Home Forums Long Island & Eastern New York Soccer Message Boards BOTN Main Message Board Doug Gannon | Half Hollows West Boys Soccer coach scamming parents?

BOTN received in the mail today the letter attached below alleging the fleecing of money by the boys soccer coach at Half Hollows West High School and owner of a soccer company, Be Positive Soccer.

BOTN did call the coach/teacher, Mr. Gannon to try and get his side of the story, however, Mr. Gannon did not want to speak, was arrogant, and very defensive.

Under separate cover, I will send this letter to all administrators within the Half Hollows School District, and I'm publishing it here for your perusal and protection as a safety measure and as a precaution. When children are concerned if I see something, I say something.

Not surprised!

Didn't he curse out a kid this year and got in trouble for it?

I did call Mr. Gannon, I did speak with him briefly, and I did receive a few emails from him. Mr. Gannon has denied any wrongdoing. For the sake of transparency, I am posing the email exchange below, as Mr. Gannon deserves to have his side made public. The email exchange started after the very brief initial phone call...

Continuing our phone conversation
To: Douglas Gannon <gannon22@gmail.com>
The letter I received is being posted and the school district administration will also be sent the letter and they will have it when school opens after the break. If I call to discuss and you dont want to discuss that is your right as it is my right to disseminate the information sent to me
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Re: Continuing our phone conversation
To: Larry Miller <larry@backofthenet.com>
Larry
While I appreciate the info, I am not sure what you wanted me to say to that information. Obviously I’m not happy by it as it is a parent that isn’t happy.

I have been teaching and coaching for 21 years. I will speak with my administration about this anyway.
___________________

Re: Continuing our phone conversation
To: Larry Miller <larry@backofthenet.com>
Larry,
My only comment is this is just so untrue. And I’ll be bringing it to admin as well.
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Re: Continuing our phone conversation
To: Douglas Gannon <gannon22@gmail.com>
Thank you for your reply, however, when it comes to children under the age of 18, and I get a complaint, I act.

To put a letter in the mail to my home tells me this parent is pissed, and if my memory serves me well, this is not the first time he/she has reached out to me about this issue.

I understand how tenured teachers can view complaints as they/you are very protected, and quite candidly, I will say afraid of pissing off a teacher as they can take it out on their kid.

I did the gentlemanly thing by calling you and looking to discuss, but you got defensive and dismissive. Let me be very clear, I dont get dismissed. Your inability to have a conversation with me, and your knee-jerk reaction when I said I would post and contact the school was met by a verbal challenge on your part…well, the horses are out of the barn.

At some point you will receive an email from your HHW SD email account. When you get it you should know so did others.

I do not know you, your business, or have had any interactions with you that I can recall, so from my side this isn’t personal…this is, “if you see something, say something”, and I did.

Well done Larry! I love it!

Typical 2023 "Karen"

I had 3 kids play for Coach Gannon and he has been great for all of my kids and the teams he has coached in the past.

His former players come back to visit on a regular basis and still admire him to this day.

I hope you have the same enthusiasm in posting when this "Karen's" allegations prove false and are dismissed after a review by the administration.

My understanding is that Coach Gannon has reacted and sent an email to all the parents outlining that he is going to everything that the letter said he didn't do and is starting on it now. I am trying to obtain the exact email.

"Practices were basically useless for upcoming game with no direction of preparation"

They made it to the County Finals losing to the eventual state champions Amityville 3-1

This definitely sounds like a Karen complaint. I bet you her little Johnny got passed over for some playing time.

Long Island soccer at its finest!

This is libel. The pre-season camp is absolutely not mandatory.

Doesn't he have a partner in Be Positive ?
Hills East Coach ?? According to the website.

I just got off the phone with the principal, Michael Catapano. Michael is quite a piece of work. Michael seems to be of the opinion that this letter is a disgruntled parent. You can't make this [****] up. After speaking with Michael, it is no wonder this parent is afraid to confront the school administration.

What a jerk. Covering his own as while the kids are getting screwed? Michael does not see a need to look into this matter.

Maybe he would look into it if this was sent to local media (news12)

Do you know if they investigatingthe matter?

Mike, the principal left me with the impression that he took it personally, meeting his management of the school, and going to sweep it under the rug.

As I told him, I wanted to give him the courtesy of hearing about it first, and since I was not happy with his response, nor did I think he didn’t have the children and parents best interests in mind, it my intention to bring it the Super and BOE in a day or so, along with others in that specific school.

Michael’s lack of interest out of the gate along with his comments about it being a disgruntled parent is totally off the Mark. Michael also claimed he didn’t see what the problem was. What with the parent was complaining about. Michael just acted like a defensive total ass, and while it doesn’t matter to me, it should matter to the parents and students at the Half Hollow Hills West high school.

The one thing that Michael said that I do agree with is that no parents, according to Michael, have come forward with this complaint. My reply to that comment was any parent who goes into the principal to bitch and complain about a teacher Hass to be concerned about what the negative reaction from a teacher and/or anybody in the administration might be against their child.

How come we haven't heard more from the person who initially brought this complaint to you. What if they are full of it and are now hiding because they didn't expect it to get to this point.

All I will share with you in answer to your question is the person who brought this complaint to me, did it to protect his/her child and after speaking to the principal today, I can tell you, the parent is right to not have brought this to the attention of the principal.

I think the principal would’ve been about as uncaring about the situation, and defensive of his management skills as he was with me. I clearly believe the principal would’ve taken it out on the kid. To sum up my opinion of the principle, I think he’s a dick.

The letter is real, and I believe the allegations are real.

Educators take care of their own. It's the "Marble Notebook Line". To them no parent has ever make a valid complaint against a teacher, coach or administrator. The parents are the enemy.

Gannon had a pizza party at the school last tonight for the kids. There were school logo baseball hats and a soccer season booklet given to the kids . Just wanted you to know

This letter is true. Everyone knows the $200 “fundraiser” is complete bs. Parents joke about it but no one wants to be the one not to pay. Kids got 2 bagel breakfast for it and a cheap tshirt long after the season. The camp is “optional”, but everyone knows the kids have to be there. But at least it doesn’t cost more than any other camp you’d put your kids in. And the pizza party and “recognition night” came completely out of the blue last month — 50% of the players didn’t attend because it was announced 2 days before in a cryptic email and took place in the middle of the week. No parents were invited yet awards were given out 5 months after the season ended. (?!) None of the parents knew wth was going on and now I see this string and know why. It all makes sense now! And there are more than 29 players between JV and Varsity.

What about the Connetquot coach and the racial allegations, nothing was done about that either

and we still dont know the true story about JR and why he gave up teaching

Gannon’s backyard is sick!!!

Ong