Mere hours after word got out that Christian Brothers Academy football coach Joe Casamento had resigned to take an administrative position in Washington, D.C., Fayetteville-Manlius found itself also in search of a new man to lead its varsity program – but for a much different reason.
Damien Rhodes announced on Wednesday that, after seven seasons on the Hornets’ staff and two as its head coach, he is stepping down, saying that the time commitments to football and to his full-time job as a medical supply company’s client manager became too difficult to juggle.
Rhodes’ resignation came on the heels of a tough 2014 season for F-M’s varsity team. Hurt at the outset by an injury to senior quarterback Jake Wittig, the Hornets finished 3-5 and missed the Section III Class AA playoffs.
This followed a 2013 campaign where Rhodes, after five seasons as an F-M assistant, took over as head coach when Paul Muench, who had led the team for 12 years, chose to step down. At 29, Rhodes was among the youngest varsity coaches in the state.
That first fall proved electric, F-M going a perfect 7-0 in the regular season and winning its AA playoff opener before falling in the sectional semifinals to Henninger, who would drop the title game to CBA, but win the championship a year later.
Of course, Rhodes was a big name in F-M and Central New York sports annals long before he picked up a whistle on the F-M sideline.
As a high school senior in 2001, Rhodes led the Hornets to its last sectional title, F-M eventually reaching the state semifinals. Following graduation, Rhodes went to Syracuse University, where he amassed nearly 4,000 all-purpose yards in four years with the Orange.
After a brief professional career that included a stint with the NFL’s Houston Texans, Rhodes came back to the area and, in 2008, joined Muench’s F-M staff. Five years later, he had the helm, which he would only hold for two seasons.
F-M athletic director Scott Sugar said the search for Rhodes’ replacement is already underway, with interviews expected within the program and, perhaps, beyond it.
