Callahan steps down at Buena

Paul Callahan has resigned as the football coach at Buena after four seasons.

Buena went 3-7 this past season in a rebuilding year. The Chiefs' best season under Callahan came in 2008 when they went 7-4 and earned a South Jersey Group 2 playoff berth and an opening-round playoff win over Bridgeton.

Callahan's affiliation with the school goes much longer than four years. He was an assistant at Buena for nine seasons. Before that, Callahan was head coach for three seasons at Camden Catholic.

Callahan had planned on coaching at Buena for one year as an assistant, and that turned into 13 seasons.

"What started out as a one-season job ended up being 13 great years," Callahan said in an e-mail.

He said the reason he stayed longer was the Buena community.

"Buena is a special place," he said, "and working in that community, especially with the coaches of the Buena Braves, was a very rewarding experience."

As a head coach, Callahan guided the Chiefs to the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs in each of his first two seasons.

This year, while the win total decreased, Buena received one of the highest accolades by earning the Samuel E. Fulton Memorial Sportsmanship Award from the Brooks-Irvine Memorial Club of South Jersey.

Callahan said he simply felt it was time to move on and explore other options in coaching.

"I will miss many things about Buena," he said. "But most of all will be the players that I coached over the past 13 years."