
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)
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.
oh this is nice, something new?
It’s incredble to read this but it’s the times we live in for high school sports
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.
I think the last Tolland coach was Alex Backus not Pat Cox.
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.
One of my favorite sayings – ” I was 100% right, 50% of the time”.
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
Jeff Bevino is at West Haven.They got more former coaches than players/
How’s his ‘Reservoir Dogs’ strut?
Who did Benoit get to fill out his staff at East Haven?
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.
Jack is back coaching as an assistant for Killingly
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.
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