Ernie DiFiore to step down as AD at Central Catholic

Citing personal and healthy-related reasons, Ernie DiFiore is stepping down as athletic director at Central Catholic. DiFiore told the Herald that he would stay on until his successor was named.

“I talked about it with my wife (Dana),” DiFiore said. “Right now, I need to focus on my family and health. Central Catholic has been my home for the past 30 years. I love the school, I love the people I work with and I am fortunate to call them family. Central Catholic has given me so much more than I could ever give back.”

While there has been friction between Central Catholic and the Merrimack Valley Conference in the past due primarily to the fact that Central Catholic is the only Catholic school in the league (thus allowed to draw from a wider base), DiFiore deserves a great deal of credit for helping to smooth things over.

“It was a shocker, it’s a big loss for Central Catholic,” said Tewksbury athletic director Ron Drouin. “Ernie was very instrumental in getting the MVC going this year (during the COVID pandemic). He’s going to be missed.”

Central Catholic president Chris Sullivan was effusive in his praise of DiFiore.

“For the past 31 years, Ernie has served the Central family with love, and as Athletic Director, he has been a tireless advocate for our students in general, and our student-athletes in particular. Ernie has been a dedicated supporter of our coaches, who have been successful because of his leadership.”

Longtime Central Catholic football coach and former athletic director Chuck Adamopoulos can relate to what Sullivan said.

“Recently, I was told that we were going to have to move a function outdoors on a Sunday morning,” Adamopoulos said. “I got to the school at 6:30 AM to start putting out 130 chairs and who pulled up but Ernie to help. There aren’t many athletic directors who would have done that, but that’s Ernie.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3v5T07f