Coaches work to prevent hazing

For a football coach, September has always been a month of promise. It represents the start to a new season, a clean slate and an opportunity for greatness over the next three months. But the recent hazing scandal at Susan Wagner High School on Staten Island kept DeWitt Clinton High School head coach Howard Langely from concentrating fully on his home opener versus Lincoln last Saturday.

Ditto for John F. Kennedy Campus head coach Andy Lancberg, who was busy readying his Knights for their home debut versus Erasmus. When it comes to problems on the field, these two coaches possess the tools to fix them. It’s when off-the-field incidents occur that things can go south for a program in a flash.

But both Langley and Lancberg have always taken steps to keep their respective programs above the fray.

“It’s always something that is a concern,” Langley said when asked about the Wagner hazing scandal. “The first talk we have when we get off the bus [at summer football camp] is about inappropriate behavior. Usually the older kids want to exert their power over the younger kids. That is the biggest concern.

“So I said to them, ‘Imagine you want to be part of the group but you’re left to feel like an outsider. That’s not going to work. There is no way that’s happening here,’” he continued. “We talk about that we are a family and we are together and all that sort of stuff. That is our biggest talk right off the bus.”

Staten Island’s Susan Wagner High School, a perennial Public School Athletic League (PSAL) football power, saw both its varsity and junior varsity programs shuttered for almost a week by the school earlier this month after allegations of hazing emerged amid the team’s return from an upstate football camp. One player was allegedly hit with a broomstick by teammate while there were also claims of some players being shot at with a BB gun. Still others had inappropriate drawings penned on their faces and legs with permanent markers. But following several protests by a group of parents, the school decided to reinstate the program after missing one game.