Just weeks away from the start of another school year, the Greens Farms Academy athletics department is excited to welcome four new varsity head coaches to its roster.
Maria Conlon (girls basketball), JJ Hoffstein (boys basketball), and volleyball co-head coaches Cris Leone and Danny Fishman will lead the Dragons in their respective sports this school year.
Leone and Fishman will hit the ground running as the volleyball season begins on Monday, August 22 with preseason practices.
Conlon joins GFA after an outstanding four-year stint at Notre Dame-Fairfield, where she led the Lancers to the 2022 CIAC Class L championship and a No. 1 ranking in the state. The team also won three straight SWC Championships under Conlon’s guidance. A former standout player at the University of Connecticut, where she also worked as an assistant coach for the legendary Geno Auriemma and was part of three NCAA championship teams, Conlon is also a co-founder of the BattleCon AAU Girls Basketball program.
Leone (née Omiecinski), who comes to GFA after a stint at Darien High School, one of the top public-school programs in the state, was one of the most accomplished outside hitters in Georgia Tech Volleyball history. She was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference 50th Anniversary Volleyball Team in 2002 and was inducted into the Georgia Tech Athletic Hall of Fame after being the first player in program history to be named All-ACC in four seasons. She finished her career as the program's career leader in kills.
Fishman brings his own considerable playing and coaching experience to the GFA sideline as he was an All-State setter at Staples High School and was recruited to play at Vassar College. He eventually finished a successful career playing club volleyball at Tufts University. He comes to GFA after serving as an assistant coach for the men's team at Sacred Heart University.
Hoffstein arrives on campus after years of coaching at Vassar College and Smith College, where he was an assistant coach for the women’s basketball teams. A graduate of Amherst College, where he was a student-assistant coach, Hoffstein will also join the Upper School faculty as a member of the math department.