By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
Jeb Howley is obsessed with high school sports in South Jersey.
Especially when the temperature drops.
It’s getting increasingly rare to see a high school head coach in his 20s these days, but for Howley, perhaps it was always destined to be.
After spending five years as a volunteer and then junior varsity coach for the boys basketball program at Haddon Township, and last year as the varsity assistant at Shawnee, the 27-year-old has landed the head job of the Moorestown girls hoops program.
He succeeds Matt Emerson, who stepped away after four highly successful seasons to pursuing another career opportunity. The Quakers were one of the top teams in South Jersey Group 3 during Emerson’s tenure.
“Taking over a team that’s been successful and has a lot of talent has been great. I put so much effort into my time as an assistant at Haddon Township and Shawnee, and I’ve sort of become obsessed with the process and being a part of high school sports,” said Howley, a 2017 Haddon Township High graduate. “I think it means a lot, only because of how much the community cares about the girls and how much they support the group. Many hands make light work, and our youth program is tremendous. We have all the tools to be really successful, and it helps.
“The situation that led me here is a special one.”
Howley was a four-year member of the Haddon Township basketball team and also played soccer and lacrosse, but his love for basketball stood out.
He was coached by current Hawks coach Paddy McNamara during his freshman year, and in a full-circle moment, they now share a classroom together as special education teachers at Cinnaminson High.
“It speaks to him — not only his resume but his character — to not having head coaching experience before getting the job. He may be young, but he has maturity. He’s wise beyond his years,” McNamara said. “I was there when he was a player in high school. He was always a high IQ kid, and me and him were very close.
“Jeb and I both teach at Cinnaminson and share a classroom together. He eats, sleeps and breathes high school basketball. I can’t wait to see what he does over there.”
McNamara still remembers sending Howley on his first scouting assignment when he was a college freshman in 2018.
“Jeb was managing the Penn State (men’s) team, and I offered him to come scout,” said McNamara, now in his ninth season as Haddon Township’s head coach. “He gave me a three-page report.”
Howley transferred from Penn State to Rutgers-Camden after his freshman year, where he graduated with a masters degree in History and Education in 2022. McNamara didn’t hesitate to reach out when he initially returned.
Under Howley’s guidance, Moorestown has posted a 5-1 record so far this winter. The Quakers have been a top contender in South Jersey Group 3 over the past four years and fell just short to eventual state champion Cherry Hill West, 50-43, in the South Jersey Group 3 final last year.
It’s safe to say his transition from the boys side is off to a strong start.
“It’s funny, I get asked that question a lot about the difference between girls and boys, and it’s this right here,” Howley said after his squad earned a 57-37 victory over Millville in the SJIBT Holiday Showcase recently. “There’s a lot of joy with girls. They get a lot of satisfaction from getting better every day and being coached.”
A senior-heavy squad led by Fairleigh Dickinson University commit and 1,300-point scorer Analyse Intenzo, the Quakers have less than two dozen players across all three levels. But that’s more than enough for them to finally break through and make a title run that’s long overdue.
“We have three levels and we only have 18 girls in our program. We have six tremendous seniors, who are super inclusive and unbelievable leaders,” Howley said. “When you think about expectations, you start to build some sort of pressure, and we just keep looking at that pressure as a possibility rather than a burden.
“We thrive in pressure. It’s just a possibility, and we’re going to take it day by day and game by game and do as much as we possibly can to prepare. Come March, we want to be firing on all cylinders and playing our best. That’s our goal in the end. Fortunately, to be with a group that’s so well led, we have a good chance.”
