The Westwood Board of Education approved Cardinals offensive coordinator Bobby Guy as the new head coach for the Westwood Cardinals Football Team in January. Dennis Hard, the outgoing head coach, retires with a 56-23 record and a championship.  

Guy started out coaching at Pace University where he previously played football and studied business. Pace University is a Division II school in the Northeast Big 10 conference. Guy says, “I realized that I just did not have passion for getting into business.”

He later moved to coach for Elmwood Park for one year. Two years later, Guy coached at Fair Lawn High School. Guy says, “I lost a little bit of my passion for coaching when I did not have much success on the field.” When Guy was teaching at Paterson at the time, a friend of his, who was a teacher at Westwood, asked him if he had a teacher certification, which he did. She then recommended him for an interview here.

Guy says, “I started teaching here and after that, I was coaching. A little bit of a shaky path but once I got here I felt in place, the work ethic of all the students and athletes is top notch.” 

Coach Hard has been a lifelong mentor to Guy throughout football. When Hard took the head coaching position he took a chance on Guy and made him the offensive coordinator. Guy says, “There were a lot of people saying that I probably didn’t have enough experience, but he gave me a shot because he believed in me.” 

Hard leaving the program hit home to Guy. He says, “Having him leave is like losing a friend, not that he is not still a friend but when you coach football you spend a lot of time at it and I am going to miss the moments sitting and talking to him. I owe that guy a lot. We definitely will miss him next year.” 

Cardinals football ended the season with an 11-1 record and state sectional champions. Guy is prepared to take his team all the way and have another great season. He says, “I have had a lot of conversations with Hard and not just this past year but throughout the years about what to do in certain situations and he really prepared me for this position as head coach. So do I feel like I am ready to lead? Yes, absolutely I am confident in my skills as a leader and hopefully as good or even better than Hard but that’s yet to be seen.”

As for next year’s season, Guy has no predictions. He is sure many people are already projecting the Cardinal’s 2023 season. 

The Cardinals are already in the weight room training. Their goal is to be playing competitive games late in the season and focused on winning a state championship. Guy says, “You can talk about these goals but you need to have a plan and have to actually achieve them and the best way to do that is to put the work in.”