Leaving Classroom, Court 'Bittersweet' for New Chatham AD

William "Bill" Librera, who and starts in his new job July 1, said the career move is exciting, but bittersweet.

"It's tough to leave the classroom, tough to leave the court," he said.

But it's a "great opportunity for me and one that I'm really excited about taking," he said.

Librera said he will be stepping into a culture for student athletes in Chatham that is similar to the one he was part of coaching boys basketball in Madison, where the players serve as role models for upcoming students, and academics come before sports.

"We were proud of being a program that our community could root for," he said, which he said is part of the culture of Madison.

"It wasn't something that I created. That's Madison," Librera said.

He said it's the same mentality he will be stepping in with at .

Librera, a Morristown resident who grew up in Long Valley, was a math teacher at for five years, and before that he taught for five years at in Chester. He earned his bachelor's in Mathematics Economics and a master's in Mathematics Education from Columbia University.

Librera plans to "hit the floor running" when he starts in Chatham, and has met with the district's physical education teachers and administrators. He aims to "enhance the student experience and enhance a very successful athletic program" in Chatham.

He also spoke with a new physical education teacher in Madison, Michael Radzieski, who was hired by the Madison Board of Education on Tuesday and is expected to be Madison's new boys basketball coach, letting him know it's a program he loves and is sorry to be leaving.

Librera said he appreciates all the people he met, taught and coached working in Madison. And because Chatham and Madison are no longer in the same conference, the occasions he'll be conflicted as to which team to root for will be less frequent than they otherwise would have been.

"I can't imagine a time when I won't be rooting for the student athletes at Madison. The only time I can't is when they're going against Chatham," he said.