Ed Gardella begins his sixth season at Maritime and works with the Quarterbacks and Fullbacks for the Privateers. In 2012, Coach Gardella will take over as Offensive Coordinator and will also have play calling duties on game day. The past 2 seasons, Coach Gardella has had to draw on his depth of triple option knowledge to mentor the Privateers at the QB position. In 2011 it was Tyler Trodden who replaced an injured Joey Dickey early in the season and he responded by setting a program record in pass efficiency and led the team in total offense. In 2010, it was starter Anthony Gagliano who suffered a season ending injury in the pre-season scrimmage and Gardella responded by mentoring Joey Dickey in operating the triple option offense to 10 straight victories. Dickey finished the season more than tripling Maritime’s best passing TD mark, attaining the best ever pass efficiency rating and leading the offense to seven come from behind victories. Fullback, Jamie Spanopoulos, finished his career in 2011 holding virtually every program rushing record and was selected 3 consecutive times as First-Team All-ECFC.
In 2009, Gardella helped the offense explode to lead the league in seven of 11 offensive statistical categories and garner top 10 national rankings in six categories. Spanopoulos finished 5th nationally in Scoring and was an ECFC All Conference first teamer. Quarterback Anthony Gagliano also earned ECFC All-Conference accolades.
Prior to joining Maritime, Coach Gardella racked up 30-plus years as a high school football coach at various high schools in the tri-state area. He spent 12 years as the head coach at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and, during those years, Gardella coached three future NFL players: Ramon Guzman (Indianapolis Colts), Sam Garnes (New York Jets and Giants) and Dequan Mobley.
Coach Gardella graduated from City College of New York with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education. He also holds a Masters Degree in Recreation from Lehman College in the Bronx, N.Y. and a Masters Degree in School Administration from the College of New Rochelle. He currently serves as the principal for the Bronx Borough Alternate Learning Centers and resides in Southern Duchess County. He has two grown daughters, Cristina and Lisa.
