Riverhead hires Doroski to coach varsity softball
Former McGann-Mercy football coach Jeff Doroski has been hired to coach Riverhead’s varsity softball team. He was formally approved by the Board of Education at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Doroski replaces Bob Fox, a longtime coach who decided to retire at the end of last season to spend more time with his grandchildren. Softball practices begin Monday.
Riverhead had yet to fill the position when word began to spread last month that Mercy opted to not bring back Doroski as the head coach of the football team. Amid the controversy that followed, baseball coach Ed Meier resigned for “personal reasons” and Doroski, the junior varsity baseball coach, decided to follow.
At Riverhead Doroski will take over a team that advanced into the quarterfinals of the playoffs a year ago before falling to Bay Shore. While the Blue Waves lost their top pitcher to graduation, they do return a strong core that should have the team back in contention again this season for the playoffs.
Doroski, a physical education teacher at Mercy, previously worked at Riverhead for five years. He had been a tenured teacher but was excessed during budget cuts, leading him back to Mercy, where he is an alumnus. Doroski had a chance to return to Riverhead last year after another teacher retired, but he turned it down to stay at Mercy, he said.
