Dino Garr & Rye Football’s Eight Decades of Winning

This in-depth look at the history of Rye football was made possible with the help of Steve “The OG” Feeney and former Rye Varsity Football offensive lineman and linebacker Erik Antico. Do you have stories or old photos of the football program you want to share?  Tell us.

On December 5, 2025, the Rye Football team defeated the Brighton Bruins 28-14 in the New York State Championship game, their fifth title as a program and first ever in Class A. The victory capped off an undefeated season and added another chapter to the program’s rich history of success. 

Across eight decades, one man has come to symbolize the tradition of excellence for the Rye football team: Dino Garr.

Before talking about the winningest coach in Section One history, it is only right to start at the very roots of the program, which kickstarted in the 1950s. 

The Early Days: 1950s-1980s

Rye started playing games in the early 1950s, although the exact year is unknown. Seasons ran from September to Thanksgiving – eight weeks and eight games in total. The Garnets participated in the Southern Westchester Interscholastic Athletic Conference (SWIAC) and there was no postseason structure in place.

“The Old Garnet would advance a belief that the Rye Garnet football tradition of excellence has its roots in the 1950s,” Feeney told MyRye.com. “First under Coach Frank Robinson, and followed by Coach Ben Bedini into the mid-1960s.”

While Robinson was the pioneer head coach, the first wave of Garnet dominance sprung from Bedini’s tenure: the head coach went 59-5-0 in his eight seasons at the helm, a .924 win percentage. He oversaw the back end of a 33-game winning streak (which started under Robinson) and a full 33-game winning streak in the early 1960s. Since the season was only eight games, both long stretches of undefeated play spanned more than four years and seasons combined.

“A 92.4% winning percentage dwarfs any coach’s record,” Feeney argues. “Rye or elsewhere.”

Perhaps the only blemish on Rye’s resume in the ’50s and ’60s is the fact that both 33-game win streaks ended at the hands of the Harrison Huskies.

“At the game’s conclusion, a rivalry tradition was born,” The OG recalls after the Huskies’ 1955 road win. “In celebration, a Harrison player led his team into the Blind Brook adjacent to the Rye High School football field.”

Thus, an annual tradition was born: the jump into Blind Brook for the winner following ‘The Game’.

One last notable item occurred in the mid-60s: from 1964-1966, a young man from Wainwright Street named Dino Garr suited up for the Rye Varsity Football team. Although Garr was more known for his baseball skills during his high school career, the Italian-born halfback and shortstop would circle back to the Rye football world soon after his graduation from RHS in 1966.

Transitional Period: 1970s-1980s

Dino Garr (read: Rye High’s Dino Garr Enters 50th Year as Football Coach) came onto the staff in 1973 as the defensive coordinator before jumping to becoming the head coach in 1976. Previously, Garr spent two years post-college graduation with Iona University and Fordham University back-to-back from 1971-72. He left Rye for Westlake in 1979, but returned in 1985 and has stayed in his position as Garnets Head Coach ever since.

On the gridiron, the team continued to be successful, although they were below .500 against Harrison during this time frame.

Building Blocks: 1990s-2004

In the 1990s, Rye took a step backward in some regards, especially in the rivalry with Harrison. Although they remained a winning program, Harrison won all but one matchup in the 90s, showing greater physicality than Rye on a consistent basis year over year. Growing up through the Rye school system prior to becoming a player on varsity, Rye football alumnus Erik Antico remembered the sentiment surrounding the program as the 2000s began and his turn to don the varsity sweater approached.

“We were so fed up of getting [our] faces just absolutely smashed in by Harrison and losing all those games,” Antico told MyRye.com in an interview. “We were very sick of those guys.”

Spurred on by strength and conditioning coach Matt Tauber and his mantra “hit or be hit”, Rye finally turned a corner in 2003. Rye finished 12-1 and came within one win of their first State championship. They appeared in the title game in the Carrier Dome for the first time since 1993, and set the standard for the next two decades of success, and beyond.

“The ’03 group decided to change the identity of Rye football,” Antico said in an Instagram post in December 2025. “It was symbolized by a bent facemask – toughness, resilience, and a refusal to back down.”

Not only did the Garnets come within one win of their first ever state championship, they defeated the Huskies three times, twice in the regular season and again early in their postseason run. Including those three victories and a win in 2002, Rye has gone on to win 23 of the last 26 installments of ‘The Game’ and flip the rivalry’s all-time score from a sizable Harrison advantage to a Garnets 51-44-3 lead.

2004 was a similar story, with Rye continuing its momentum and winning twelve games. However, the Garnets lost in the State championship game to Chenango Forks for a second straight year, this time by a wider margin (16-0 in 2003, 48-0 in 2004). However, three-peats are hard to come by, even for a dominant high school program like Chenango Forks.

The Present Day: 2005-2025

Rye finally found their breakthrough in the 2005 season, getting through an undefeated regular season and finally topping Chenango Forks in the championship by a score of 28-7 – a remarkable win for the Garnets against an opponent with seven New York State titles and two in a row prior to 2005. Antico believes the losses in both ’03 and ’04 were pivotal for building the program’s pedigree and motivating the players to continually raise their expectations.

“A lot of the teams that don’t end up winning it, that could have won it, set the table for a lot of the other successes that have happened,” Antico told MyRye.com. “’03 kind of started it. Losing bred hunger for the ’05 team.”

A loss to Dion Lewis’ Albany Academy in the State semifinals in 2006 once again served as the motivation for the 2007 and 2008 teams, which went on to win the Garnets’ second and third state championships, respectively. Led by Dino Garr and his impressive staff, Rye won three State titles in four years in the middle of the 2000s, with their lone loss in that time frame occurring to Albany Academy.

“The Dome became our second home,” Antico said in a second Instagram post. “Rye was officially back.”

From 2010-2022, Rye stepped up to Class A, failing to win a NYS championship but playing to a .770 win%. They returned to Class B in 2023, instantly losing two of their first four games, including one to Harrison. However, the Garnets rallied to win their next ten contests in a row to claim the 2023 State championship trophy, culminating with a 28-7 win in the final game in the Carrier Dome over Maine-Endwell.

“I think a lot can be said for ’23… they go to Class B and they lose a couple games,” Antico told MyRye.com in an interview. “Throughout the course of the season, they just kept getting better and learning from the mistakes, and they end up winning it… you learn a lot through adversity.”

Most recently, the Garnets rode an elite offense and well-oiled defense to a 14-0 season in Class A, winning the 2025 State championship. Their five state titles are the most in Section 1 history and right near the top in New York, although Chenango Forks still outranks the Garnets with seven.

Despite five titles in just 21 years, only one individual gets the pleasure of being present in all five championship photographs and bejewel his hands with all five championship rings. Only one individual has symbolized the Rye football program as students, players, fans, athletic directors, and assistant coaches cycle throughout the years: current Head Coach Dino Garr.

Garr’s Legacy

Garr is a Rye lifer (read: Dino Garr: Rye Lifer and Legendary Football Coach) and just finished his 50th year at the helm. In that time frame, he has won 375 games, a New York State High School Football record. His 365th win put him in sole possession of the title of all time winningest high school head coach in state history, and he followed up that victory with ten more to end the season with his fifth state championship. In a realm where continuity is nearly impossible – high school sports – Dino Garr is the model of consistency and success.

Two of his current assistants – Tom Codispoti and Joe King – played for Garr in the 1980s, and now coach alongside him. They have both felt and seen the impact he has on his players, and how that has led to the program’s recent success.

“There’s no one that has more passion, love, and loyalty for Rye football, Rye’s extended community, and Rye’s traditions than Dino Garr,” Codispoti told MyRye.com. “To be on the sidelines for the past eight years has been one of my favorite things in life. The many little things he does behind closed doors – fighting for his friends, players, and Garnet Football – that go unnoticed because he chooses so, is also why I love to call Dino Garr my good friend, and of course ‘Coach’.”

King, a staff member for 16 years and defensive coordinator for the last eight, also lauded Garr when asked about him.

“It is not possible to distill what makes Coach Garr ‘Coach Garr’ into just a few sentences. Perhaps the most unique thing about him, among several unique traits, is his ability to treat every moment involving football as though nothing else in the world matters. He is one hundred percent focused and invested, and he is able to get the players and coaches to remain similarly focused.”

Although Rye Football’s tradition of excellence did not start with Dino Garr, as evident by their tendency to win in the SWIAC in the 50s and 60s, it has accelerated since Garr took over for good in 1985. From the doorstep of state championships in 1993, 2003, and 2004, to getting over the hump in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2023, and 2025, to flipping the Harrison rivalry on its head in Rye’s favor, Garr has reshaped what it means to be a dominant high school football program. Regardless of player personnel, staff, or administration turnover ahead of the 2026 season, expectations will remain the same: get to the Dome.

Thanks to decades of excellence, such a lofty-sounding goal isn’t so lofty for the Garnets, year after year.