Henry Fumerelle returns to Tonawanda

Henry Fumerelle looks at every day as being a blessing. He is even more blessed to be back on the sidelines as a head coach. Fumerelle was recently approved by the Tonawanda BOE to be the new head varsity football coach.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Fumerelle who was on the Warriors coaching staff during the 2013 and ’14 seasons. “It is a storied program,” said Fumerelle. “The football programs mean a lot in Tonawanda and North Tonawanda. I like that.”

A graduate of Sweet Home High school where he played football, Fumerelle’s first coaching position was on the staff of Hall of Famer John Faller. He then had coaching stints at Williamsville East and St. Mary’s of Lancaster before coming to Tonawanda. This will be Fumerelle’s first head coaching job since coaching North Tonawanda in 2016.

Fumerelle compiled an 11-6 record and made the playoffs both times during his two seasons guiding the Lumberjacks. But it all came to a sudden and shocking end in June 2017 when Fumerelle was involved in a horrific auto accident. He sustained a broken leg, as well as knee and head injuries.

After all Fumerelle has been through with the accident and the extensive rehab has made this hire even more meaningful for Fumerelle. “It’s is more meaningful because I really, really worked hard to get back to where I’m at,” Fumerelle said. His recovery also taught Fumerelle valuable health and wellness lessons that he wants to pass on to his players.

“I learned a lot about nutrition and how the body heels,” Fumerelle said. “I’m gonna try to tell these players and kids you can be in the weight room and train really hard, but if you eat properly and have good nutrition in your body you’re gonna accelerate your results. You will have less injuries and you will be less (likely to be) sick. Believe it or not, the better you eat the better you will do at school. The better your relationships will be. It really is a foundation. And I’m gonna try to reach the kids this.”

Fumerelle actually returned to the sidelines last year when he served on Brian Davis coaching staff at McKinley High School. Fumerelle said working with Davis, one of his former players, got his coaching juices flowing again.

“He’s (Fumerelle) a great coach,” Davis said. “He knows his stuff inside and out and it was a blessing to have him help Coach with me last season” Davis was a sophomore at Will East while Fumerelle was the head coach there. Davis then went over to Williamsville North to finish high school.

Fumerelle says that having already been on both sides of the oldest high school football rivalry in the state gives him an insight that he feels will help him connect with his players and earn their trust. “We have a saying at Tonawanda. Once a Warrior always a Warrior,” said Fumerelle.

Fumerelle said since the news of his hiring was made public his phones have been blowing up with well wishes from former Warriors and Jacks who he coached. Fumerelle also wants to help establish a community feeling within the Warrior athletic family. Where coaches work together to help each other’s promote each other’s programs.

Fumerelle wasted no time in jumping on board by serving as an event staffer at the boys varsity basketball game Wednesday. Fumerelle plans to meet with his players, and get phase 1 of his off-season training up and running with weight room sessions. “My teams are very weight room oriented. Speed training oriented. Plyometrics,” he said. “We’ll be introducing all that to our team.”

Fumerelle is also getting ready to move into an office inside the high school, which will allow him to have a very visible, every day presence in the school, year round. “I think that’s really important because it stems from the top,” Fumerelle said. “If you show preparation and a work ethic then the kids will too. If you’re not there and you’re not putting in the time, but you’re asking them too, that doesn’t work. I’m a hands on head coach. I’m gonna ask my assistant to be in the weight room, but I will be in the weight room. I’m not gonna hand it off. Because if the head coach isn’t there the kids don’t come. That’s my thought.”

Fumerelle speaks on this from firsthand experience. When coaching at Will-East in 2007, he had a medical issue that prevented him from being at the weight room sessions for a bit. Without him participation “tailed off.”

Fumerelle said the some of the assistant coaches from the previous staff were on hand at the board meeting. They were very welcoming and wished him luck. Fumerelle, naturally, would like the bulk of his staff to be familiar faces who he has a history of working with, as any coach would want.

Fumerelle is also very much open to the idea of keeping coaches from the previous staff. Always fair and open to the input of his staff, Fumerelle said opinions will always be respected but everyone has to be on the same page of the team is to succeed.

The Warriors are coming off a winless season and haven’t made the playoffs since 2019. Fumerelle believes that can change so long as the boys are all in and understand why being all in is so important. “It’s gotta be a passion. You gotta enjoy it, but I think the kids can get so much out of it,” Fumerelle said. “I tell the parents and I tell administrators and I tell the kids. Football is a microcosm of life. You can learn so many life skills from this that you can utilize in your life when you are 30 or 40. Preparation. Work ethic. Attention to detail. Those are things you have to be able to do to win football games.”3

Feature Image Courtesy of Larry Austin (Tonawanda HS Community Relations Coordinator)