Farewell Mr. Noonan

Mr. Rich Noonan has been a physical education teacher at NHS since 1999. He introduced the boys' lacrosse program at NHS that same year. He recently announced his retirement from teaching at the end of the school year, but will continue with his role of coach. 

Like most educators. Noonan chose this career path because of the students.  “It’s the kids," he said about the best part of his job. "It is really great to be able to work with kids and be able to teach them.”

Noonan began the lacrosse program at NHS in 1999 and he was the head coach until 2006. After a decade-long hiatus, where he coached at other schools, he returned as the NHS head coach in 2017.  “Lacrosse is kind of a game where there is no black and white," he said. "The players have to make decisions on the fly on the field given a lot of freedom. It’s really an amazing game. Most times you go to practice and practice is a drag but, lacrosse practice is actually fun because you are actually playing.”

When first introducing the lacrosse program in Nutley. Noonan struggled because it was not a very popular like basketball or football and not many kids really played the sport in town. Initially, only seven freshmen played the sport during the first year. He really changed that though because a couple years ago, after working hard to increase the popularity of the sport, more kids joined the team and learned about the game. He constructed a strong and popular program.