fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Submit Your Event
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Send Letter to the Editor
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Coach Tom Tegeler is the heart and soul of New Paltz football

by Rich Corozine
March 7, 2019
in Sports
1
New Paltz football tops Goshen and heads to the Section 9 final this Friday

Coach Tom Tegeler and quarterback Ethan Smith.

Coach Tom Tegeler and quarterback Ethan Smith.

A lot of very good football players have come and gone at New Paltz High School in the past 20 years. Some of the very best truly stand out. One thinks of Travis O’Dell, James Mach, Brandon Egan-Thorpe, Gordie Pine, Kevin Murphy, Joe Judge, Alex Dumas, Khariff Laboy, Guy Soumah, Joey DiMarco, Jon Diaz, Jimmy Verney, and this year Kenny Verney, Tanner Johnson and Mike Pisciotta, Over those years the Huguenots have won Section 9 titles in 2002, 2007, 2010 and 2016. They’ve also played in the Section championship game in 2003, 2008, 2017 and 2018. New Paltz enjoys a never-before elite status in the Section.

Though players come and go in high-school ball, one important feature of New Paltz football has stayed constant. Head coach Tom Tegeler, who has been running the show since the 2000 season, is arguably the best coach in the Section. Tegeler, a three-sport superstar at Rondout in the early 1990s (baseball was his best sport), attended Division 1 St. Bonaventure, where he became a hall-of-famer in baseball.

Tegeler played for the Albany River Dogs in the minor leagues for a season or two before signing on to teach at New Paltz High School, heeding a call from long-ago athletic director John Ford. “Can you help fix this?” asked Ford about the failing football program that he himself had once coached. Tegeler decided to give it a go, signing on as an assistant for new coach Kirk Reinhardt.

“That was 1997, and we put together a really good [coaching] team with Kirk, Billy Defino, Tom Fay and myself,” said Tegeler. The Huguenots had not had a winning season since the late 1980s, and at one point had lost 21 straight games.

“I was 25 years old,” said Tegeler, “and full of ideas of how to make the program better. We worked closely together and made the playoffs three straight years.” Then Reinhart took over at Kingston and Toni Woody offered him the head coaching job. New Paltz had a really talented team, “but Rondout and Red Hook were loaded and only two teams made the playoffs those years, so we missed out.” But that first year, 2000, set the program up for the future.

The Huguenots compiled a 101-71 record in the next 18 years, with but two losing seasons.

How did Tegeler do it? “Good assistant coaches,” he said, listing (over the years) Defino, Sam Phelps, Scott Ricketson, Joe Davis, David Dones, Frank Ciliberto, Mike Bonagura, Lou Quick, Jim Malak and even opposing coaches like Highland’s Carl Relyea and Marlboro’s Rich Ward. “I think I’m a good listener.”

How does one build a team when the players change every year? “My thinking was to build it like a marathon race with teaching, the right way to not only play, but the right way to be as a person, a sense of professionalism about one’s role on the field and in life; motivation, which is to respect each other and realize that you’re in this together; and have high expectations, not only for me but for each guy,” Tegeler responded.

He never goes into a season thinking the team is going to be undefeated. He’s not a big believer in that idea.

“I always tell them, You’re never as good as you are on your best day or as bad as you are on your worst, and they listen, they hear that, and I never waver in that idea,” he said. “Look, everyone is different and it took me a few years to understand that, they’re not just football players to me.”

 

All-State linebacker Kenny Verney, who played for Tegeler for four years, agreed with Tegeler’s notion that “it’s more than just football.” “Yeah,” said Verney, “there’s no one else like him, his pre-game speeches are like no other. He does everything for all of us, treats us like family, checks on every one of us to see how we’re doing. The guys would run through a wall for him, happily. He’s made it all bigger than just football. For me he’s like a second dad.”

“You know I don’t like to lose,” explained Tegeler with a smile, “but I realized awhile ago that it is more about teaching than playing the game. Early on I changed from a fear-based style that did bear some results, to a more understanding one that included the players’ feelings and what was going on in their lives that made them want to be there and compete. Sure, I can get mad at something, but usually it’s more about them not focusing, that they can do better. Character counts here. Academics count here. I feel like I’m having a say in shaping young men. I like that about coaching.”

This past season New Paltz started out 0-3 before rallying to make the Section 9 playoffs once again (losing in the Class A final to eventual state champion Cornwall). Usually extremely animated and opinionated (to the refs) along the sidelines, Tegeler was quiet and calm during the early going. “They needed that from me,” he explained. “If they’re going to put it all out there every day in practice and then on the field Friday nights, they needed me to be on their side, not harangue them for missing a tackle or missing a block.”

Respect breeds respect, Tegeler believes. Consistency breeds consistency.

“It’s that professionalism that my dad taught me,” he said. “And if that’s what I teach them then, regardless of my won-lost record, I did this okay.”

 

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher

Rich Corozine

Related Posts

Kingston Stockade FC versus Hartford City FC
Sports

Kingston Stockade FC makes long-awaited return to Kingston since 2022 season

March 31, 2025
Kingston native inducted into NY Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame
Community

Kingston native inducted into NY Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame

February 4, 2025
Outdoor activities for teens in Ulster County
Community

Torch relay passes through Saugerties, local youth hockey teams to participate

January 24, 2025
Issues with the Kingston High School swimming pool are causing strife for the girls’ diving team
Education

Issues with the Kingston High School swimming pool are causing strife for the girls’ diving team

October 17, 2024
Campus construction on track, which means track won’t be accessible until 2025
Education

Campus construction on track, which means track won’t be accessible until 2025

October 14, 2024
New Paltz 11U Knights win GHVBL championship
Sports

New Paltz 11U Knights win GHVBL championship

August 16, 2024
Next Post
Chimney maintenance 101

Beware contractors offering unsolicited services

Please login to join discussion

Weather

Kingston, NY
64°
Cloudy
5:25 am8:20 pm EDT
Feels like: 64°F
Wind: 11mph WNW
Humidity: 48%
Pressure: 30.05"Hg
UV index: 2
MonTueWed
73°F / 48°F
77°F / 54°F
72°F / 54°F
powered by Weather Atlas

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Art
    • Books
    • Kids
    • Lifestyle & Wellness
    • Food & Drink
    • Music
    • Nature
    • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review

© 2022 Ulster Publishing