilled that he’s back, so is my whole staff. I think Lefty was good when he was there. He had things he had to do, now he has the opportunity to come back and I don’t think they could find a better guy for the job. He’s a coach that’s easy to work with and that’s a great thing for all of us.”
When told of Perone’s compliments, Fithen returned them quickly.
“Mike Perone was my mentor,” he said. “He was my driver’s-ed teacher. He got me my driver’s license! He’s a joy to be around, him and Ziggy. They’re just people I listened too, enjoyed being around. I’ve been mentored by those guys. I’m really looking forward to playing Notre Dame the second game of the season.”
Fithen had plenty of work to do before then. He was not approved for the job until mid-August so he was unable to get in touch with his returning players during the summer. When practice started on Aug. 17, he had definite aspirations in mind as 50 players came out for the freshman, JV and varsity teams.
First, he had to evaluate the talent and figure out who was varsity material and who was on JV. He also had to see where each player fit best, which he planned on doing during the Cardinals’ five scrimmages.
“I probably will not actually coach the team until after some of our scrimmages, and I get an idea of who belongs where,” Fithen said after day one of practice. “All our guys had great attitudes today so I’m really happy about that. I just want to evaluate for now.”
While Fithen’s only familiarity with his juniors and seniors is from teaching them in gym class at the middle school, he is very familiar with the freshmen and sophomores since he had them on his middle school soccer team. Seeing that the middle school is the high school’s lifeline, Fithen takes pride in the fact that 40 came out for the team in 2013, 50 came out last year and 60 came out this year.
“We’ve been getting those numbers up, and that’s what we’re building on,” he said.
The fact he was able to coach middle school for two years after his sabbatical proved to be valuable for Fithen, as it allowed him to ease back into coaching for a few years.
“It was nice,” he said. “It’s not the same kind of pressure as a varsity coach has. It gave me a chance to get my feet wet again and say ‘OK, I’m still liking this.’ We’ll miss Brian Rostron a lot, he was doing a great job here, but when the job opened I figured why not give it a shot.”
Fithen said he did not miss the coaching, only because he was so busy watching Kim coach field hockey and Kelsey play it. Kelsey is now a freshman in the Hopewell Valley Central High School program, and Keith is already figuring on how he can get from Lawrence to Pennington after games or practices to watch her play.
And while he has not watched many CVC games over the years, he assured that he is still on the cutting edge of soccer.
“I tried to keep up with it through the papers,” Fithen said. “I still have my health, still have the desire. I’ve been watching English soccer in the Premiere League on weekends. I’m still keeping up with game, still keeping with trends. I subscribe to a magazine out of England, I still keep up with new techniques. That gave me an opportunity to stay in the game.”
Fithen said this year’s goal is to give the seniors the best possible final season they can have. Whatever happens in terms of wins and losses, Perone feels that the Cardinals program will benefit in terms of having its players become good people.
“He’s just a good role model,” Perone said. “He’s somebody who’s upright, somebody who’s honest. He’s a gentleman first, which is hard to find these days. I wouldn’t put myself in that gentleman thing, but I do with Lefty. I just think he’s a true gentleman.”
So do plenty of other CVC coaches who are glad to have him back.
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