While pacing Delbarton School’s Regan Stadium, Nick Mangold cracked a smile.
The legendary Jets center, now donning a backward gray Delbarton baseball cap, scanned the field before tweaking the blocking stance of an offensive lineman during a late October practice.
About a 45-minute drive from where he made a name for himself at MetLife Stadium, Mangold is now tackling the newest stage of his life — working as an O-line coach for the Green Wave.
The seven-time Pro Bowler sees high school football as the “sweet spot” of coaching after retiring in 2016 following a career where he cemented himself as one of the best centers in the sport and received a Jets Ring of Honor.
“You get to mold boys into men and teach the game of football — but also teach them a little bit about life as you go along,” Mangold told The Post. “Once you get to college, you start to become a little bit more business. And especially the NFL, it’s a straight business.”
“There’s still some purity in high school football, and that’s what I really enjoy about it.”
Mangold’s pro experience and knowledge has helped lead Delbarton, a top-tier team in New Jersey, to a 7-2 record this season as they make another playoff push on Nov. 16 against St. Augustine after falling short of a state title last year.
During his time at Delbarton, Mangold has already shown the ability to break down complex schemes and make them “seem easy” to high school kids. It has helped hone the skills of new starters along the offensive line throughout the season, Delbarton head coach Brian Bowers told The Post.
“Nick is incredibly able to probably coach a lot of things — kind of what we do with zone offense, gap scheme and the pass protection,” Bowers said. “These are things Nick could do at the high school level, college level or professional level. And I think the beauty of Nick is that he has the ability to really understand where our kids are developmentally and really stretch their abilities.”
After finding enjoyment from coaching his son’s basketball team over the winter, Mangold listened to his wife’s encouragement to follow what he always wanted to do and coach football.
The former Jet was first introduced to Delbarton nearly a decade ago through a Sunday flag football program his kids attended at the school, leading Mangold to strike up a relationship with Bowers, who was running the program.
The connection led Mangold to email Bowers, asking if there was a spot on Delbarton’s staff.
And in March, Mangold was digging into the team’s playbook during a trip to Hawaii to prepare for the upcoming season.
of the best centers in the NFL. Anthony J. Causi
“Just the football junkie in me,” Mangold said.
Nick Russo, an assistant coach who works with Delbarton’s offensive line, was helping lead a weight-room workout session when Bowers pulled him aside to let him know Mangold would join the team’s staff.
Now, the former Jet has joined Russo in harping on physicality, needing to “beat the crap” out of the other team’s defensive line to win games.
The words “BE PHYSICAL” in all caps are at the top of a Google Docs sheet where the team goes over weekly goals.
“It’s more set in stone now with him there,” Russo told The Post. “Because it’s Nick Mangold.”
The former Jet also stresses the importance of his offensive line wearing down opponents or “chopping down the tree” — an analogy he utilized during his 11-year NFL career that was played entirely with the Jets.
It showed during a game against St. Peter’s Prep, when Delbarton fell behind 21-7 in the first half.
The Green Wave’s offense then exploded — with a Mangold-led offensive line wearing down the defense up front to score 37 unanswered in the 44-21 victory.
Senior offensive lineman Lorenzo Petrucci has seen the new coach’s “infinite wisdom” help bring out the team’s “nastiness” — one of Mangold’s signature qualities during his time in the NFL — in games like the one against St. Peter’s.
“That’s what he strives to bring out in all of us,” Petrucci told The Post.
“I’ve just really embraced putting people in the dirt — and as Coach Mangold likes to say, ‘Giving them the business.’”
In an afterschool practice, Mangold watched his offensive line hold off the defense during drills.
A few plays in, Mangold stepped in — with both coaches and players hushing as he tightened the scheme.
Mangold then stood back as the ball went into action, with his O-line ripping into the defense — once again — as the team developed a successful run play.
The ex-Jet nodded in approval and continued to examine his team, still looking for tiny details he could fix.