The North Arlington high school, that only three years ago was in a state sectional championship, turned over the reigns to the program to Ed Stinson, who had won six state championships at Hoboken.

"We feel he is one of the finest educators and football coaches in the tri-state area," said Queen of Peace Athletic Director Ed Abromaitis. "He is very polished and a true professional."

Abromaitis said that Stinson was on a short list of replacements for former head coach Tom Ferreiro.

After leaving Hoboken in 2004, Stinson had been the defensive coordinator at William Paterson University the last three years and opted to return to the high school game. William Paterson recently let go its head coach Mike Miello, the former Ramapo High School head football coach.

"I felt that myself and Queen of Peace had a parallel vision," said Stinson who has 37 years of coaching football, mainly in high school, but also in college. "We both want to win championships…I see this as a great opportunity. I believe that there is a lot of enthusiasm throughout the school."

The move to Stinson comes a little more than a month after the school fired Ferreiro, the school’s head football coach and girls basketball coach. Ferreiro had a 6-14 record the last two seasons including a 2-8 mark this past fall in football.

Stinson coached the Redwings to six state sectional titles in 22 seasons in which he had two stints at the Hudson County School and registered a 224-61 record. Between 1994-2000 Stinson led Hoboken to 67 wins in 68 games. He has also coached at Park Ridge and Pascack Hills high schools in the 1980s.

In hiring the former Hoboken head football coach, Stinson credited Patrick Jennings, the Hackensack attorney who is representing Queen of Peace against the NJSIAA in a lawsuit, as bringing him into the Queen of Peace fold. Jennings is currently the attorney for the school in the case where the state sports body has placed Queen of Peace’s new wrestling program on two-year probation of winning team titles.

Stinson said that he was going to meet with the football players this week and then start up a strength program by the start of the new year.

Despite the last two seasons where the football team had struggled to win, Stinson points to the team’s success for a few years when Andrew Cerco was head coach that included a pair of appearances in the state championship and a state championship.

"They have pledged their support for the football team and in having a championship level team," said Stinson.