On July 31, Jim Amen tended his resignation as the athletic director of the Cold Spring Harbor School District, effectively beginning his retirement after a 47-year career in education.
But shortly thereafter, Amen received a call from Manhasset Superintendent of Schools Charles Cardillo about taking the same position in overseeing the Indians.
As a favor to his friend and colleague from their work on various Nassau County athletics committees, Amen accepted the position and began work on Aug. 19, the day Manhasset’s football players strapped on helmets and pads and stepped back onto the gridiron.
“It keeps me busy, and I really do enjoy being around children,” said Amen, 69. “It serves as my credo, how I feel about things.”
Amen, who lives in Northport with his wife Tricia, graduated from Massapequa High School in 1961 and began teaching physical education in 1965 as part of the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District, shortly after graduating what was then known as Cortland State Teacher’s College.
In 1977, Amen left the district for Johns Hopkins University, where he coached the school’s men’s basketball team and was an assistant on three men’s lacrosse national championship squads from 1977-80.
In 1983, Amen, Tricia and their three young children Scott, Lauren and Brian – all born in Baltimore – moved back to Long Island, and the next year Amen taught physical education in the Levittown School District, where he coached varsity boy’s soccer, basketball and lacrosse at Division Avenue High School.
Amen said he went into physical education and coaching because of his father, James, who was a longtime physical education teacher at Division and coached football, boy’s basketball and baseball before going on to assistant coaching positions for the C.W. Post and New York Institute of Technology baseball programs.
Despite having the same first name, Amen is not James Amen Jr., though he said he uses suffix out of reverence for his old man.
“There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about my father,” Amen said.
Amen left Levittown for the Bethpage School District in 1991, where he became the chairman of physical education and athletics and coached varsity boy’s basketball and soccer.
Amen was unable to coach lacrosse when he started at Bethpage, he said, because the position had already been filled when he arrived.
But in 1993, Amen became the lacrosse team’s head coach and the program had become a strong contender in Nassau County.
Two years later, while he was coaching the boy’s lacrosse team in the Empire State Games, Amen was offered the district’s athletic director position, though he said the new job came with a caveat.
“It was a tough decision for me because we had a great lacrosse team and I wasn’t going to be able to coach lacrosse if I became the athletic director,” Amen said.
Amen struck a deal with Bethpage Superintendent David Nydick, who told him he could continue coaching the lacrosse team but would not be paid like the other coaches.
Amen accepted.
“That was okay for me,” Amen said. “Coaches don’t coach to get paid, at least not at that level.”
In 1996, Amen’s Eagles won the New York State Class B championship, after beating Manhasset 10-9 for the county title.
“That was really special,” Amen said. “It was one of the most special moments of my career. You have to be pretty good to win a state championship.”
After a few more years at Bethpage, Amen floated his resume.
In 1999, he accepted the position athletic director’s position with Cold Spring Harbor, where he’d spend the next 14 years.
“When you leave one position for another, you leave one place and you start all over again, on the tenure process,” Amen said. “But the way I think of it, you can’t steal second without taking your foot off first base.”
Amen said he admired the Cold Spring Harbor position for much of his career, saying that, like Manhasset, it was a premier district with a strong focus on academics and athletics.
In moving over to Manhasset, Amen said he hopes to bring his experience and passion for physical education and athletics to the next phase of his continuing career.
“I realized I wasn’t ready to retire yet,” Amen said. “I hope to make an impact however I can.”
