Copiague football coach Ken Rittenhouse out after 16 seasons

Ken Rittenhouse planned on coaching Copiague’s varsity football team this coming season. But that won’t be happening.

He was told earlier this year that he was out as coach after 16 seasons. Phil Fortuno is moving up from his role as JV coach to replace him.

“I’m moving to Florida and I wanted to do one more year of coaching (at Copiague),” Rittenhouse said. “They told me that they want to go in a different direction. They wouldn’t give me anything more. They’re not really telling me any more information than that.”

The Eagles had snapped their Long Island-record 42-game losing skid last season, closing with two straight wins to finish at 2-6. Rittenhouse said he was called into a meeting with athletic director William Bennett in January and found out that his annual coaching contract wouldn’t be renewed.

“But then I actually scheduled a meeting with the superintendent (Dr. Kathleen Bannon) after the meeting I had with the AD because what he told me was it wasn’t his decision; it was coming from above him,” Rittenhouse said. “I thought the meeting (with Bannon) went well.

“But then there was no correspondence . . . So I called the AD back I want to say a good six to eight weeks after that. He said that they didn’t change their decision. But I did all the offseason stuff. I was doing all the meetings and doing everything right, still putting kids in contact with the college coaches.”

Copiague’s response to Newsday regarding the change came from district spokeswoman Jessica Novins: “The district does not comment on matters of personnel.”

Rittenhouse, who had been coaching in the program for almost 25 years, still plans to teach math at Copiague for this school year. His roots there stem back a long way. He attended Copiague and was the Eagles’ starting quarterback as a senior before graduating in 1995.

“I played on the last playoff team at Copiague in the 1994 season,” he said.

The program had been especially struggling in recent years as evidenced by that long skid. Rittenhouse pointed to the pandemic.

“Listen, for me, it’s not about the wins and losses,” he said. “If you look at us before the pandemic, we were losing, but we were very competitive. If you look at what happened when the pandemic hit, we almost folded. We had no numbers. We were playing against Smithtown East. We played them in a dogfight every year. First game after the pandemic, we lose to them (66)-0.

“We were one of the only schools in the fall after the pandemic (that) our high school was remote. So there was no walking around recruiting kids, talking to kids . . . So it took us a while to build it back up, and that’s when we were getting drubbed and (it was) during this losing streak.”

The 48-year-old Bay Shore resident feels the program is in a good place heading into the 2025 season.

The Eagles will enter with a winning streak for Fortuno after beating Centereach, 20-19, in overtime for their first victory since the 2018 season and then defeating Deer Park, 47-19.

“I know things are on the upswing in the program,” Rittenhouse said. “We’ve got a lot of things in line. I’m not saying all of it is my credit.

“Our middle school situation is great. We’ve got a great middle school head coach (Bill Sullivan). He’s got kids coming out. He’s got them excited. The coach that’s taking over for me was the JV head. He’s a great guy. I think he’ll give it his best.”