He put the BOE in a bad position by sending out emails to the lacrosse community when they tried to cut his and the JV assistant coach positions. The community turned out in force to the BOE meeting. They were definitely pissed off at that but reinstated the coaches for the season. After taking the team to the county final he was let go for ambiguous reasons. Everyone knows it's because he stood up to the BOE! Please correct me if I am wrong but that's NOT putting the District in a bad position.
The BOE put coach D, the lacrosse program and the community in a "bad position" by trying to force him to coach a top level Varsity team without assistant coaches. The BOE should be ashamed. Name another LI program that doesn't have an assistant coach? I think the Board forgot who they serve-the Sayville community.
Wow. There seems to be some strong feelings on both sides of this one. For what it's worth, he's not a bad guy. He just comes across as being an arrogant guy, but when he gets to know you that falls away. As far as his coaching goes, he's coached my son in PAL for the last few years. I think he puts people in the best position to do well, but he doesn't really coach in a traditional sense. He doesn't stop and teach kids what they're doing wrong, just basically tells them they're doing something wrong and expects them to fix it themselves. The BOEs problem with him had nothing to do with with that though. If we're being completely honest, he had been getting under their skin for awhile. Many people complained to the board for years that they thought they were bullied into playing on that God-awful Spartans team he ran. Word got out that if kids didn't play Spartans they would never start in HS. Trust me, my guy played for 3 years and finished last year. It was a money grab sham. No need to go into anymore detail, but most parents felt the same way. People have also been saying that there was also issues with him using the gyms and school grounds for non-school training without permits. That puts the district in a liability issue. I think the last straw was the meeting about the asst. coach. When the budget went down the year before, the board had to make some serious cuts. They told all of the varsity coaches that assistant coaches would be cut the following year and gave them plenty of time to find raise to keep them. Most of the other coaches did that. I guess he forgot and, at the last minute, told the town that he just found out. It was kind of sleezy and everyone showed up and made a classless scene. That's the main deal. Like I said, I don't have a problem with him. He coached my son and my son likes him. But a lot of what's been written here is not really truthful.
As a Sayville resident and parent of kids in the program, I take offense to your declarative post. You make a lot of supposedly factual claims. As it was explained to me, the Spartans Lacrosse club was supposed to mimic Three Village (Ward Melville) and West Islip providing a program where the Sayville kids could play together and build chemistry and gel at all levels. It works for Ward Melville and West Islip. You can't be serious with the statement "It was a money grab sham.." Compare the pricing with LI Express and Team 91, the math is simple.
"Word got out that if kids didn't play Spartans they would never start in HS..." Again, you really can't be serious. Anyone who has kids involved in the program knows FACTUALLY that your statement is inaccurate. Just look at the roster last season.
Regarding the budget cuts, there was nothing "sleazy" done by the coach. I was one of the parents who helped organize a retort to the inane "justification" for cutting the few thousand dollars required to pay an assistant coach. Getting organized and presenting an opposing view was not a "classless scene". If you know the facts, you know I am right and our reasoning was also valid.
Once again, the majority of parents and players think the coach has done a phenomenal job over the past 15+ years and a few malcontents complain enough to force change when change is not necessary nor will it benefit the program. Mark my words.
