A new chapter in Valley Central football history began on July 1 when the Board of Education approved Scott Rumsey as the team’s new head coach, starting in the 2024 season.

Rumsey had previously spent the last 26 seasons on Jim Parady’s staff at Marist college. He most recently served as the team’s defensive coordinator (23 seasons) and associate head coach (19 seasons).

“It’s a new chapter for me,” Rumsey said. “We’ll see how everything works out after spending so many years in college. After 30 years in college, it’s definitely a different kind of a challenge to get back into the high school ranks.”
Rumsey will take over for Andrew LaVallie, who coached the Vikings since the 2019 season. He coached the Vikings for five seasons and guided them through the COVID-19 pandemic, which included a canceled Fall 2020 season and a short spring 2021 season in its place. The Vikings never won more than three games in a season under his tenure and did that three times: 2019, 2021, and 2023. He finished with an 11-31 record.

During Rumsey’s time at Marist, his defense earned national recognition. In the 2014 season, free safety Zach Adler led the FCS in interceptions per game. Adler was named Honorable Mention All-America by the Associated Press and was one of three Red Foxes – along with linebacker Paul Sakowski and defensive end Demetrius Williams – who earned First Team All-PFL honors. The Red Foxes ranked second in the league in scoring defense and total defense.

Rumsey also coached the Red Foxes’ safeties from 2008-09 and 2016-18; linebackers from 2001-07, 2011-13, and 2015; and defensive linemen from 1998-2000 as well as the 2010 and 2014 seasons. In his time as defensive coordinator, Rumsey has coached nearly 100 all-conference selections, and has been the position coach for 32 all-conference honorees.

He was previously the defensive coordinator at Valley Central. He works at Orange County Ironworks in Montgomery for Dan Teutul and Matt Messing, who played for him at Valley Central.

“When the VC job opened, it wasn’t really something that I thought I had an opportunity for just based on work schedules,” Rumsey said. “Danny just came to me and said, ‘Hey, if you’re interested, we can work it out here so that you have the opportunity to do both if that’s what you’re interested in doing.’ I can’t thank him enough for that. The loyalty those guys showed me is pretty incredible. You just don’t see that very often.”

Rumsey’s coaching staff will see some familiar faces as Mike Bliss, who was a part of coach Ron Introini’s staff before he stepped down after the 2018 season, will return as offensive coordinator.

Tinker Bunting, who also has been a longtime coach at Valley Central will also return.

“He was one of my coaches when I played at Valley Central,” Rumsey said.

Frank Wright, who has coached at Saugerties and James I. O’Neill and has a son in the Valley Central district, will serve as the special teams coordinator. Fred Howard will serve as an assistant coach as well.

The JV coaching staff remains intact with Introini and Bob Leonard.

“We feel good about who we have on staff and what they’re bringing to the table,” Rumsey said.

Rumsey also said the response has been good from the Valley Central community. The players have responded favorably as well. The team does offseason training three nights per week and the varsity team had a high turnout at a recent youth camp with the Valley Central Youth Football program.

“We’re really trying to reach back into the youth program and have a big connection with them,” Rumsey said. “We want to get them at games. We want to have staff meetings, clinics, and that kind of thing. We want to be running the same offenses and defenses.”

Early on, the one thing Rumsey wants to instill into this new chapter of Valley Central football is accountability, and making sure the entire team is rowing together.

“Nobody rides this ship,” Rumsey said. “We all row, so we’ve all got to have a hand in this. I think that’s something that’s new to them a little bit and we’re having about 70-80 percent of the kids getting the stuff done that we’re asking them to get done. … So, when it comes to game day, and we’re looking for a guy when the game’s on the line, if you haven’t done any of those things, I’m not going to be looking at you.”