Peter Lipka has been appointed head coach of the Huntington High School varsity boys’ basketball team. He comes to the Blue Devils after successful college playing and coaching careers. He is a tenured physical education teacher in Queens.
Lipka takes over from Ken Parham, who left to coach at his alma mater, Bay Shore. Parham led the team to 12 victories last winter, including a first round playoff win over Newfield.
Huntington’s new sideline mentor spent five seasons as an assistant coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Points and another five years as the assistant coach at LIU Post.
Following a standout career at Shelton High School in eastern Fairfield County, Connecticut, Lipka played four years at Farmingdale State College. While there, he was a two-time All-Skyline Conference selection and aided the Rams in securing a pair of bids to the NCAA Division III tournament. During his sophomore campaign, Lipka was recognized for his shooting prowess from beyond the arc. A 55.4 percent three-point success rate earned him the NCAA Division III statistical title in that category.
The new Blue Devil coach obtained a bachelor’s degree in business management at Farmingdale State College and a master’s degree in physical education at Queens College.
Huntington’s 2022/23 staff will also include Kevin Thorbourne as the varsity assistant coach and Patrick Reilly, who is returning after a brief hiatus as the junior varsity coach. Timothy Madden and Jordan Ioviero will coach the two teams at J. Taylor Finley Middle School.
Thorbourne and Reilly both played at Huntington High School. Thorbourne is director of minority affairs for the Town of Huntington. Reilly is a physical education teacher in Queens.
Madden and Ioviero are both Huntington UFSD physical education teachers. Madden has coached on the varsity, junior varsity and middle school levels. He is a graduate of Hauppauge High School.
Ioviero has also served as the varsity boys’ basketball head coach and assistant coach. He is head coach of the Finley football team as well as the varsity Unified basketball team. He will also be coaching Finley’s new second girls’ basketball team alongside Madden, who is coaching the other girls’ team. There are two separate winter seasons on the middle school level with the boys’ and girls’ teams playing opposite each other.
Lipka recently met with Blue Devil athletic department leadership and high school Principal Brenden Cusack.
Huntington School Board members appointed the entire coaching staff at its Tuesday night meeting in the Adam Spector Auditorium at Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School.