Here is the story my colleague Nancy Haggarty wrote on Kennedy’s potential move to the CHSAA.
After more than three decades competing against public schools in Section 1, John F. Kennedy Catholic High School appears poised to switch next fall to the Catholic High School Athletic Association.
Father Mark Vaillancourt, president of the school, confirmed Thursday that a move may happen and said Kennedy’s Board of Trustees has left the decision to him. He would not say when he anticipates announcing his decision, nor which way he is leaning.
However, Kennedy first-year boys basketball coach Al Morales believes the switch is a certainty. And Morales is applauding it.
“It’s awesome. It will enhance enrollment and increase the athletics program,” he said. “We’ll get 24 games as opposed to 18 (for varsity boys basketball) and there will be JV and freshman playoffs. As an ex-Catholic schools player (the Bronx’s St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School), I’m excited.”
Kennedy, which was in the CHSAA when the school opened in Somers in 1966 as John F. Kennedy High School, is now only one of two Catholic schools in Westchester playing in Section 1 — the all-girls Ursuline School in New Rochelle is the other, according to Vaillancourt.
But that does not appear to enter into the switch.
Rather, Vaillancourt pointed to the CHSAA, which spans New York City’s five boroughs, Long Island and Westchester, as offering better competition and greater exposure.
“They’re very competitive and have a lot of nationally ranked teams. There’s a lot going for it,” he said.
One enticement is the possibility of more athletes garnering college athletic scholarships.
“It’s an obvious reason to think about it,” Vaillancourt said. “It would probably be the best exposure for our school and for our studentsand student-athletes.”
Another reason for moving, though, is Kennedy’s clear dissatisfaction with being forced in some sports to compete in large-enrollment leagues, facing, for instance, 3,400-student Arlington.
Vaillancourt noted Kennedy, at 568 students, is a B-sized school.
But this school year Kennedy’s boys soccer, basketball and baseball teams have been assigned to compete in large-school AA.
Morales indicated that prompted Kennedy to first consider moving its boys teams to the CHSAA with the girls remaining in Section 1. But he said Section 1 gave it an “all-or-none” ultimatum.
Section 1 director Jen Simmons could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Somers High School athletic director Roman Catalino, the Section 1 boys basketball coordinator, said a section committee makes class assignments.
Catalino, who’s not on that committee, explained only public schools are guaranteed class placement by enrollment.
Win/loss records are part of what help determine private school team class placement, said Catalino, who expressed surprise and regret over Kennedy’s anticipated departure.
But Danny Cruz, 16, of Yorktown, a junior guard on Morales’ team, is looking forward to the CHSAA.
“It will be good competition. It’s going to be different playing city teams,” he said.
Asked about the downside of moving, Morales, who said Kennedy would continue playing some local public schools as “crossovergames,” said, “In my book, it’s all up.”
42 Comments
Like Kobe said,”put on your big boy pants”. Kennedy in for a rough couple years until they catch up.
I presume in football they will start in A-AA which will give them a lot of traveling as Iona and Step are AAA and not going anywhere.
Kennedy is awful in football and far removed from the days of Donny McGrath.
I am interested in seeing the first kennedy road trip to St John the Baptist [ LI] or St Peters [ Staten Island] on a Friday night or week night. How do you say 3 hours ! I am not sure how the travel will work? Iona & Stepinac are 40 minutes away by bus. I cant imagine the schools from Long Island Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island will be looking forward to trip to Kennedy as well.
Basketball they probably fit in the A division at moment, Football in lower part of league, Baseball & Lacrosse they are pretty good & should be in the upper part of league.
nobody will go to jfk to play for al morales…the guy is a joke.
get the old coach back (Kelly) or someone who knows the new CHSAA & rules and can promote the school.this is good move for JFK and the local CHSAA schools.
JFK belomgs in the CHSAA “A” division. No need to go against the big boys of NYC.
Without the right coach they will get destroyed in “AA”.
That huge sucking sound is Kennedy pulling all the talent out of Northern Westchester/Putnam/Dutchess Sect1 area.
Rumor has it that chsaa is defiining leagues by geography next year bc of all of the travel time/expense with all teams.
Westchester chsaa: stepinac iona sacred heart salesian blessed sacrament kennedy
Bronx chsaa: fordham hayes spellman mount st. Rays all hollows scanlan
Staten island chsaa: st peters farrell moore catholic st joes
Manhattan chsaa: lasalle xavier regis
Good luck getting to Long Island/Staten Island and back around rush hour. Unless they are going to take a helicopter they are looking at 2 and 3 hour rides to games.
Its going to hurt their enrollment.
Baseball is the only sport that has a chance to be competitive. Ask Yorktown how they faired when they went and played Chaminade in Lax last year.
If what chsaa observer is true, then this is a great move. Otherwise it won’t work. I personally commute from Rockland to Long Island everyday. Unless you time it right (and that’s still not a guarantee) , you will be sitting in stand still for hours. They will be coming east during rush hour and on a Friday don’t even bother.
Just when you thought you had a chance to win Section 1-A Baseball – with the Kennedy stopper in college – taken from the grasp by being moved up a another notch. Maybe the decision to move to the CHSAA was pushed by the Section 1 Gods.
Its called Kelly Karma. What goes around comes around.
Good Luck – doubt you will need it. Long overdue.
Kennedy was already pulling talent from Northern Westchester – only now its not the worst kept secret in Section 1 sports.
Now Kennedy can go out and recruit legally and play in a league where all the cards are on the table.
The basketball program is not the team in search of change. Bob Fletcher at JFK is known to be the worst recruiter of them all…He is the wizard behind the curtain. Fletcher has been wanting to leave for 4-5 years. Many JFK basketball coaches since Nelligan had been running camps for years for underclassman enticing young 8th graders to play at the catholic school. More recently, Colin Hanahoe was supposed to be coaching for 2 years while a secret parent donor got Al Morales the girls head job for $25000 donation with the stipulation that AD would hold boys job for a term of no more than 4 years until Morales could take that job as well. Thus making Hanahoe a lame duck. The plan backfired when parents revolted on Hanahoe and ousted him after just one year. Then came Frank Kelly, who did a tremendous amount of recruiting making many very upset including the local public school area teams. Although much success, he too was ousted by the AD making good on the promise from 4 years earlier. 35
15 record for Kelly playing anyone and everyone unlike Morales who immediately after getting job needed 6 games and schools that Frank Kelly committed to play home and away for 23 yr. periods such such as Albany Academy, Poughkeepsie and New Rochelle. He told these teams that his schedule was full and instead went looking for Pawling and Dover and Haldane. He wants to play in the B Division in the CHSAA where you would find Blessed Sacrament. Success playing in Double A was never to be had. This as I said in the beginning has always been about baseball. Section 1 baseball coaches know that Fletcher runs illegal Sunday practices in the offseason for his high school team and potential 7th and 8th graders interested in attending the school for his baseball AAU program that he oversees. If you don’t believe me, believe your own eyes by going to Kennedy Catholic between 27pm on Sundays in the winter time inside the brand new gym. Finally, Morales is currently 5291 in his Section 1 career. Does that sound like a successful Section 1 Double A coach? I think Morales is begging his way out of the section. Give credit where it is due.JFK admin I heard Kelly was also ousted by the parents displeasure is this true?
JFK admin sounds like a bunch of bs to me, just sounds like your sour about Kelly being fired. And yes JI that is true
Depends which parents you might be talking about. The parents of the boys that were playing( supported coach) or the parents of those those boys that payed $ to play on the JFK AAU program and then saw very little game time during the season. Or the parents of players who had been In the JFK program for a few years and then were “recruited over” and the new player received a majority of playing time. Some parents believed that the coaches son played way to much based on his skill level. So I guess there was some parental displeasure, but what athletic program does not have parental displeasure? This stuff comes with the territory. The only parents that like you are the parents of kids that play a lot. I am sure the whole alleged recruiting thing(think Brazil) had as much to do with ticking of the Admin of JFK as anything else. Especially when Section 1 kept pounding at their door after listening to complaints fron Section 1 coaches relative to baseball and basketball. So maybe they will leave for the city Catholics. I am sure that Section 1 will take an all or nothing approach to this. Some programs will be helped(Baseball, Hoops), but what about the all the others? Very interesting. Good luck to all the parents trying to figure out what is best for “my kid”. Should I stay local in a pretty good public school(where I already pay lots of school taxes) or have my student-athlete drive 1-3 hours for late night contests with the rediculous idea of better athletic exposure. Most local HS produce plenty of Ivy League candidates and athletes ready for the next level. AAU programs provide that kind of exposure in the off-season. You don’t need a JFK to do that. If your bent is a Catholic education(even though most teachers are no longer clergy) etc then I understand the choice. If it’s athletics, stay local.
If your kid is good enough to play at the next level than Catholic school league is the way to go. Thats a no brainer. Former JFK parent could not be more wrong in that respect. It takes a lot of sacrifice on the parents part both financially and timewise which some parents are not willing to do. The negative comments on Kennedy, Al Morales and Bob Fletcher are all from the sour grapes Kelly smear team.
Ex JFK admin
Is it true all student athletes have to pay
To play a sport ?
Also is it true the former AD Dave Concep is
now a bus driver for JFK ? I can see it
now Bball game in NYC and Morales kicking back
Toll money to former Ad who is now the bus
Driver.
Sold your profession out for 25k
Bad karma
A wise man once told me:
Funny thing about money Bud….......makes you do things you don’t want to do.
Al No Morals…one of the worst Xs and Os coaches ever. Doesnt understand basic offence defence teaching..has his AAU team do push ups when they make a mistake instead of teaching them what they did wrong .. horrible person..in it forthe wrong reasons..CHSAA will eat him up..
I am one of the top AAU coaches in Westchester.
Won the D3 national championship and few local tournaments. Coach Morales has it. The next coach P and will be better than coach cimino.
Give him 2yrs in the CHSAA and this guy will
Win it all. He will some day be coaching in the Big East.
Can we get back to the article please….As far as I know, Section1 does not have an enforcement arm to address recruitment issues. That does not mean they do not know what is going on out there in Section 1. Rather than investigate the breaking of the rules, they simply move the violators up into a higher class to even the playing field. After all we are dealing in a world where a student’s parent can get an address in another town for their child to play there without sitting out a year. Two Kennedy teams that have been moved up to higher classes recently are Basketball and Baseball. My guess is that it has to do with what the Section perceives as valid complaints about recruiting from multiple coaches within the section. Kennedy’s administrations response rather than fix the problems is to consider running away to the CHSAA. Two teams have created this situation but all the teams will probably have to deal with the consequences of their actions. Three hour bus rides, teams not showing up for a game because Kennedy is too far away and their budgets are tight, teams being reclassified as a club since the CHSAA doesn’t have that type of sport, ulcers for coaches since some sports have half the officiating (umpire only for girls softball). When you realize that during last year’s Kennedy graduation, the baseball coach scheduled a club game reducing parking for parents and grandparents on a special day, and they had to find parking on the road, you can only assume who is running the show over there at Kennedy. Why is a school making such a big decision that only benefits two of the more than 15 teams at Kennedy. You can bet it has nothing to do with faith, education or community…..wouldn’t you agree Bud Fox?
IMHO
The AD/Bus driver was responsible for sports
Fund raising 150k per yr to cover the cost
of sports program fees. So renting a field/court
becomes very important for the AD.Graduation takes a back seat .The AD when hiring or dismissing coaches is now listen to players parents who have the perfect coach for the school and $. Example (25k girls bball coach with a promise of coaching boys team)from a dad who wants his little girl to play more and get her ready for D3 college. The AD now only concern is fund raising
Not the kids or coaches .Bring in the Money and I keep my job or you drive the school bus. Catholic Education at work.
Baseball fan
Yes the student athletes must pay to play. Cost per season 300-600 depending on the sport.
Lets be clear Kennedy bashers and Section 1. How do public schools like Mt. Vernon and Peekskill consistantly have great teams? Do you think all their players grew up in the neighborhood? Get real. Parents seek out these programs and find ways to get their kids into these schools. The same with Yorktown lacrosse, Arlington soccer, New Ro football and others. Parents and coaches manipulate the system to get talented kids into these top programs when they don’t live in the school district. Its not that difficult. Happens all the time. Exactly what sports has Kennedy dominated with all their alleged brazen recruiting? How many section titles have they won? If a top athlete applies to Kennedy on his own should he be denied because there will be allegations of recruiting? Should Kennedy get rid of their top coaches because they are attracting athletes who want to play for them? I don’t blame Kennedy for wanting out of Section 1.
PDUFFY
Playing in a new league isn’t the problem,it’s
the leader and the school Board who put this
System in place. What AD in section 1 has to
Charge kids to play(now does playing time matter) and also come up w/150k
To keep your job? Hire AD with admin degree not a retired NYC cop .Let him do his job and keep
the fundraising out of it. You would then have someone representing the school during section
1 mtings who really cares.
Former Jfk ADmin
This happened in girls softball. Mom and Dad put in place aau coach with donation.
Baseball coach and basketbal coach bring in
Business for the AD with Aau team practice
And tournaments on weekends Mar thur Aug
What’s not to like about base/bask coaches .
Great setup for coaching and recruiting.
My kids come home complaining how hard it is to
Get practice time at the lower levels.So I pay tuition,pay to play and the AD rents out facility
So he can keep his job. Time to go back to my
Public sch.
Coach Morales can really coach. The 51-94 record as a head coach are just numbers. He
Helped my daughter Avg 4pts per game playing
32min. She was all league in a very strong B-division. Almost made a D3 college team. Coach Al is goin be a great D1 college coach someday.
The players on the soccer team 3 yrs ago did AD job by checking new coaches sports history and found he had a criminal record. No JV season 25 kids Put on varsity was his solution. What a mess
JFK Parent…I could not agree with you more. We had a similar experience. The practice times were awful, six teams scheduled for one gym and gym was often not available because it was being rented for one men’s rec team or another activity. I wish my kid had stayed in the local public. It would have been a better experience.
The Kennedy sports team when all said and done
Will stay in section one. This is just the leader
of the school flexing his muscle. The priest has a
Hard time dealing with a woman in charge. Section One director Jen Simmons will end up compromising.
True JFK Fan
I don’t think so, JFK has already petitioned the CHSAA. It’s not a bluff.
Sounds like there are some internal issues at Kennedy, unhappy parents or a FUBAR situation.
Either way it is not good for school or enrollment.
Anyone know what tution at Kennedy is?
This is an interesting idea. I know next to nothing about girl’s sports in the CHSAA, so I have no idea how that side of the equation would work.
One of the main questions would be if the CHSAA/CHSFL would want Kennedy to join. Kennedy could add some depth to the baseball and lacrosse leagues, but I’m not so sure basketball and football coaches from the city would be jumping for joy to add a trip to Somers to their schedule.
The travel concerns don’t seem to be as serious as some people are making them out to be. Kennedy would be an A school in basketball and there are plenty of Bronx/Westchester/Manhattan A schools – Salesian, Bl Sacrament, Sacred Heart, Spellman and All Hallows in the Bronx, St Agnes, Xaver and LaSalle in Manhattan. Trips to Brooklyn or Queens or SI would likely be limited in basketball.
Football is probably the worst fit since Kennedy doesn’t have a powerhouse football team and the 4 closest natural rivals are firmly in the AA league – Stepinac, Iona, Fordham and Mount. Kennedy would be in the AA/A league for football with Spellman and Hayes in the Bronx, Xavier in Manhattan, Christ the King in Queens, Bishop Ford in Brooklyn, St Peters on SI and either St Francis Prep in Queens or St John the Baptist, Holy Trinity or Kellenberg on LI (depending on which of the last 4 teams end up in AAA.
Lacrosse seems like a good fit where Kennedy could easily be among the best in the Bronx/Manhattan division along with Iona and Fordham and have several other local teams – Stepinac, Mount, Hayes, St Raymonds, Spellman. The LI portion of the CHSAA lax league has national caliber programs like Chaminade and St Anthonys.
I’ve heard Kennedy’s baseball team is good, so they’d probably jump right into a good CHSAA Bx/Man baseball league with Stepinac, Iona, Fordham, Salesian, Mount, Spellman, St Rays, All Hallows.
JFK parents needs to make sure your kids are
Not driving players to practice off school grounds.
It is the schools responsibility. Last year i found out my daughter was driving half the team to the sports center for practice because the school gym
Was not available many times.I checked with the AD to make sure this was ok and his answer was to speak to the coach.My daughter thought it was ok because her coach works at the sports center. I spoke to a public school Athletic Director to found out if its ok what my daughter was doing and she told me absolutely not. That coach is putting the players and school at risk. Thank God
They moved the coach to the boys side this
Year because I was afraid he was going to take
It out on my daughter for making this an issue.Now it’s become parents problem of the boys team.
Concerned mom a bit random don’t ya think
If section one was smart they would be begging for Kennedy to stay. If this all comes to fruition and Kennedy does indeed move to the catholic school league it will hurt section one sports in the dutchess/westchester/Putnam area more then one can imagine(particularly basketball).If a kid is serious about his sport and wants to go to the next level Kennedy will be the clear choice and I fear , for example the local talent will flock there, making section one take a step backwards from a competitive and talent standpoint.
Concerned Mom
You are very right. Kids driving car loads of kids is a tragedy waiting to happen. Maybe you will save some lives.
TD,begging Kennedy to stay? How many scholarship atheletes have come from JFK in the last 25 years? Mahopac, Carmel, Brewster, John Jay etc have had many more…be serious.
JFK parent, Kennedy was not in the catholic school league in the last 25 years. My point is that now those scholarship players, particularly bball players from other districts will look to head to Kennedy to play in one of the most competitive leagues in the country to enhance their scholarship opportunities, diminishing local districts talent. This is a fact not an opinion .
I don’t see much talk about girls sports. What’s going to happen to lacrosse,field hockey,softball? I don’t think this is a good idea. Lets focus on what’s important. If our kids are doing all this traveling when do they have time for home work. Our kids will be sleeping on there desks ZZZZZZZZ
TD
Kids who can play want to be coached by real
Coaches. The CHSAA has real coaches with
Kids that are looking for a way out. The Westchester player drives up to practice with a
Car two times the amount of the coaches car .
Scholarships come into play also If you can play in the city you don’t pay to play in the Catholics .its called Aau sponsorship. You will be able to steal a kid from north Salem,katonah,Brewster ,Carmel ,Yorktown ,Somers and once in awhile from Peekskill. However those kind of players are 8,9 and 10th man for the Catholics everyone got them down in the city.And most importantly as I
Said coaching. If your record is 51-94 and you have been coaching for 9yrs in northern Westchester with no success what makes you
think you will win in a league that most Bball experts say is in the top 10 leagues in America.
If you are telling me that JFk will get every year
2 players from mt Vernon 1 from Peekskill and 2
From Poughkeepsie, you are on your way. How ever you will still have to fix the coaching problem
Because my friend the better the players the harder it is to coach.
Coaching- I do not know enough about kennedys coach to talk for I do not know him I just know his record previously was not great. You bring up very valid points. The upcoming years will certainly define him as a coach