Bob Fehrenbach will no longer serve as the head high school football coach at MacArthur in New York. He announced his decision to resign after the very first practice of the year.
Fortunately, the first regular season game is still a few weeks away.
The longtime high school football coach no longer feels connected to his players. Even if the timing is not ideal, it was time.
Bob Fehrenbach does not teach at MacArthur High School.
Built in 1954 to serve the post-World War II suburban housing boom on Long Island, General Douglas MacArthur High School serves ~1,300 students in Grades 9-12. It is located in New York City suburb of Levittown, New York.
The Generals compete in Section 8 (Nassau County) as members of Conference II, Division II for high school football. Although they have not been very good in recent years, they occasionally break through as a local championship contender.
Bob Fehrenbach was hired as the head coach in 1998. He has been at MacArthur for approximately 28 years. The Generals won the regular-season Nassau Conference II title in 2002 and 2019 and the Long Island Class II championship game in 2002 and 2015. His all-time career record currently sits well above .500 at 147-92-2.
MacArthur is set to play its first game of the 2026 high school football regular season on September 10. It will play an eight-game scheduled before the postseason. It will also have a new head coach and/or a group of co-head coaches!
Fehrenbach retired as a teacher in 2025. He also retired as the head football coach earlier this week.
The head coach decided to resign after one high school football practice.
With the new season just a few weeks away, MacArthur held its first official practice of the year on Monday. Bob Fehrenbach met with his players after the first official practice of the year to announce his resignation. He will no longer serve as head coach.
According to Gregg Sarra, Fehrenbach wanted to tell his team in person as soon as he made up his mind.
“I wanted to address the staff and the players in person – that’s the way I operate. They deserved to hear it from me. I know the timing isn’’ right, but it wouldn’t be fair to coaches or the players if I continued.”
His decision stems from a lack of connection. Fehrenbach is no longer around the students all day as a teacher, which affected his work as the football coach. Fair enough!
“The connection wasn’t as close as years past, and I’d been struggling with this and thinking about it. Being out of the building all day and not seeing them in class or in the halls was a problem for me. I thought summer 7 on 7s, the morning workouts with the middle school and elementary school camps would rejuvenate my enthusiasm.”
The timing is not ideal for a few reasons but he had to follow his heart and do the right thing for the team. And for himself.
“I don’t feel it anymore. And I want to spend more time with my family. I know it’s bad timing, but I must be honest with myself and the players. I would not have my heart in it.”
To make the entire situation even more confusing, the Levittown school district does not have an active director of athletics in place to help make the replacement hire. The last guy resigned back in June. Therefore, the interim MacArthur high school football coach will actually be a trio, for now. Three assistant coaches — Steve Fazzolari, Tommy Bobal and Ryan Cunningham — are running practice in Fehrenbach’s absence.