Meet Our Coaches
Get to know our coaches! In addition to the short biographies listed here, a full list of coaches is available by clicking the link below.
Coach List (alpha. by sport)
Archery:
Tom Day, tday@choate.edu
Baseball:
Tom Yankus, tyankus@choate.edu
Basketball:
Boys —
Adam Finkelstein, afinkelstein@choate.edu
Girls — Jim Davidson, jdavidson@choate.edu
Crew:
Boys and Girls
Tom White, twhite@choate.edu and
Joe Scanio, jscanio@choate.edu
Cross Country
Boys — Ned Gallagher, ngallagher@choate.edu
Girls — Jim Davidson, jdavidson@choate.edu
Diving: Co-ed,
Ben Small, bsmall@choate.edu
Field Hockey: Fran O’Donoghue, fodonoghue@choate.edu
Football:
Tony Martone, tmartone@choate.edu
Golf:
Bob DeMarco, rdemarco@choate.edu
Ice Hockey:
Boys — Pat Dennehy, pdennehy@choate.edu
Girls — Courtney Riepenhoff, criepenhoff@choate.edu
Lacrosse:
Boys — Michael King, mking@choate.edu
Girls — Amanda Belichick, abelichick@choate.edu
Softball:
Jim Irzyk, jirzyk@choate.edu
Soccer:
Boys — John Ford, jford@choate.edu
Girls —
Anne Armour, aarmour@choate.edu and Mark Tisdale, mtisdale@choate.edu
Squash:
Boys —
Will Morris, wmorris@choate.edu
Girls —
Tom Foster, tfoster@choate.edu
Swimming: Boys and Girls
Sara Massa, smassa@choate.edu and Todd Currie, tcurrie@choate.edu
Tennis:
Boys —
Ned Gallagher, ngallagher@choate.edu
Girls —
Andrew Murgio, amurgio@choate.edu
Track and Field: Boys and Girls
Jorge Olmo, jolmo@choate.edu and Jim Davidson, jdavidson@choate.edu
Volleyball:
Boys —
TBA
Girls —
Gary Dormandy, gdormandy@choate.edu
Water Polo:
Boys —
Todd Currie, tcurrie@choate.edu
Girls —
Bill Berghoff, wberghoff@choate.edu
Wrestling:
Chris Milmoe, cmilmoe@choate.edu
Ned Gallagher
Director of Athletics
Boys Varsity Tennis Coach
Boys Varsity Cross Country Head Coach
Ned Gallagher joined the Choate Rosemary Hall faculty in 1987 and was appointed the school's ninth Director of Athletics in June of 1996. Also a member History, Philosophy, Religion and Social Sciences Department, Gallagher oversees an athletic program that includes over 80 interscholastic teams every year in addition to an extensive range of intramural and instructional offerings.
A former president of both the Western New England Athletic Association and the New England Preparatory Athletic Council, he is an active member of NEPSAC’s Executive Board. Gallagher has been a career three-season coach, as well, working with cross country, squash, and tennis teams. The squads and individual student-athletes he has coached have won dozens of championships over the years; in fact, he has the rare distinction of having coached New England prep school champions in three different sports. A native of Bayport, New York, and a graduate of Williams College, Gallagher lives with third and fifth form boys in Memorial House.
Gary Dormandy
Assistant Director of Athletics
Girls Varsity Volleyball Head Coach
Boys JV Volleyball
Gary Dormandy was hired at Choate in 1977 as the school’s first certified athletic trainer. Growing up in Troy, New York he attended Tamarac High School where he played football, basketball, and baseball. He then attended Springfield College where he earned a master’s degree in Adapted Physical Education.
As the Assistant Director of Athletics, Dormandy is in charge of the Choate athletic facilities which include the Worthington Johnson Athletic Center, Macguire Gym, Larry Hart Pool, and all athletic fields. He also oversees all intramural sports and coaches.
In addition, Dormandy has coached the girls varsity volleyball program for more than 23 seasons and assisted with the winter intramural volleyball program. He is also coaching the boys JV volleyball team.
A true volleyball program
"Although there are some players who come to the school with some previous playing experience, most of them develop within our program."
Dormandy says, “Choate volleyball has progressed into a true program where the thirds and JV volleyball teams are critical to the success of the varsity team. Players can move up from level to level and have an impact on the success of the varsity program. Although there are some players who come to the school with some previous playing experience, most of them develop within our program.”
Dormandy cites as a prime example Choate’s winning 2004 varsity girls volleyball team. He adds, “Two of our key players were hockey players, one was a basketball player, and another was primarily a sprinter on the track team — none with much volleyball playing experience before coming to Choate. We ended up beating an undefeated school in the finals to take home the New England Championship.”
Chris Milmoe
Sports Information Director
Wrestling Head Coach
JV Football Assistant Coach
Chris Milmoe has been the Varsity Wrestling Head Coach at Choate for the past three years. Prior to that his experience includes wrestling at Lawrence Academy. Milmoe has purposefully created the team around youth, he says, “so the wrestlers will spend the maximum amount of time in the program.”
His proudest moment was in 2005 watching Junior Captain Greg Sturges pin the number one seeded wrestler in the New England Tournament.
Jim Davidson
Girls Varsity Cross Country
Girls Varsity Basketball Head Coach
Jim Davidson, a member of the History, Philosophy, Religion and Social Sciences Department has coached girls basketball for over 32 years and has worked with teams of all levels at Choate. He has been working with the girl’s varsity basketball program since 1983 and the girls cross country team since 1976.
Reflecting on his years of coaching basketball, Davidson says, “I enjoy helping kids improve their skills, fitness, teamwork, and thinking about the game of basketball.”
On coaching girls cross country, Davidson adds, “I have always enjoyed seeing the runners grow and improve in their time on the team. I have always found this to be the ‘purist’ sport and see it as a sport that anyone can be trained to do well and enjoy.”
Todd Currie
Boys Varsity Water Polo Head Coach
Boys and Girls Varsity Swimming Co-Head Coach
Todd Currie arrived at Choate in the fall of 1991 as the Head Coach of Boys Water Polo. Since then, aside from a two-year break, he has led the program to consistently strong seasons and four appearances in the New England Championship game.
Players of all experience levels, from those new to the game to players with substantial experience, have come to the Larry Hart Pool to develop as players and as a team. Growth for all players is a foundation of the program and it has led many to go on to careers in collegiate water polo.
Currie joined the swimming coaching staff in the winter of 1991 as an assistant to Choate's founding coach, Bob Burns. With Coach Burns' departure, Coach Currie joined Sara Massa as co-head coach of boys and girls swimming.
It is a source of pride for the program that each athlete improves, whether they join the program as a novice swimmer or one who competes at the national level.
Currie teaches science and lives in a dorm with his wife, mathematics teacher Lisa, and their two children.
Will Morris
Boys Varsity Squash Head Coach
Girls JV Soccer Coach
Will Morris joined Choate’s Science department in 2001. A graduate of UNC, Will learned to play squash in prep school, and says that some of his fondest memories of boarding school were made on the squash court.
He adds, “I hope the players on my team develop the same affection for the game. My greatest satisfaction as a coach is hearing from players who have continued to play the game after they have graduated, whether on their college team or by starting a new collegiate club team.”
Tom Yankus
Varsity Baseball Head Coach
Thirds Girls Volleyball
Legendary coach Tom Yankus has been coaching baseball at Choate for 50 years. In spite of the myth of burn-out after a few decades of coaching, Yankus says, “I still look forward to each season as though it were a newly minted coin. Perhaps the game itself is so precious that I cannot imagine being away from it.”
Among his most memorable experiences is the 1999 win over Riverdale Baptist School (Maryland) during a tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y. He recalls, “We entered the game with a 9-0 record; they had a glossy 24-2 record and the satisfaction of being ranked #1 in the East and #8 nationally. We went into the last inning on the short end of an 8-4 score. After two outs and no one on base, five straight batters turned 0-2 counts into either hits or bases on balls, and when our #8 hitter doubled home two runs, we had pulled off the upset, 10-8. I never before or since jumped as high off the ground as I did that afternoon. That season we were 20-1.”
In the fall he assists his wife, Julie Oxborough-Yankus, with coaching thirds girls volleyball, and in the winter they share the duties of timing boys and girls varsity and JV basketball games.
Tom White
Boys Varsity Crew Head Coach
Tom White joined the faculty in 1998 as a teacher in the History, Philosophy, Religion, and Social Sciences Department and Boys Varsity Crew Head Coach. White’s team has captured two Founders League titles, several New England’s Championship medals, his oarsmen have gone on to rowing schools such as Brown, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard, Hobart, MIT, Stanford, UPenn, Yale, and other great schools, and the team has won many other races both in the United States and England.
Greatest satisfaction
“The conversations to and from the boathouse, on road trips, and around campus with the boys are what I find most enjoyable."
Yet White notes that his greatest satisfaction from coaching comes from the relationships that are built while pursuing excellence. “The conversations to and from the boathouse, on road trips, and around campus with the boys are what I find most enjoyable. As the boys learn more about the sport (the majority having never rowed before coming to Choate) they learn more about themselves and in the end these are often conversations that continue long after they leave Choate.”
White is a house adviser in Homestead, a girls dorm, where he lives with his wife Kathy, Dean of Faculty Assistant, and their three children Holden, Ellen, and Landon.
Michael King
Boys Varsity Lacrosse Head Coach
Michael King has been coaching high school lacrosse for 11 years. During Coach King’s tenure the Wild Boars have produced six High School All-American lacrosse players as well as three Academic All-Americans.
In 2005 a former Wild Boar starred in the Division 1 NCAA Lacrosse Championship Finals and was named a First Team All America. In 2006 the Wild Boars were an honorable mention in the STX/Inside Lacrosse National Top 25 Poll.
King grew up in New Jersey and attended the Lawrenceville School. He then attended Colby College in Maine and played ice hockey and lacrosse. In his senior season at Colby in 1994 he captained the White Mules in lacrosse and was named to the East – West All Star game.
After college King taught at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, teaching mathematics as well as coaching ice hockey and lacrosse, before joining the Choate faculty in 1998. He is a house adviser in Clinton Knight, a boys dorm, where he resides with his wife and young son.
Amanda Belichick
Girls Varsity Lacrosse Head Coach
Girls JV Ice Hockey Coach
Girls Varsity Soccer Assistant
Amanda started working at Choate Rosemary Hall in 2007 after graduating from Wesleyan University where she was a member of the varsity lacrosse team. Before Wesleyan she attended Phillips Academy Andover and was a member of the girls’ varsity soccer, ice hockey, and lacrosse teams.
Now at Choate she spends her time teaching health and wellness to the sophomore class, interviewing in the Admissions Department, and assisting in the Sports Information and Athletics. She is also an adviser in Hill House dormitory.
Anne Armour
Girls Varsity Soccer Co-Head Coach
In 1996, after 11 years as the Varsity assistant, Anne Armour took over as head of the Varsity team and the girls’ soccer program. Her teams have gone undefeated in the regular season twice (98 and 03), years in which they also were champions of the WWNEPSSA and the Founders League.
In 1998 the girls’ Varsity won the New England championships. Since 1993 the Choate girls’ Varsity has gone to the New England tournament every year as one of the top 4 teams in Western New England. Anne Armour teaches French at Choate and is a mother of three. Her oldest child, Toby, has recently begun attending Choate.
Jim Irzyk
Varsity Softball Head Coach
Jim Irzyk has been Head Coach of the Varsity Softball for more than 14 years. Says Coach Irzyk, “We have qualified for the Western New England Class A Softball Playoffs four of the past six seasons, winning the championship two of those years.
Last season, third former Josephine Pucci ’09 hit .500 for the season, one of three girls to hit .500 or higher since 1999.”
Players often continue their softball careers at both Division I and III colleges and many former players have also pursued college careers in hockey, soccer and field hockey. Choate’s softball field was completely renovated last fall with new drainage, clay and fencing, making the field the premier field in the league.
Irzyk has been a member of the Choate’s Mathematics Department for over 19 years and is the Director of Choate's Summer Programs.
Kevin Rogers
Girls Varsity Tennis Head Coach
Boys JV Soccer
Coach
A member of Choate’s Science Department, Kevin Rogers has coached the Girls Varsity Tennis Team for the past seven years. In addition to coaching tennis in the spring, he coaches the JV Boys Soccer team in the fall.
On coaching tennis, Rogers says, “Tennis has always been a passion of mine, and I have been pleased to lead a program that continues to be among the most competitive in New England."
One Rogers proudest moments in the past several years, was watching one of our alumnae compete in the NCAA tournament as part of a doubles tandem.
Rogers is a house adviser in Atwater, a girls dorm, where he resides with his wife and their three children.
Courtney Riepenhoff
Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Head Coach
Girls Junior Varsity Softball Coach
Courtney Riepenhoff ’01 has been the head coach of the Choate Varsity Girls’ Hockey team since 2005. She started playing hockey on a boys’ team when she was about six years old in New Jersey. She went on to play at Choate for high school and played Division I college hockey at Union College.
Greatest satisfaction
“My greatest satisfaction/ accomplishment as a coach was winning ice hockey's 2007 New England Championship."
She joined the history, philosophy, religion and social sciences department in 2005. ‘My greatest satisfaction/ accomplishment as a coach was winning the New England title in 2007. We haven’t won New Englands since 1999, and winning in such a great league is a huge accomplishment. We were ranked 4th going into post-season play, and beat Westminster 5-2 in the quarterfinals, Hotchkiss 3-0 in the Semi-finals and Nobles 5-2 in the finals.” Riepenhoff also coaches junior varsity softball in the spring.