Tom Noto's successful four-year run as Belvidere's wrestling coach appears to be over.
Superintendent Dirk Swaneveld on Friday confirmed that Dan McIntyre will be recommended for hire at the next Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, June 15.
"The board wants to move in different direction and it will be an administrative and personnel recommendation to hire Dan McIntyre on Wednesday night," Swaneveld said.
Swaneveld said that Noto is scheduled to interview for the position at 9 a.m on Monday.
Noto, by all accounts, has been nothing but a model coach and employee at the Warren County school. According to Swaneveld, Noto is "A gentleman and a great guy."
So, why is Noto, who brought the school's dying program back to respectability, caught under the political wheel?
"(Athletic director) Jason Klebez and I feel bad about the situation," Swaneveld said. "There are a number of board members that want a change. The board told us to go out and get somebody, but they didn't realize we had someone in-house who is the best qualified candidate."
McIntyre last coached at Pleasant Valley High School in Pennsylvania. He is a former star wrestler at Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pa., and is a highly regarded coach. McIntyre is a social studies teacher at Belvidere.
"His resume is outstanding," Swaneveld said. "And he is one of, if not the best teachers we have. Tommy did a great job with our gifted westlers. Maybe Dan can take them to an even higher level."
Klebez, a former baseball coach at Jefferson Township High School, also had high praise for Noto. Klebez took over as the school's AD in February.
"Tommy's been very positive," said Klebez, who guided Jefferson's baseball team to the North 1, Group 2 sectional final in 2009. "I've only known him for a few months. He's a dedicated individual and works well with our athletes. He's a good guy and we never had any issues."
And that is precisely why that evil TENURE is necessary for the teachers. All it takes is one BOE member with a hard-on for an employee and they are GONE.
ReplyDeleteBelvidere's loss will be someone else's gain.. I am not a fan of tenure Denny but you are right some good people get screwed. Good luck Tom.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. It doesn't say in the article but I assume the new coach was a teacher there 5 years ago when Noto took over? He had this great resume then too right? But of course they only had one win so why waste his time. Now that the hard work of Noto and the wrestlers has brought the program back to being relevant, it is time for a change? Once again, the people who make the calls don't have any perspective....out of touch as usual...Noto will catch on somewhere and continue to help young men excel on the mat. Won't be long before the Belvidere program is on life support again....
ReplyDeleteI believe that Mr. Noto was a teacher's aide, not a certified teacher.
ReplyDeleteThere it is: The Super says, "Tommy did a great job with the gifted wrestlers". I sense some animosity possibly on the part of a jaded parent whose son may not have had such individual "hands-on" attention. But I'm sure ALL the grapplers benefited from Noto's instruction. Did any of the BOE have the gonads to state publicly WHY they wanted the change? Something "sparked" this CHANGING-OF-THE-GUARD..! Toooo bad.
ReplyDeleteYou folks at Belvidere are a strange group! I remember back in the 90s, you guys had a "short run." You were a top 10 ranked team, won a few sectional titles, and even made the group finals and almost beat Paulsboro.
ReplyDeleteBut that happened for about 2 or 3 years, that's all!! A lot of you fans thought that you were ready to topple Paulsboro. You made the state final against them ONE TIME!! What makes you think your program is on par with them, or like Pburg. (which is really the program you folks want to be like!) I remember Kurt Weaver boasting that Belvidere was going to beat Paulsboro the next year....their time was up was what he said. How arrogant!! You guys ended up losing to Roselle Park the next 2 or 3 years!! Belvidere was an upstart and totally underestimated Roselle Park. Weaver eventually moved on.
Listen, you folks at Belvidere are A SOLID, Group I program, but you cannot hang with the likes of a Pburg, Paulsboro, Kittatinny, etc. I do NOT know why Tom Noto was let go; it may have been politics or his own fault. The fact is that the program turned around, (that's great) but the Seaters will NOT be going to a Group I final, or even a Sectional final, any year soon. I don't care who the coach is.