Bob McKenney’s abrupt departure from the Jamesville-DeWitt boys basketball program that he steered to five state championships in 19 seasons did not mark the end of his coaching career.
Instead, McKenney is now in charge a few miles down the road, at Bishop Grimes, where his hiring was announced at a press conference Thursday inside the school’s gymnasium in front of family members, friends and approximately 100 students.
Except for a written statement sent out to the media after his firing at J-D, McKenney had not spoken since the March decision by that school’s Board of Education to relieve him of his duties, which caused a furious reaction within the district and across Central New York.
Here, McKenney said that he still could not talk about some details of the J-D saga, but would admit that the events had taken a toll on him and his family.
“The door got closed for me at J-D,” said McKenney. “It’s hard to spend (nearly) 20 years at a place, be a loyal employee and not have an opportunity to defend myself. It was a difficult time for me.”
That an opportunity would arise at Bishop Grimes was due to a series of circumstances. McKenney, who said no other school had offered him a coaching job despite rumors to the contrary, had started teaching physical education at Grimes last year. He was never employed in the J-D district during his 19 seasons coaching the Red Rams.
Subsequently, Grimes let go of its head coach, Kevin Haven. Then the school’s athletic director, John Cifonelli, began what he said was “a long process” of trying to convince McKenney to take over, culminating in an interview early in May.
McKenney said that it took the support of his wife, Lisa, and his daughters to accept the coaching job at Grimes, where he intends to have his assistants from J-D, including Charles Falgitano, Jay O’Shea and Tim Mascari, join him on the bench.
“I think I’m at a place to accept this new challenge,” said McKenney, who added that, before this, he was ready to accept the fact that his 32-year coaching career, dating back to his days in Vermont, might be over, but that he still felt he wasn’t done yet.
The press conference had a few light moments, too. One of the Grimes students handed McKenney a pair of blue suspenders, a piece of wardrobe McKenney has made famous on the sidelines. He also inadvertently mentioned that they were going to work hard building the program “at J-D”, and then quickly corrected himself with “BG”, the initials of Grimes.
Also, in a nod to the 523 wins he has earned in his coaching career, McKenney joked that part of the reason he took the Grimes positions was that he didn’t want two long-time coaching rivals – Christian Brothers Academy’s Buddy Wleklinki and Bishop Ludden’s Pat Donnelly – to catch and pass him on the wins list.
Bishop Grimes principal David Wheeler said that having McKenney work in the school will help his transition.
“We’re delighted to have a teacher be our coach,” said Wheeler. “He’s in the building, so he can get to know the kids as students, not just players.”
