Chuck Dougherty returns to dugout for MTHS as new softball coach

Posted: December 13th 2024

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Chuck Dougherty will be back in the dugout for Middle Township High School next spring.

Dougherty, a longtime successful baseball and softball coach at his alma mater over a number of stints, is returning for his third run as the school’s head softball coach. He was approved for the position at the Middle Township Board of Education’s regular monthly meeting Thursday evening.

“I miss the field,” Dougherty said. “I do miss getting ready for a ball game. I’m not sure that’s something you ever lose.”

Dougherty replaces Walt Cubernot, who guided Middle for two seasons and led the Lady Panthers to a 17-9 record and a share of the Cape-Atlantic National Conference title last season. 

Dougherty was the first softball coach in school history, first coaching for two seasons in 1971-72. He later became the school’s baseball coach for six seasons (1979-84) before returning to softball again for another seven seasons (1992-98). He returned to the baseball diamond again in 2000 for his longest continuous coaching stint, serving until what he originally thought was his retirement from high school coaching in 2019.

Dougherty, however, has remained active in baseball and softball as a local hitting instructor. He also regularly attends his grandchildren’s baseball and softball games. And now, he’ll be back leading a team at Middle again.

“I still bleed orange and black,” Dougherty said. “I don’t think I would’ve coached anywhere but Middle again.”

CHUCK DOUGHERTY

Dougherty is believed to be the only coach in Cape-Atlantic League history to win at least 100 games as both a baseball and softball coach. He went 306-236 over his 26 total seasons as baseball coach. He’ll bring a career mark of 108-60 into what will be his 10th season overall as a head softball coach in 2025.

Middle’s home baseball field at the Goshen Athletic Complex was renamed as “Dougherty Field,” in 2019 to honor Dougherty and his brother, Frank, who served as an assistant baseball and softball coach for more than 30 seasons under his brother. Frank passed away at age 78 in the fall of 2022.

“I’ll miss my brother being out there with me. I really enjoyed being on the field with him,” Dougherty said before adding with a laugh, “even though we argued all the time.”

Dougherty inherits what is expected to be a solid team at Middle, as seven of the team’s regular starters last season were underclassmen. However, the program will have to replace one of its all-time great pitchers in Gabby Cruz, who struck out 280 hitters in 165 innings pitched and posted a 1.53 earned run average last season as a senior.

“There’s some young pitching there, there’s going to be some senior leadership and there’s a lot of young players who’ve been playing a lot of travel softball,” Dougherty said. “Who knows how we’ll be? But hopefully we’ll hit the ball a little bit and we’ll improve every day. There are a lot of good kids there. There are some nice players there and I know there are some good ones coming up, too. I’ll just try to help them be better players.

“I’m excited about this. It’ll be good to get back on that field. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed is seeing people I coached stay in the game and coach somewhere. I’d love to see these kids learn the game, have fun with it and then later go out and teach the game themselves.”

Dougherty, a member of the school’s Hall of Fame, is considered one of the top baseball players in Middle Township High School history. The 1966 graduate was the program’s first career 100-hit player at a time when high school baseball teams played only about 20 games per season. He went on to play college baseball at Glassboro State College, now Rowan University. Dougherty was a conference all-star selection as an outfielder for Glassboro State as a senior in 1970.

Dougherty is a retired physical education teacher at Middle Township High School.