As unseemly as the whole story around Tom Tegeler has been, I for one am pleased that a potential outcome never materialized.

Five days after the veteran New Paltz football coach was arrested for DWI, New Paltz superintendent Maria Rice declared he could coach Friday night's regional semifinal against Croton-Harmon. Rice made the decision about eight hours before kickoff.

Now let me make this clear: If he is found guilty, I do not condone what Tegeler was charged with and I do believe some sort of punishment would be needed if he indeed is found guilty.

But if the decision was to not allow Tegeler to coach after letting this situation fester for nearly a week before making that call would have been unfair to the team.

No matter what the outcome, the kids did nothing wrong and by ripping their coach away hours before the game, they would be the ones getting punished.

Luckily, in this instance, cooler heads prevailed.