LIVERPOOL – With a rich and deep history that includes championships and sending waves of players to the professional and college ranks, Liverpool football was an attractive position for any potential head coach.
What the Warriors got was someone who knows quite well what it’s like to reach the sport’s pinnacle.
Joe Sindoni, who won a state title and multiple sectional crowns in two stints at Skaneateles, was named early this week to take the job held recently by Dave Mancuso, who retired after the end of the 2021 season.
In his coaching odyssey, Sindoni has gone from a long-time assistant at Christian Brothers Academy to a brief stint in charge at Cicero-North Syracuse, but it was at Skaneateles that he generated headlines of all sorts.
A decade ago, following Tim Green’s resignation, Sindoni led the Lakers to a sectional title in 2012. When he returned, even bigger things took place.
Led by record-setting quarterback Patrick Hackler (now a lacrosse star at Yale), Skaneateles won the 2017 state Class C championship and returned to the state semifinals a year later in Class B.
But in November 2020, the staging by current and former Lakers players of a “Turkey Bowl” game in violation of COVID-19 protocols in place at the time led to a prolonged legal battle.
At first, the school district voted not to retain Sindoni for the 2021 season, sparking a wave of protest in the community, a lawsuit from Sindoni and an Onondaga County Superior Court hearing where a judge ordered a temporary injunction.
The district appealed the ruling, but in the meantime allowed Sindoni to coach in 2021, where Skaneateles won another sectional Class C title. Soon after, he stepped down.
At the time of his departure from Skaneateles, Sindoni said he wanted to focus more attention on his children’s activities and perhaps return to CBA, who won the state Class A title last fall and where his son, John, played quarterback for the JV team.
But after extended talks with Liverpool athletic director Ari Lieberman, Sindoni agreed to return to the sidelines again, looking to bring Liverpool up to the level of its neighbors from C-NS, winners of the last four sectional and regional Class AA titles.
To add further intrigue to the story, the Warriors face CBA, who has again moved up to Class AA, on Oct. 14 at LHS Stadium, leaving open the possibility that Sindoni could coach with his son on the opposing side.
