New Rochelle Schools Reassign Head Football Coach Before Playoff

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A press conference Thursday with New Rochelle Schools Superintendent Laura Feijoo left district parents and supporters of head football coach Lou DiRienzo with no answers or resolution. Feijoo emailed the district Wednesday evening to say that DiRienzo had been reassigned from teaching and coaching responsibilities "for the time being."

During the head coach's reassignment, the Huguenots football team will be led by the assistant coaches, Feijoo said.

During the press conference, the superintendent said she couldn't discuss the circumstances and wanted to let the community know the district had the children's best interests at heart, the Journal News reported.

Feijoo said the investigation is ongoing and did not know whether it would be completed by Saturday's playoff game.

A tweet by the New Rochelle Football Parents Association @NewRoFPA said that DiRienzo "helped a student in distress to leave school with her parent" and that "Feijoo chose to defame our coach and suspend him from teaching and coaching — and announce that fact to the world as though he was a criminal."