Kyle Schneider has been part of two rebuilds as an assistant football coach.

Now he has an opportunity to lead one.

Schneider, an assistant coach under Rich Ormsby for four years at Pine Bush was officially appointed as Valley Central’s head football coach, taking over for Scott Rumsey, who posted a 7-12 record in two seasons as the Vikings’ head coach.

“I’ve always wanted to be a head coach, so it was always something I was thinking about. I’m originally from New Jersey, so when I moved up here four years ago, I was just looking to make a name for myself and get experience. I got hired by Pine Bush and I enjoyed my time there.”

Before coming to Pine Bush, Schneider was part of a rebuild in Ridgefield Park, N.J., and he joined Pine Bush as part of Rich Ormsby’s staff taking a program that was at a low and helping change the culture there.

“Coach Ormsby was awesome,” Schneider said. “Hew as great in terms of organization and had the kind of mentality that I want to bring to the team, which is doing things the right way.”

Ormsby took over a floundering Pine Bush program in 2022. Since winning the Section 9 Class AA championship in 2019, they had gone 1-11. The Bushmen struggled to a 1-8 record in their first season. While they’ve posted a 9-19 record since then, Schneider has seen the change.

“You might not see it in the win-loss record in terms of what he has done, but he’s definitely changed the culture,” Schneider said. “The amount of kids that came out, the way the kids hold themselves and they are respected by their teachers. We made sure that they’re doing things the right way. He picked up a team that had 16 players on it from ninth grade to 12th grade. Now he’s in like 80-100 players for JV and varsity.”

Schneider had been a business teacher for four years at Pine Bush High School. In that time, he also was the head coach of the Bushmen’s spring flag football team. When he was appointed by the Valley Central school board in late May, he was prepared to coach the Vikings while teaching at neighboring Pine Bush.

Now he doesn’t have to.

He was hired by the Valley Central School District as a high school business teacher on July 20.

“It’s going to help tremendously to be in the building,” Schneider said. “At first when I took the job, I wasn’t going to be, which I probably would have had to have my assistants help me out with checking up on the kids.” Having those relationships with the kids, recruiting is going to be huge for me to be in the building to help on that.”

Schneider has already started working with his new team. The Vikings had had 10 workouts in June before school ended and they have been working out four times a week during the summer. There have been about 30 to 40 players at each workout.

Schneider, who spent his first two years in Pine Bush as the offensive coordinator and the last two as the defensive coordinator, will call the Vikings’ offense.

“There’s a lot of dedication,” Schneider said. “I’ve been putting plays on Hudl and at the workouts, but I like what I’ve seen so far. It’s a big senior class, so it seems like they’re ready to go to work and try to prove themselves a little bit.”

The players are not only looking to prove themselves, but their rookie head coach is ready for the challenge of helping to rebuild a third program.

“If I do things right, then it’s where you know the players want to play for Valley Central and they don’t want to play anywhere else,” Schneider said. “They want to stay here and play here because it’s a respected program amongst Section 9. I’m hoping to get there one day.”