Leading off today: An extraordinary era has come to an end due to an all-too-common reason as Joyce Simmons, 71, resigned her coaching position at Staten Island's Curtis High due to a health issue,
The Advance reported.
Though it's no longer uncommon for a woman to coach a boys team, Simmons' run as the boys soccer coach was one of the longest in memory -- 24 years -- under that circumstance. She stepped down because her recovery from hip replacement surgery this summer was not progressing as quickly as she had hoped.
Assistant coach and former player Tombo Berete was promoted to replace her.
“It was one of the most difficult decisions I ever had to make in my life,” said Simonson, who also coached Curtis’ girls soccer team for 10 seasons. “I love the team, I love the game, I love being the coach at Curtis. It’s been my life for the last 24 years and it’s really hard to walk away."
Simonson coached Curtis to the PSAL A division semifinals three times and led the Warriors to seven PSAL Island division titles. Last year's 4-10 mark ended a string of 11 straight seasons with a winning record in PSAL competition.
Uproar on Long Island: Brentwood residents packed Thursday's board of education meeting seeking answers about the cutting of 21 assistant coaching positions for financial reasons, Newsday reported.
AD Kevin O'Reilly said he had to cut roughly $180,000 because negotiations with some of the district's bargaining units stalled. He said the cuts would leave 12 teams without assistant coaches.
"We opted to support the children of the district rather than the adults of the district," Superintendent Joseph Bond told the audience. "The choice came down to eliminating teams or eliminating assistant coaches. We cut 21 assistant coaches ... all teams still exist in middle school and high school."
National love for M-E: MaxPreps' preseason small-school football rankings includes two-time defending state champion Maine-Endwell at No. 19.
By the way, MaxPreps also does a national all-sport championship similar to the New York State Sportswriters Association's Kerr Cup. No New York schools made the final cut, but Tottenville from the PSAL was selected the state's top sports program.
Autopsy results: The Georgia junior who died Friday following his injury at a football scrimmage suffered a broken neck, authorities reported.
College Park Creekside High star DeAntre "Tre Tre" Turman fell to the ground immediately upon making a tackle against Bannecker (Ga.) High. Fulton County medical examiners said the 5-foot-11, 164-pound cornerback suffered a fracture of his third cervical vertebra. He experienced breathing difficulties on the field and died at a nearby hospital.
Turman, 16, reportedly already held a scholarship offer from Kentucky and was gaining notice from a number of other schools. He is at least the third player to die after collapsing on the football field this summer, following Anaheim (Calif.) Canyon freshman Mitchell Cook and Fayetteville (N.C.) Seventy-First junior Evan Raines.
Former Creekside head coach Johnny T. White told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Turman was "one of the best kids I’ve ever dealt with in my 18 years of coaching, period, hands down.
Retired coach dies: Herb Goldsmith, who coached Southampton to a 130-50-8 record from 1955 to 1978, died on July 20 due to complications from pneumonia. He was 90.
Goldsmith's teams won 13 league championships and had four undefeated seasons. He was inducted into the National Football Foundation Long Island High School Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
"He could get the kids to believe that what they were doing was important. He was ahead of his time. He was an innovator," said Chris Sweet, who replaced Goldsmith as coach in 1979. "He was throwing the ball when others were running. At the end of his career, when everyone was throwing, he was running out of the wishbone formation."
Goldsmith was also known for his precise planning.
