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Football: The 2018 Coaching Carousel

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Graphic look at CIAC football coaching changes before the 2018 season. Click to view in full resolution. (By Sean Patrick Bowley)

Here’s a quick rundown of the new head football coaches in Connecticut on the eve of the 2018 preseason. As always, if we’ve missed any, please let us know and we’ll track them down.

Amity

New Coach — CRAIG BRUNO (former Bunnell, Naugatuck head coach hired Feb. 16)
Old Coach — Ted Czepiga (resigned after season)

Avon

New Coach — JEFF REDMAN (former head coach from 1995-98, former Conard assistant hired June 13.)
Old Coach — Sal Cintorino (resigned in May)

Bassick

New Coach — BILL MELLA (former Avon Old Farms coach, hired June 14)
Old Coach — Brandon Blank (resigned after season)

Bridgeport Central

New Coach — DERRICK LEWIS (former Bassick, Law coach hired March 26)
Old Coach — Mike Farrell (resigned Feb. 13)

Bullard-Havens

New Coach — CHRIS PACE (former Weston head coach hired April 23.)
Old Coach — John Johnson (hired at Notre Dame-Fairfield Feb. 21)

Danbury

New Coach — AUGUSTINE TIERI (hired from Kennedy High School, Bronx, N.Y. March 16).
Old Coach — Alex Trasacco (resigned Dec. 5)

East Haven

New Coach — SCOTT BENOIT (former Guilford, North Branford coach, West Haven assistant hired Feb. 14)
Old Coach — Melvin Wells.

Foran

New Coach — TOM DREW (former Law defensive coordinator, hired Feb. 6)
Old Coach — Jeff Bevino (resigned after season).

Ledyard

New Coach — CLAY KILLINGSWORTH (assistant at NFA, former Woodstock coach hired May 29)
Old Coach — Jonathan Hernandez (resigned April 30).

Lewis Mills

New Coach — JOHN OKO (former Nonnewaug coach, hired Feb. 8)
Old Coach — Jose Santana.

McMahon

New Coach — JEFF QUEIROGA (assistant elevated to head coach, Jan 22.)
Old Coach — A.J. Albano (resigned after season)

New London

New Coach — Johnny Burns (former player, hired May 3)
Old Coach — Juan Roman (resigned Nov. 23)

New Milford

New Coach — CHUCK LYNCH (former New Milford head coach re-hired March 2).
Old Coach — Larry Badaracco resigned after season.

Northwest Catholic

New Coach — MICHAEL LENZ (Hall assistant coach, NWC alum hired Feb. 13)
Old Coach — Brett Quinion.

Notre Dame-Fairfield

New Coach — JOHN JOHNSON (former Bullard-Havens coach hired Feb. 21) 
Old Coach — Chris Sadler (resigned Dec. 6)

Pomperaug

New Coach — TONY PEREIRA (former assistant hired Feb 28) 
Old Coach — James Reed.

Rockville

New Coach —  ERICK KNICKERBOCKER (former Ellington assistant, hired Jan. 24)
Old Coach — A.J. Taddio.

Seymour

Interim Coach — STEVE GEORGE (appointed August 6)
Coach — Tom Lennon (Placed on paid leave May 23; Status pending)

Staples

New Coach — PHIL TREGLIA (Stepinac-NY assistant, hired June 4)
Old Coach — Marce Petroccio (resigned to take Trumbull job Jan. 25)

Tolland

New Coach — SCOTT CADY (assistant coach elevated June 26).
Old Coach — Alex Backus (resigned in May)

Trumbull

New Coach — MARCE PETROCCIO (hired from Staples Jan. 25)
Old Coach — Bob Maffei (resigned Nov. 28)

Westhill

New Coach — Joe DeVellis (promoted from defensive coordinator July 3)
Old Coach — Frank Marcucio (resigned June 25)

Wilton

New Coach — E.J. DINUNZIO (freshman coach elevated April 4)
Old Coach — Bruce Cunningham (resigned Feb. 16)

Old Comments

  1. Love the graphic. Seems like more movement this year than last year. Would be interesting to see a cummulative if the last ten years. Is this last year normal compared to years past? A few well established coaches moving around and a few coaches that have ZERO experience. Will be fun to see who made the right hire.

  4. Quite a bit of change this year. I count 23 head coaching changes here. The CIAC website lists roughly 140 teams fielding teams this year. That’s roughly a 16.4 % turnover rate this year. Good luck to all the new hires. Enjoy your season.

    • Yes. Thank you. Fixed. For whatever reason I kept typing Pat’s name instead of Alex’s. It’s right in the graphic at least.

  6. Here is my rank order of programs that will benefit from their coaching hire:
    Petroccio- Trumbull
    Lynch- NM
    Benoit_ EH
    Pace- BH
    George- Seymour
    Mella- Bassick
    Bruno- Amity

  8. Is there a distinction between resigned and fired. If that many coaches voluntarily left coaching then it would seem to be troubling

    • Yes if a coach resigns he can be hired back by another school with little to no problem its the AD’s way of kindly asking you to step down the program needs a change or in layman’s terms the Parents are running the asylum, if he is fired little to no chance coming back to any High School program.

    • Wouldn’t show up here bc it’s head coaches, but that is confirmed, via source, but not official until Sept.

    • Jack Cochran as an assistant Coach is mind blowing.His hands on style as head Coach was truly a thing of Beauty.I cannot imagine JC taking direction from anyone at the CT High School Level.

  10. Just a question, has anyone ever looked into how much a school district’s insurance liability would decrease if it dropped football? It’s seems to me its simply a matter of time before tax payers will no longer want to subsidize their chilren’s broken bones, tore tendons and ligaments, and brain damage. Once its determined that CTE occurs in HS kids, taxpayer subsidized football is dead. JS