JERSEY CITY, NJ (www.NJCUGothicKnights.com)...New Jersey City University is mourning the passing of long-time head and assistant men’s and women’s volleyball coach FRANK CELLA on May 2. Cella, the all-time winningest coach in NJCU men’s volleyball history was 79 years old.
Cella, a New York City resident, was also the former head coach at Fordham University, before serving in coaching roles as NJCU from 1995-2003, prior to his retirement. Cella was inducted as a charter member of the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) Hall of Fame on April 5, 2008. In 1996, he was voted the Metro co-Coach of the Year, after leading the Gothic Knights to a 26-13 record and the NECVA championship tournament finals.
Cella, the winningest coach in NJCU men’s volleyball history, posted a 108-65 record (.624) from 1996-2000. In 1997, NJCU had its winningest season in program history, going 28-10. The Knights were 20-14 in 1998 and 16-14 in 1999. Cella started the 2000 season as an assistant, before again taking the reigns of the program beginning with the fifth match of the season. He guided the club to an 18-14 record in the final 32 matches as NJCU finished the year 20-16—its fourth 20-win season in five years.
NJCU qualified for the NECVA and Metro tournaments in all five years he was head coach, and he put together the two winningest years the program ever had, at a time men’s volleyball was just coming onto the scene as an emerging NCAA men’s sport. The former Division I coach stayed with the program as an assistant from 2002-04 before retiring.
In April 2008, Frank Cella, pictured with NJCU/NECVA sports information director Ira Thor, late NECVA Commissioner Michael J. Ricciardi, and NECVA Executive Director Gerald Matacotta (far right) was inducted into the charter class of the NECVA Hall of Fame.
Cella came to NJCU in the Summer of 1995 and coached the women’s volleyball team for four seasons from 1995-98, before retiring as the winningest head coach in school history with a 64-63 record (.504). Cella, now the second winningest women’s coach in NJCU history, was a mentor to two future Gothic Knight head coaches—Christopher Feliciano—who won a record 131 matches from 2004-08—and current head coach Nicole Tallarida.
In 1995, NJCU was 23-14 and reached the NJAC Tournament. Cella led NJCU to another 20-win campaign and a then-school record for victories in 1997 when the club went 26-9 and reached the NJAC Quarterfinals.
Cella returned to the sidelines as an assistant coach with the women’s volleyball team from 2000-03. In 2002, the Knights were 13-13, qualified for the NJAC Quarterfinals as the No. 6 seed and won the WIAC Championship. The program was even better in 2003, compiling a 22-8 ledger while repeating as WIAC Tournament champions. NJCU qualified in 2003 as the No. 4 seed in the NJAC Tournament—the highest ever seeding at that point in program history—and reached the NJAC Quarterfinals.
Services for Frank Cella will be held on Monday, May 10 at the Horne-Dannecker Funeral Home, 445 West 43rd Street, located between 9th and 10th Avenue, in New York, NY.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
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