New Fairfield Prep football coach Tom Shea with the team during a previous game. (Photo by Fairfield College Preparatory School).
New Fairfield Prep coach Tom Shea
Fairfield Prep said it would scour the state for a coach who would revive their proud football program. But ultimately the administration decided it would just stay in-house and turn back the clock.
The school Thursday announced the hiring of freshman coach, English teacher and alumnus Thomas Tom Shea (his real name is William), who — if you remember — was a finalist for the job last season along with deposed coach Billy Pinto. According to a press release, Shea met with the team on Wednesday.
Though Shea is a relative unknown in local high school circles, he’s had a long and distinguished career. A 1973 Fairfield Prep graduate, he only recently returned to the school after a prosperous career in business as the founder and chief business executive at several communications ventures, according to the release. He played football at Fairfield Prep and at Harvard, where he received a BA. Later, he received a masters of sciences at the London School of Economics.
He’s been teaching English at Fairfield Prep for the past five years, during which time he became the freshman coach under Rich Magdon.
Shea was a front-runner for the job when Magdon stepped aside in 2008. Though he didn’t get the job, he stayed on as an assistant under Pinto during last year’s 0-10 season.
“I am honored and proud to be named just the eighth coach in Prep football history, and I look forward to working with our young men to revitalize our winning traditions,” Shea said in a statement. “I feel we have the talent to be a good football team, but it is up to the players and their level of commitment and dedication to determine when that will be.”
We’ll have more later on this. For now, discuss…
Great choice. Coach Shea will turn the program around. He is well respected by players and all those who have worked with him. I wish him all the best.
Come on there had to be someone else more qualified..
Big mistake.
Another bust at Prep. They must have severe restrictions in what they look for in a coach. Apparently no one wants that job.
Nothing against Coach Shea, but I think Prep could have got a better coach to turn there program around.
Woah. Lots of cons out there already. …While I can certainly understand — based on Prep AD Steve Donahue’s post-Pinto quotes, it is intriguing that they ended up right where they started last year — there’s a lot we don’t know about Shea. He may end up being a Joe Torre, not a Ray Handley for all we know.
That said, Shea clearly has lots of work to do. This works for Prep as far as it’s ultimate mission goes. I’m sure they love having a Prep guy at the controls for a change.
Let me tell you, there is no better person out there for this job than Tom Shea. The players want to play for him, and he is a great football guy. Rumor has it the Derby staff that left Prep early in the season is coming back as well. Prep might not be the best team next year, but will definitely be the hardest working. Kudos to Prep, and good luck to Tom Shea and the Prep kids.
Give the guy a chance. He might put together a great staff that the kids want to play for. With that said you still need the athletes, I can’t beleive you have a all boy’s school and can’t get 30 football players.
Different era I guess. What ever happened to the tough old Father’s.
Maybe they should break out the paddle again.
Tom Shea is a very good coach, he should have been the coach last year. If he was at least 8 seniors would have come back and started. None of those kids wanted to play for Pinto.
Good job Donahue!
In response to Big Guy..There are definitley 30 football players there but for whatever reason most didn’t want to play for the “Good Old Boy” network, Harris,Magdon and Pinto. Whether it was the parents or the kids themselves they started dropping off after their Soph seasons.
Tom Shea is an outstanding choice as new Prep Head Coach. He carries the respect of every player who’s played for him. Judging from the reaction of the students the other day, they know they are getting the right man for the right job. It won’t be an easy job, but the effort on the field will be 100%.
The word on the street is New Milford High school has added Chris DeCarlo former Bethel High coach to it’s “D” staff?
Chris should have never jumped ship on BHS, this past August. I bet he never thought BHS would have never made it to the finals this year.
i thought pete carroll was going to the seahawks…. this must be his brother
Most of the positive comments has to do with the person not the coaches ability. Anyone who played for him knows he freezes in big games. He talks a big game but does now how to coach one. If you read the last sentence in the article, he has already put the onus of a non winning season on the kids. He also has the same coaching staff from past failed seasons and he added a pop warner coach.
If this is the coach of the future, then this program has taken a huge step backwards. At least Pinto had varsity experience.
Tom Shea is the perfect choice for head football coach at Fairfield Prep. He should have been appointed last year and the season would not have gone down the drain. Shea has been an asset to Prep since he was a student/player there in the 70′s. No one will work harder to bring the program back to its winning ways.
Chris didn’t jump ship.
I have had boys play for Shea and they along with a great number of the players say he has trouble coaching and calling a game. Shea is a sweet talker and he says all the right things, however, we don’t need a person talking about winning a business deal we are talking about the football future at Fairfield Prep. I think this is what has been over looked!!!
You also have to remember that Shea has a HUGE ego and he is very pompous, he likes to hear himself talk and preach and be in control. The kids at Prep are very smart, that is why those coaches from ND didn’t last, they were smarter than they were. They could not BS the kids.
The bottom line is that he is not the right choice for Prep’s future. I now for a fact that there were more experience candidates that applied for the position. There is no doubt that Shea has done a great deal for Prep, I hope that when Donahue made this decision it was the best decision for the Prep football program not the Prep bank account.
SPB………I heard up in Bethel, that Chris left the program with like 2 weeks before the season started.It was a good thing Coach Gill was there and he got former Coach Martin on board……Do you think it is fair that a coach leaves a program, when the season is about to get started????? If a coach wants to leave(or has to leave because of personal problems) he should leave after the season, or way before the new season starts. This way the school can get a new coach on board. I thought the reason he left was because he got a new job?????? If that was the case, he had to know he was in the running to get the new job, weeks before he left BHS…………
With all the talent at Prep in the last 10-15 years, they have never sealed the deal! 1996 they snapped Chesires winning streak, and didn’t even make the playoffs! In 99 they should have won the State TITLE! They lost to Greenwich in the LL Semis. Madgon had great athletes during this long term and always used the same “old school methods” that produced average results. Magdon left the program in the toilet, and it wasn’t Pinto’s fault for the horrid 2009 season, you have to blame other staff members ( Shea). Shea will do the same as Madgon.
I miss football season already, just wondering what other jobs are still out there that need to be filled. I said it before and I will say it again, Sean you do a great job of keeping the crazy CT high school football fans like me invovled in what is going on. Thank You.
When is McMahon going to announce a coach ? Any idea who is in the running for it ?
Every Good Head Football Coach I’ve ever known has had a huge ego and been a control freak. As for freezing in big games, when was the last big game Shea coached? Also LTREY, how the heck do you come up with “it wasn’t Pinto’s fault for the horrid 2009 season, you have to blame other staff members ( Shea)” Shea was 3 years and 2 levels removed from those kids, no one wanted to play for Pinto they had no respect for him. Pinto’s first decision showed he had no feel for the team and he lost the rest of the seniors right there and then the ones who stayed he continued berate and call them cancers. If you had a Petroccio or a Catalina who wanted to come here and Donahue didn’t take them then shame on him but Prep is still way better off than where they were last year, coaching wise.
Good luck at prep. Have fun dealing with all of the administrative problems. The program will never change until the school changes. Let the coaches coach and the players play. Bring back the old school days.
Not on topic, but a Connecticut QB was just offered a full scholarship at Florida, and it wasn’t Baty.
lets hire an average Freshman football coach to run a varsity Football team. Prep will go 2-8 next season.
Not for nothing, but are the kids who will leave the team because of the coach really the type of kids you want in your program? I would rather have kids who love to play the game, not kids who use their talent as a way of protesting the hiring of a coach. Kids have a limited window of opportunity to play HS football and to sacrifice that for something largely out of your control is something that I’m sure they will all regret for years to come. That’s like quitting your job and taking food off of your family’s table because you don’t like your new boss.
As far as how vital coaching is, consider this. How many of you could have coached Ansonia to the #1 ranking 3 years ago? Hand the ball off to Alex Thomas 50 times a game and you too can look like a football genius! On the same page, how many people out there could coach Harding to an FCIAC title? At some point, the talent level and dedication of the kids has to largely overshadow the coach’s ability to draw up X’s and O’s. To say that Shea chokes in big game situations, how many of you attended any of Prep’s recent freshman football games and can personally attest to that fact? Also, is there such a thing as a big freshman game?
LTrey there is something else going on with you and Shea and your right next year they won’t win more than 2 or 3 games but 2011 they will be in the hunt. Also Spurriers Visor, 100% correct they left their senior teammates to fight undermanned and those kids deserve all the credit in the world for taking a 10 game beating and battling every step of the way.
Hey Spurrier Viso, how about knowing kids from last years team and this years team. They all say the same thing, he does not know how to coach!!! You say that how much of a difference does a coach make, well, look how many seniors game out last year. You might not have a senior problem this year because Shea’s son is on the team and he will be a senior. The reason they did’nt come out was because of Pinto. I can garenteeue there will also be a problem with kids comming this year because of Shea.
The issue here is you just got off a year of terrible coaching and the best you can do for the future of the program is Shea. We lost already!!! And we don’t have an Alex Thomas so who does the team turn too. Lets see, maybe a coach!!!
You must not know anything about Prep football or you are a friend of Shea’s to come out with that stuff.
I coached against Prep last year at the freshmen level and there were some play calling situations that made me scratch my head but at the same time made my job as a d-coordinator a lot easier. I wish him and the Prep program the very best. Their schedule is much easier for 2010 so there might be a few wins in sight. Who takes over the freshmen team now? As much as people will say it’s only freshmen football, they are the future of your program.
dds and sh,
where do you come up with this stuff???
what was pinto’s first mistake?? taking the job?? maybe your right!!
the kids being smarter than the coaches…how did they try to bs the kids?? please explain??
prep needs a big contribrutor to push out the current administration (who just kisses the parents backside). then maybe they can get back on thier feet.
the once proud prep program is as dead.
coach88,
Let me guess you’re from one of the Prep freshman teams loses; Hand, Shelton, West Haven or Amity.Sorry the games were not a big enough challenge for you. You are right the Freshman team is the future of the program. Shea’s freshman teams might not run the most sophisticated schemes but the players are fundamentally sound and learn to play the game the right way. That is what builds a future.
As far as next years schedule being much easier I understand prep still has Shelton, Hamdem, Xaiver, Amity, West Haven,Cheshire and NDWH on its schedule. Who else is added to make it so much easier.
I think you are all also overlooking the fact of the assistants that he is bringing with him. Charlie DiCenso and Andy Mancini are two great high school coaches and will help Shea ease into the head coaching position nicely. I really think Prep is going to surprise a few people, and be better than most are saying above.
I know all I need to know about Prep football…….0-10.
Johnny ballgame…I don’t know where SH is coming from about the ND coaches not lasting because the kids were smarter. They didn’t last because 1 of the mothers got in a coaches face and he told her where to go (which I don’t blame him) they fired him (Which I don’t blame them) and the other coaches quit after Pinto didn’t back him. I also know what DDS meant and I agree with him . As for the admin kissing butts…My kid played varsity for the last 3 yrs and started the last 2 and I guarantee you they didn’t kiss anyones butt, I remember 1 of the captains parents from that disastrous 2008 season going in to talk to Harris and Harris telling him if you don’t like it switch schools. So where is the butt kissing?
Hey James, are these the guys that were there the last 5 years. If they are going to help ease him into head coaching then they are in bigger trouble than before.
If there is going to be a team on an easy schedule it will be Prep. Lets see how many true football players come out and play for Shea this year. Most of the people in Shea’s corner really have no idea about the football coach. He a sweet talker and will tell you what you want to hear. Once he gets you all ready to go, he makes you crash and burn.
You have no idea!!!
HEY JAMES,
I HOPE THOSE GREAT ASST. COACHES HE HAS HIRED WON’T QUIT 8 DAYS B-4 THE 1ST GAME AGAIN THIS YEAR!!!!
I agree with DRAW he needs to bring in some young asst’s with new ideas. DiCenso has seen better days you are supposed to fit an offense around the players not the players into an offense. He had a huge OL 2 years ago and instead of working an offense around that he kept rolling that kid out like Autori and he threw 25 interceptions.
Coach DeCarlo did not cut and run from Bethel High, he was forced to leave by the school administration. It was the right decision, although his actions were not nearly as bad as rumored. Suffice it to say that Coach DeCarlo is a sloppy admininstrator of a football program. I wish him no ill as he pursues an assistant coaching opportunity in New Milford.
I am grateful for Coach Gill for stepping up and for Bruce Martin and Tom Fujitani for joining the staff to assist and mentor Coach Gill. Bethel hasn’t had a staff like this since Coach DeSantis passed away.
Hey MD, I had a kid play for that team and the stuff they were throwing out didn’t cut it at ND so why would you think it would work here. Those coaches came in that year and tried to throw around muscle they didn’t have. Thus, the kids being smarter didn’t by it.
And we all know why the parent got in the face of the coach. That coach would say one thing and do another every week. He would make rules and then change them with the kids. And since YOU know the reason why he got fired, it should be no brainier. Even if you are a coach, show some class and don’t tell her to FO. I give Pinto credit for not backing him up.
To add to this, they were all getting fired at the end of the year because of all the parents and players complaints.
md,
read smooth’s last line in his post. thats what i’m talking about!!!
also harris is gone. different people at the controls.
no coach should have to put up with a complaining parent, threating his or his fellow staff members job. every school has a protocall on how a parent addresses a situation. kid/coach, kid/head coach, kid/ad, parent/ad to request meeting with coach. i know its tough to tell a “prep” parent they can’t do anything they want.
md, do you think its right for parents to get in the face of staff members families??
md, you sound like you were around the program this year, was it the pinto that caused the 0-10, or was it that prep took a water gun to a gun fight each and every week??
heard new fairfield hired a coach from NY.
First of all SMOOTH,I didn’t know who these guys were, I didn’t know how they coached, I didn’t know what they were “throwing out” at ND, so there was no expectations on my part whether they would succeed or fail. Second of all the comment by SH was “the coaches didn’t last because the kids at Prep were smarter” that is not true,one got fired for swearing at a parent and the others followed him out the door and yes, unless Pinto AND Lee lied to me I DO KNOW THE REASON.
Another thing SMOOTH, we all don’t know why the parent got in the coaches face but I was told it was playing time and if it was varsity playing time then she should have gone to the Head Coach not the JV Coach and from what we’ve been told since the kid’s Freshman year you don’t question that. The one thing I do agree with you is, the coach should have held his temper but I believe she was wrong also and your right Pinto did do the right thing.
Lastly,do you really think it was because of you and the other parents that Pinto got fired, you don’t think it was because he was overmatched, unorganized and they were 0-10, to name a few things. The e-mails and the backroom crap started just before the kick off dinner about the way they dressed and the way they smelled etc..if they went 10-0 he would still be coach.
Bunker no disrespect, Prep in my opinion has been the most fundementaly sound progams that I have ever seen or coached against. I’ve met coach Shea only briefly and with me first impressions are long lasting. He was a gentlemen. If the players who left come back and his incoming class is a good one the future looks bright. Also a good group of assistant coaches helps tremendously plus you have to sell it, everyone has to buy into what you want to do, and most importantly stay consistant. Otherwise your doomed.
md,
read the last line in smooths’. thats what i’m talking about. remember harris is gone. that was the “old guard”. the new one is going to listen to the money, and not do what is right.
hey smooth..what gives the parent the right to confront any coach and threaten his or her jobs??? what the coach said is wrong but coaches aren’t here so the parents can vent their frustrations because of thier kids lack of commitment to a team sport. what a great example for our children….when something doesn’t go your way, complain to mommy and daddy and they will use thier money/power to get the lowely coach fired!! do you think lou marinelli has parents approaching his asst, coaches in the parking lot b/4 a game??? how about john murphy??? craig bruno???
smooth, what “stuff” were they throwing out there???
what did they say??
1-come to pratice
2-be on time
3-get in the weightroom
4-get an education
these are just alot of “stuff” to be throwing out there. if your anyone else told you anything different their not telling the truth.
First to call those kids Waterpistols is wrong and insulting. Yes, there were only a handful of Seniors and Juniors (5 or 6) that were physically and athletically ready to play in that Division but everyone of them came out and played hard every game and never backed down, even though there were 14 and 15 yr olds playing against 17 and 18 year olds. There is no draft or recruiting in High School so you play with the hand your dealt.
Now for coaching..same as above..you play for the coach your dealt. Right or wrong Pinto was the coach (Harris?). When those 2 coaches quit on him (more accurately they quit on the kids)it put the team behind the eight ball right off the bat then the sniping started from the parents about the way these coaches looked and smelled and it was all downhill from there. Also Johnny Ballgame asked was it Pinto’s fault they lost the 10 games? Partially,that team did lose kids to concussions and injuries, but truthfully with a change in the offense that they finally made on Thanksgiving (thanks Coach Lee) they had at least 2 or 3 wins in them.
Finally, winning puts a cherry on top, it shouldn’t make your High School Football experience, going to battle with your buddies every fall for 4 years does and I hope thats what these kids remember not all the bulls..t from the parents and the coaches. Me on the other hand….
Sean check the CIAC site this morning, looks like Middletown High is starting to clean house. Who do you think is next in line?
That about says it all
No idea at Middletown.
It’s funny when you look at the middletown postings on ciac website. Everyone but the HC is listed. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sal M from Cromwell end up there.
Hey Sean — what do you hear about the Stratford job??
SPB – Great follow up as to where the kids are going to college. To much work to send a e-mail to the coaches and ask the question ??
Big Guy: Sorry, you’re disappointed. I have hundreds of other daily responsibilities as sports web editor.
Big Guy…Since I had little to do, I went to MaxPrep and saw that 12 CT High School football players have signed with D-1 schools…It takes a few minutes, but if you go thru their “recruits” by state, you’ll get there…Of the 12, only 3 players that I could see were from a public High School…Khari Fortt from Stamford High (Penn State), Tebucky Jones from New Britain (UCONN), and Tyler Murphy from Wethersfield High (Florida)…All the rest were from private schools in CT…Two of them I’m sure you know already…Silas Redd from King (Penn State), and Kevin Pierre-Louis from King (Boston College)…BC also signed 2 other guys from Chesire Academy, and 1 from Hotchkiss (Litchfield County)…Two big guys were signed by Florida State from The Salisbury School (Litchfield County)…
Hamden head football coach out.