MEET THE COACHES
Hershey Groff, Head Boys Basketball Coach
Coach Groff takes over a team that reached the state semifinals for the first time in school history. With many seniors on that team, Coach Groff is focused on developing the underclassmen and sustain the recent success at New Milford High School.
This is Coach Groff’s sixth season working at New Milford High School. Coach Groff spent his first year as volunteer assistant coach and scout for the girls program. He took over the freshman girls in 2014 and most recently has been the junior varsity girls coach through 2017-18. Coach Groff has set moderate goals for the upcoming season with success in the gym as well as the classroom the main focus. He expects his team to play an aggressive fast paced brand of basketball where the team exerts maximum effort at all times. Coach wants his players develop a sense of pride in how they play each and every night. Groff wants a fundamentally sound team on both offense and defense working cohesively as a unit. With limited experience returning, it will be important that chemistry is developed during the preseason practices and games. They will need to recognize their strengths and limitations and grow together. Groff’s ultimate goal is to mentor each of his players to grow as student athletes with family being first and foremost.
Nick Barese, Head Bowling Coach
Nick Barese has been a Physical Education and Health teacher at David E. Owens Middle School since 2006. Prior to that Nick taught in Teaneck at the Community High School. This is Coach Barese’s first go around as the Head Bowling Coach. His wealth of experience coaching a number of sports lends to the expected success for the upcoming bowling season. Among Coach Barese’s stops on the coaching carousel are middle school baseball and girls basketball and freshman girls basketball at Bogota. Nick was the Head Baseball Coach at Community before taking over the Freshman Boys Basketball team at New Milford for six years. Nick also volunteered as a golf coach at NMHS for two seasons.
His personal playing experience includes high school baseball and basketball. Nick was offered a scholarship to Caldwell College for baseball where he started for four years at 1st base and was named 1st team all conference as a sophomore.
Coach Barese looks forward to sharing and using his experiences to elevate the bowling team this upcoming season. With a new group of student athletes entering the program, Coach Barese feels this a great opportunity to teach focus, punctuality and growth towards a common goal.
Keith Devereaux, Head Baseball Coach
Keith has been teaching Biology and coaching Baseball at New Milford High School for the past eleven years. His first 4 seasons were as the Varsity Assistant Coach and Keith has coached the freshmen team for the last seven. Coach Devereaux played high school baseball under the legendary Steve Konde at Waldwick High School where he as the varsity starting catcher for three years. Keith helped lead the Warriors to league championships in 2001 and 2002. Coach Devereaux is hoping to defend last year’s NJIC Liberty division title in 2019. His ultimate goal is to continue to develop a strong program and hold his players to high standards on and off the field. Coach Devereaux is married to New Milford High School’s swimming coach Hayley Devereaux. Together they reside in New Milford with their three year old son, Blake.
Alyson Doherty, Head Softball Coach
Aly Doherty was appointed as the new Head Softball Coach succeeding Jennifer Gandolfo. Doherty is a graduate of New Milford High School (2009) and played for the Lady Knights from 2006-2009. She has served on the coaching staff for the past 5 years, first as a varsity assistant and most recently as the freshman coach. Aly is a Special Education teacher at David E. Owens middle school where she has been for a few years.
Coach Doherty is looking forward to instilling her competitive spirit to a team that has been a perennial winner. Her love and enthusiasm for the New Milford softball program and the community is unmatched. Aly expects to transfer that passion to the field, her players and the overall softball program. Doherty’s main objectives for the program are to sustain its overall success, compete for league titles, qualify for state and county tournaments, and advance through each of them. Coach Doherty expects to begin the process immediately, but taking everything into perspective on a daily basis. She has high hopes for the team on and off the field with the ultimate goal to develop players who are committed to their families, academics and the softball program. With some talent returning in 2019, Coach Doherty foresees a strong season this upcoming spring.
