I've been following, with some interest, the unceremoniously "retirement" of Joe Cuozzo, who, as Head Coach at Ward Melville (Section 11) has Coached more high school lacrosse wins than any coach in the country. After 37 years of coaching he is just 8 wins short of being the first coach ever to win 700 career games as a head coach.

It looks however, at this point, as those Coach Cuozzo won't make it, not because, at 67 he is too old, but because of a kind of bureaucracy that gives bureaucracy a bad name.

Here's the story. Coach Cuozzo retired from his teaching position at the end of the last school year. He was the Department Chair for the Physical Education Department. He expected, like many other coaches, to continue coaching for a few years. It did not take long, however, to see that plan dashed, as Mike Hoppey, who played fro Coach Couzzo and coached with him for more than 20 years applied for the Head Coaching job.

At Ward Melville, policy dictated that preference is given to active teachers, and so Athletic Director Don Webster gave him the job and offered Joe Cuozzo an assistant position.

Some people have noted that Ward Melville, who have won 7 NYS championships haven't won one since 2000, and that winning is expected at WM. Things change, everyone knew that the time would come and that the coach would be replaced and I guess it doesn't matter what the "real" reason for the decision was.

It just doesn't seem that this is the way to treat a person with such incredible history. It would seem the Coach Couzzo has paid more than his fair share of dues and that the proper disposition would have been to let the man "retire" with the respect and appreciation to which he is clearly due.