Jim Kelly

Title

Director of Football Operations

Jim Kelly joined the WP coaching staff for the 2024 season as an Assistant Coach before being named the Director of Football Operations.

Kelly arrived at WP following a six-year stint as the head sprint football coach at Caldwell University. Along with his coaching responsibilities, he served as an athletics administrator within the department.

During his six seasons at the helm of the program, 48 Cougars were named to the College Sprint Football League (CSFL) Team, including a program-best 13 in 2022. Caldwell also saw Devon Turner earn the program’s first-ever major award from the CSFL after he was named the Rookie of the Year. Kelly coached 22 CSFL All-Academic Team honorees and eight National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society inductees.

Before joining Caldwell, Kelly had over 30 years of coaching experience, including eight seasons as an assistant coach at Montclair State University (2005-12). His role as an assistant coach with the Red Hawks included two New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) titles with two trips to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Kelly has a long track record of coaching success at the high school level, serving as the head varsity coach at Queen of Peace High School in 2015 after spending time as an assistant coach at Parsippany Hills (1987-88) and Montville (1989-90) earlier in his career. He spent two seasons as an assistant at Clifton High School before becoming the Mustangs head coach in 1992. In his fourth season at Clifton, Kelly led his team to the NJSIAA State Playoffs - the first for the school in 13 years. He went on to be named the All-Area Coach of the Year by the Herald News. During his tenure at Clifton, he coached future Academic All-American and Doak Walker Candidate, Joe Haro, who went on to play at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

In 1997, Kelly returned to his scholastic alma mater, Nutley High School, where he roamed the Raiders’ sidelines for seven seasons. Following his first season, he received All-Area Coach of the Year honors. He was the only Head Football Coach of a public school to defeat public school power Montclair High School in consecutive seasons while at the helm at two different schools. At Nutley, he was recognized by the Nutley Board of Education for his work in reaching the one-million-dollar plateau in student-athletic scholarship grants. Kelly placed over 85 student-athletes at the next level of college football during his tenure as a head coach.

He was a television station manager and instructor for 20 years at Nutley High School. In 2014, he received the Governor's Educator of the Year Award. His efforts in the classroom were recognized again in 2016 as he was honored with the NJ JAM Award for the best-produced campus sports talk show.

A 1981 graduate of Montclair State, Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast communications and completed his master’s in counseling at New Jersey City University in 2007. He resides in Nutley with his wife Mary Ann and their two children Christine and Natalie.