WOODSTOCK — Woodstock Union High School is in need of a varsity boys soccer coach with less than two weeks until the start of preseason workouts.
Tom Avellino is no longer guiding the Wasps, having left the job about six weeks ago, he said in a brief phone interview on Monday. Avellino declined further comment beyond adding that he’d no longer be in charge of the boys basketball program as well.
Windsor Central Supervisory Union Superintendent Sherry Sousa confirmed Avellino’s coaching departure in a Tuesday email exchange. She said Avellino remains employed by the school, which lists him as an assistant with the learning opportunities and special education program in its staff directory. The WCSU posted the vacancy for an interim boys soccer coach on the SchoolSpring website on Aug. 25.
Quaron Pinckney, who recently left Woodstock as athletic director for the same position at Burlington High School but is continuing to assist the WCSU district, also confirmed Avellino’s coaching departure and timing of Avellino’s release. He referred further questions to school administration.
An email to WUHS principal Garon Smail seeking comment was not returned.
The Wasps made three Vermont Principals Association Division II state boys soccer championship matches during Avellino’s eight-year tenure, losing each time (2014, ’15, ’18), the first two on penalty-kick tiebreakers. Although he never played the game when he was younger, learning on the fly as he guided his son Doug through youth soccer, Avellino recorded an 87-34-13 record in those eight seasons with the Wasps.
Avellino also took the helm of the Woodstock boys basketball program last winter as a last-minute replacement after the school parted with WUHS alumnus Joel Carey. Pinckney had hired Jamal Hughes as a replacement but called in Avellino when Hughes left for the Vermont Tech men’s basketball coaching job before ever guiding Woodstock. The Wasps were 2-18 last winter, beating Thetford in their season opener and Otter Valley in late January.
Avellino has spent more than 20 years as a Woodstock coach in multiple sports, including a stretch in charge of the girls tennis program. Vermont high schools can begin formal fall sports practices with the statewide start of classes on Tuesday.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.