Montgomery Dedicates Cougar Stadium’s Field as “Milich Field,” Honoring Founding Coach Zoran Milich
Nicholas Mistretta
MHS ’79 Sports Editor
Editor’s note: Headline News Montgomery, owned by MHS alumni, extends our congratulations to Coach Zoran Milich and our thanks for not only his tireless work building the program, but also for being a steadfast mentor to our kids.
MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — The scoreboard tarp dropped at halftime Friday night, and Cougar Stadium had a new name: Milich Field. With the unveiling, the Montgomery Township School District honored Zoran Milich—the high school’s first head football coach and a teacher since 2002—for two decades of building not just teams, but a program and a tradition.
Milich said he first learned of the tribute two days before school began in September, during the district’s annual convocation. “It’s usually when new staff is introduced and such” he recalled. “But when principal Heather Pino-Beattie started talking, she was talking about someone in a cryptic way. Someone leaned over and said, ‘I think she’s talking about you. So yes, at convocation is when I first learned”
From Startup to Group 4
Before football took root, Montgomery was known as a soccer town. Milich, then working in the private sector while coaching at Somerville, signed on to start a program from scratch. The district launched freshman and sophomore teams in 2000–01 and went varsity in 2002, the same year Milich began teaching while finishing a master’s degree in social studies at night. “I was taking classes 4 nights a week, working, coaching, writing papers and watching film, but I was young” he chuckled.
“Do I remember the first game? Voorhees,” he said. “We scored first and everyone thought, maybe we can do this. We lost.” Progress came step by step: 3–7 in Year 1, 4–6 in Year 2. In Year 3, bumped to Group 3, the Cougars went 6–4, just missing the playoffs. The town went through a large growth spurt and it seemed we were constantly being bumped up to a new group. As the township grew, so did expectations. “By 2007—in under 10 years—we were Group 4, playing powerhouses like Linden and Union,” Milich said.
“It’s About the Program”
Milich’s method was relentless and relational. “Coaching is watching hours of film,” he said. Offseasons meant clinics, helping run the baseball team’s weight room, and even crowd control at games to learn faces, getting to know the kids and build trust. Recruiting, he added, isn’t flashy. “We recruit in the hallways. If we see a student who might make a good football player, we approach him. If he’s interested, we create the player. Our weight training and conditioning program does the rest.”
He measures success in continuity. “It’s not about the team, it’s about the program,” Milich said. “Big schools have a constant stream of new players. We tend to run on a two- to three-year cycle—you build, you graduate, you build again.” That work competes with outside suitors. “Private schools are always trying to recruit our players,” he noted. “They have great programs. Our job is to make Montgomery the place our kids want to stay.”
If there were nerves Friday, they were about turnout. “I was told many former friends and alumni would be there, and I worried, what if they don’t come?” Milich said. “but It was great—former players, our first-year booster club group, our first-year statistician, and Bernie Demsky, the athletic director who hired me. People came from Vegas, Utah, and Georgia. My mom, cousin, kids, and in-laws were alongside me. Very special night.”
Offers Declined, Roots Kept
Over the years, Milich says he’s had chances to leave. “I’ve had six opportunities at bigger schools with great programs,” he said. “It was never even a consideration. Montgomery is where I was meant to be.” That dedication anchored a full community weekend—”homecoming on Friday, with cheerleaders, the dance team, and the marching band filling the campus. Soccer on Saturday, It’s everything I knew Montgomery could be,” Milich said
Photo Credit: Nicholas Mistretta/headlinenewsmontgomery.com