A former Tonawanda assistant football coach is back and at the helm of the Warriors.
The Tonawanda City School District Board of Education appointed Henry Fumerelle as the new head varsity coach of the Tonawanda Warriors football team. The BOE voted unanimously to appoint Fumerelle to the position at its meeting Tuesday night.
TCSD Director of Athletics Renee Smith said at the meeting she was proud to introduce the new head football coach of the Warriors. Fumerelle is a veteran high school football coach and is familiar with the T-NT rivalry from both sides: in addition to serving as an assistant with the Warriors, he also served as head varsity football coach at North Tonawanda for three years.
"Coach Fumerelle comes with many years of football coaching experience and has had success with building programs," Smith said. "Most importantly, he believes in the development of the whole athlete, not only on the playing field but off. He is a coach who will lead by example and will be a role model for our young men and women. He believes in the success of our student-athletes, our program, our school, district, and community. And I believe in him."
Fumerelle played college football at the University of Buffalo and joined the Sweet Home staff during the first year coach John Faller took over with the Panthers. From there he went to Williamsville East and eventually became the head football and wrestling coach. He was also at St. Mary's, and, after stops at Tonawanda and North Tonawanda, he was an assistant coach at McKinley High School.
Fumerelle said he wants to return the tradition of Warriors football that he remembers.
“I think it's a storied program. It's got a lot of history and a really deep, rich tradition, and I want to bring that back,” he said. “We're going to be well prepared, disciplined, we’ll try to get the numbers up, and try to build this program from top to bottom.”
To that end, the work for the 2022 season has already begun.
“I have a little saying, that the will to win is useless without the will to prepare to win. So you have to be prepared, and you have to be able to put the work in to have a good season,” Fumerelle said.
Long after the school board meeting had ended, Fumerelle was talking with Tonawanda boosters who attended to see his appointment. He had already connected with them on social media, and he said they comprise part of the team he had researched upon taking the job.
“We've got to work together as a team. It's a team effort. It’s not one guy,” he said. “I have a great bunch of coaches that will be coming with me that have been with me for years, and then there are some of the old coaches that we're going to talk to, and so I think it will have a really good mix of experience.”
“I'm really excited about going to work and the opportunity.”
Henry Fumerelle is applauded after his appointment as Tonawanda head varsity football coach during the Feb. 8 meeting of the Tonawanda City School District Board of Education. (Photo by Larry Austin/Community Relations Coordinator)