As previously reported, Troy High has hired on prodigal son Jordan Canzeri (Class of 2011) as their new head football coach. WTEN/WXXA had a camera crew, either at THS or elsewhere, to interview Canzeri for Friday night's news and replays this morning.
After leaving Troy in 2011, Canzeri played his college ball at Iowa, and spent some time as a pro with the Albany Empire when the team was in the Arena Football League before it folded after the 2019 season. Canzeri returned to THS last year as a principal's assistant, likely to learn the administrative side of things before being offered the coach's job.
With Canzeri on board, Troy High, or, more specifically, the Board of Education, needs to address some other coaching issues.
As noted yesterday, baseball coach Chris Stack appears to have been promoted to assistant principal, much like Ryan Meikle last year. If it means Stack has to give up coaching the baseball team, then Troy has to look for another coach. This demonstrates, yet again, the short-sighted vision of the school board and/or athletic director Paul Reinisch.
Meikle had to give up being the women's basketball coach last year after 4 seasons, and we all know what happened. Rather than promote Sarah Fullmer to head coach, the board went outside the THS family and hired AAU coach Steve Lombard. The end result? 1-20, eliminated in the 1st round of the sectionals. Just 9 players on the active roster, one of whom, Ava Mamone, is transferring to a prep school this season.
Would things have been different with Fullmer at the helm? Maybe, but we'll never know. Fullmer did serve as an interim coach when Lombard missed a game late in the season.
After the John Barber disaster with the football program two years ago, in which Barber was let go after a 1-7 campaign, I'd not be too shocked if Lombard is gone after 1 season as well. He couldn't solve opponents' full court pressure defenses any more than Meikle did before him, and, as the record shows, things were worse.
Despite winning a Section II Class A title on the men's side, rumors were circulating, likely unsubstantiated, that John Killian would be relieved of his post after 2 seasons. It appears, however, he'll be sticking around.
So...who replaces Lombard? Fullmer should've been given a chance, but if she wasn't interested in the head coach's job, who would? In hindsight, removing Meikle from the bench was a giant sized mistake that should never have happened.
That allows us to circle back to Chris Stack. Removing him from the Troy dugout during baseball season might not be the right move, but Troy was just starting to regain respectability under Stack, winning a Section II Class A title in 2021, and reaching the semi-finals before falling to Mohonasen in 2022. However, Troy had a down year this year, unable to make up for the graduations of Mike Kennedy & Austin Francis last year.
There is an old adage that applies here.
"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."
Paul Reinisch was a 3-sport star at CBA, much like his son, Jake, was at Shenendehowa before moving on to Wake Forest. Some coaches in Section II are also athletic directors, like, for example, Blaine Drescher at CBA, who gave up coaching hockey after the 2021-2 season to concentrate on his duties as AD. Hiring 2nd generation coach Aiden Melrose didn't produce the results the Brothers hoped for, at least not yet.
So what's stopping Reinisch from taking over as baseball coach or running the women's basketball program? If the promotions of Meikle and Stack are any indication, the school board might not want them being coaches and administrators at the same time. It's about the bottom line, in this case the school district budget. Yes, that would categorize Troy as being cheap, which doesn't help their situation at all.
So, how do you solve the coaching problem with the women's basketball team? The hiring of Jordan Canzeri may give us a clue. Depending on who's available, the Troy school board might want to again reach into the school's past to find a coach. The women's basketball program produced stars like Maureen Holohan (now a succesful author), Nikki Hilton, and, in more recent times, Kiana Patterson. The board either promotes Sarah Fullmer to head coach, or has to find someone who'd be a marked improvement over Steve Lombard. The final answer doesn't have to be Clark Kent or Jimmy Olsen, you see, but maybe the board should walk back their decision on Ryan Meikle from last season, and let him coach.
Otherwise, you might need to persuade Reinisch to give it a shot.
If anyone's got better ideas, I'm open to reading them.
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