- Barnegat High School
- Staff Bios
Varsity Head Coaches
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Baseball - Dan McCoy
Coach McCoy is entering his 7th season as our Varsity Baseball Coach after serving 4 years as a Varsity Assistant. Under his tutelage the program has risen to state prominence. Compiling a 69-57 record during his tenure; Coach McCoy was named B-South Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2014 and Ocean County Coach of the Year in 2014.
Coach McCoy had a stellar high school baseball career as a pitcher at St. John Vianney HS in Holmdel. He took that success to Rutgers University where he became a New Jersey College Baseball All-Star in 1994.
Coach McCoy is an active member of the Barnegat community. His three children have been/are participants in Barnegat Athletics. Coach has also served as an Assistant Football Coach during his tenure with the Bengals. -
Basketball (Boys) - Mike Puorro
Coach Puorro is entering his 13th year of coaching high school basketball and will be entering his 3rd season as the Head Basketball Coach at Barnegat High School. Prior to his arrival at Barnegat, Coach Puorro spent two seasons as the Assistant Varsity Coach at Point Pleasant Borough, two seasons as the Freshman Basketball Coach at Barnegat High School and six seasons as the Head Basketball Coach at Wall Township HS.
Coach Puorro possesses a great deal of knowledge regarding what it takes to be successful in the game of basketball as he was the Boy's All-Time Leading Scorer at Point Pleasant Borough High School from 2002-2012 (Currently is second). In his first season as the Head Basketball Coach at Barnegat High School, Coach Puorro was voted 2014-2015 Division Coach of the Year by his peers. Coach Puorro was also voted 2012-2013 Monmouth County Coach of the Year by the Star Ledger Newspaper.
In addition to his coaching duties, Coach Puorro is the President of the Shore Conference Basketball Coaches Association, a Health & Physical Education teacher & Head Girls Golf Coach at Wall Township High School. -
Basketball (Girls) - Tammy Nicolini
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Bowling (Boys) - Michael L. Palmieri
mpalmieri@barnegatschools.com
Coach Palmieri has been a part of Barnegat Township School District Athletics since the 2003-2004 school year. After coaching softball for one season at the Russell O. Brackman Middle School, Palmieri spent the next five seasons as the junior varsity coach at Barnegat High School. During the 2010 season he moved to the varsity level where he served as an assistant and interim head coach. Coach took over the program in 2015 and enters the 2017 season with two years under his belt.
After spending two years coaching soccer at the middle school, Palmieri has spend the last 11 seasons with the Bengals soccer program. During his tenure with BHS soccer he has served as both the varsity assistant and the JV coach.
Coach has also served as the head boys' bowling coach since the program's inception during the 2004-2005 school year. -
Bowling (Girls) - Jon Gordon
Coach Gordon is going into his 16 th year as the head coach of the Lady Bengals Girls’
Bowling Team. Coach has been involved with bowling since he was four-years-old. He
worked at a bowling alley growing up and bowled in high school and college
Besides coaching bowling, he has been the Russell O. Brackman Middle School Boys’
Soccer Coach since 2005. Coach Gordon also is the announcer for the BHS football and
basketball games.
When Coach Gordon is not coaching or announcing, he is a SUA and USA softball
official. He is known as the loudest umpire in the Shore Conference.
Below is a picture of the members of the Girls’ Bowling Team that won the 2021-2022
South Jersey Group 2 Sectional Title (missing from the picture is Grace Watts). -
Challenger League - Kevin Peters
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Cheerleading - Jessica McDermott
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Color Guard (Outdoor) - Myles Ragusa
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Colorguard (Indoor) - Myles Ragusa
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Cross Country (Boys) - James Rivers
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Cross Country (Girls) - Bob Klaslo
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Dance - Diana Stanton
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Field Hockey - Jaime DiStefano
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Football - Paul Covine
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Golf (Boys) - Rick Blasi
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Golf (Girls) - Jennifer Breyta
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Lacrosse (Boys)
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Lacrosse (Girls) - Lyndsey Torre
ltorre@barnegatschools.com
Coach Torre is set to start her 1st season as our Girls Varsity Lacrosse Coach. She comes to us after spending the last two years as an Assistant Coach at Stockton University. Coach as also served as an Assistant at Georgian Court and a Head Coach at Ultimate Club Lacrosse.
As a player at Kean University Coach Torre had an outstanding career. She was a team captain during the 2012 and 2013 seasons and was team MVP during all four seasons (2010-2013). She was selected 1st Team All-Sklyine Conference four times (2010-2013); She was selected 1st Team All NJAC two times (2012 & 2013). She holds Kean University career records for goals, assists, points, groundballs, and draw controls. She also holds single season records for goals, assists, and points.
Coach Torre is a Physical Education & Health Teacher at the High School and is also our Freshman Girls Basketball Coach in the Winter. -
Marching Band - Daniel McGrath
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Soccer (Boys) - Kevin Peters
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Soccer (Girls) - Rick Blasi
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Softball - Michael L. Palmieri
mpalmieri@barnegatschools.com
Coach Palmieri has been a part of Barnegat Township School District Athletics since the 2003-2004 school year. After coaching softball for one season at the Russell O. Brackman Middle School, Palmieri spent the next five seasons as the junior varsity coach at Barnegat High School. During the 2010 season he moved to the varsity level where he served as an assistant and interim head coach. Coach took over the program in 2015 and enters the 2017 season with two years under his belt.
After spending two years coaching soccer at the middle school, Palmieri has spend the last 11 seasons with the Bengals soccer program. During his tenure with BHS soccer he has served as both the varsity assistant and the JV coach.
Coach has also served as the head boys' bowling coach since the program's inception during the 2004-2005 school year. -
Swimming (Boys) - Emily Cherry
Coach Cherry is currently in her 23rd year as a swim coach, with 18 years at Barnegat. Prior to coming to Barnegat she served as the Head Boys and Girls Swim Coach at Somerville HS for 3 years and Moanalua HS, Hawaii for 2 years. She was named Oahu Interscholastic Association (OIA) Coach of the week in March 2004. She earned her 100th career win in the 2017-2018 season, and she was named Press of Atlantic City's Boys swimming Co-Coach of the year (with Coach Kane) in 2018. She was also an assistant swim coach for club and summer teams for 6 years.The boys team has so much to be proud of. We had our first Meet of Champions qualifier in 2016 - Parker Teliszewski was seeded 34th in 50 Freestyle and placed 7th overall in the State. The boys team has qualified for the NJSIAA Team States championships every season since 2014, with a top 3 seed since 2016. The boys were the NJSIAA Group C South Champions in 2019.Coach Cherry has been involved in swimming since the age of 11. She was a 4 year varsity swimmer and 2 year captain at Hillsborough High School and 4 year varsity swimmer and senior captain at Washington College. She began coaching a summer team her senior year of high school and was an Assistant Coach on a local club team throughout college. Coach Cherry has also been the Head Coach for the St Francis Sharks Summer Swim Team on LBI for the past 11 summers.
Coach Cherry has also been our Varsity Girls Cross Country Coach (2013) and was an Assistant Girls Volleyball Coach from 2005-2009. -
Swimming (Girls) - Taylor Teliszewski
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Tennis (Boys) - Mike McCullion
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Tennis (Girls) - Sue Rogers
srogers@barnegatschools.com
Coach Rogers has been coaching in the Shore Conference for the past 34 years. She joined the Bengals when the school opened and has been a mainstay within our Tennis Program.
Coach Rogers has been at the helm of our Girls Tennis program for the past 19 years. During her tenure our Lady Bengals have won B South titles on separate occasions (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019). Her Tennis accomplishments include receiving the Tennis Coach of the Year Award from the NJSIAA in 2015 and induction into the New Jersey Coaches Hall of Fame class of 2020.Coach Rogers has been head Tennis Coach for Special Olympics Team New Jersey during the national games in 2018 and 2022. She is heading to Berlin, Germany in June 2023 to coach team USA at the Special Olympics World Games. She has also developed our Challenger League Tennis program and has been actively involved with the Special Olympics and the United States Tennis Association.
Coach has also successfully guided of Girls Tennis program since its inception. She was an integral part in establishing our Challenger Tennis program, our summer tennis camps, and is a Special Olympics Golf instructor/coach.
Coach Rogers has helped build the foundation of Barnegat Athletics. She works in the HS as part of our Child Study Team and impacts the lives of our students in a plethora of ways daily. -
Track & Field (Boys) - James Rivers
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Track & Field (Girls) - Rebecca Kane
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Track (Winter) - James Rivers
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Volleyball (Boys) - Derek Rizzo
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Volleyball (Girls) - Thomas Lang
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Wrestling - Brendan McCarthy