Wednesday, July 30, 2014: New vote, same snub for Greece Athena coach

   Leading off today: The Greece school board's re-vote on the fate of Bill Hueber was no better for the Greece Athena boys soccer coach than the first time around.

   At a specialspecial meeting Tuesday, the board members returned from executive session and voted 5-4 against reappointing Hueber. On July 8, two members who had won election to the board in May and were sworn in that night, abstained when Hueber was let go by a 4-3 vote.

   The initial rejection sparked community protests, and Hueber (111-73-30 in 12 varsity seasons) made the rounds on Rochester radio talk shows to note one of the votes against him was cast by a Adam Crandall, who was once cut by Hueber as a player. Board member Julia VanOrman had a son play on last year's Athena team. (Earlier story)

   Both voted against Hueber each time.

   "I had faith in this board and they let me down," Hueber told the Democrat and Chronicle. "This is not fair."

   Assistant coach Joe Giuliano said after the votes he will not return to the district. "Words cannot express how I feel about what happened here tonight," he said.

   Said Crandall in an interview with Time Warner Cable News: "There was a rumor that I was voting because I was cut 11 years ago. That has nothing to do with my vote. I vote based on how I was elected from the community and input from the community. The main reason I voted no tonight was because of what I thought was best for the soccer program and for the students and school district."

    • The Whitehall school board reversed its 6-3 decision from earlier in the month and voted 7-2 Monday to keep football coach Justin Culligan, The Post-Star reported. Board President Virginia Rivette would not say what changed the board's mind.

   Summer hoops action: The fourth annual BCANY Summer Hoops Festival runs Friday through Sunday in Johnson City. Times and locations can by found on the BCANY website.

   Players entering grades 9-12 in the fall are eligible for the boys or girls teams, and the tournament schedule includes a slam dunk contest, 3-pointer contest, player clinics run by college coaches and a parent seminar on college recruitment.

   A few tidbits heading into the weekend:

    • Iona Prep swingman Matt Ryan, a recent Notre Dame commit working to shake off the rust after surgery on both hips, will be in the Hudson Valley lineup. Hudson Valley is going will a lineup comprised exclusively of rising seniors.

    •Westhill's Jordan Roland, a sensation at last March's NYSPHSAA and Federation tournaments and bound for George Washington a little more than a year from now, highlights the Central New York boys roster.

    • The Central New York girls team suffered a blow when Chyanna Canada, fourth-team all-state for Syracuse Nottingham as a junior and holding numerous Division I offers, tore up a knee last month. Surgery and rehab on her ACL will likely cost Canada most if not all of her senior season.

   Meetings recap, Day 1: The NYSPHSAA Central Committee adopted the proposed guidelines for mixed competition during the opening day of meetings in Lake Placid.

   The measure gives administrators at schools a five-question checklist to refer to when considering whether an athlete should be permitted to play on a team of the opposite sex, an issue that's been particularly sticky in

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girls volleyball for several years.

   The administrators can make a determination that a "significant adverse effect" exists relative to all five questions and still permit the player to participate. But they will now have a better foundation for ruling against some players and at the same time open the door to the same sort of appeals process used in other eligibility issues.

   The day's other major proposal was also approved as the Central Committee green-lighted making Unified Sports an official program of NYSPHSAA. All 11 sections will be represented on a committee to help expand Unified Sports programs across the state.

   The program, which teams students with and without disabilities, launched in the spring with basketball in Section 2. Section 5 will roll out a similar basketball program in the upcoming school year.

   Kerr Cup: In case you missed it Tuesday, the New York State Sportswriters Association revealed Massapequa as the overall winner in the sixth annual Kerr Cup All-Sport Championship.

   The Chiefs won three NYSPHSAA championships and scored Kerr Cup points in two others. You can get the recap here.

   In the running: Mamaroneck pitcher Kumar Nambiar, a rising senior who has already committed to Yale and was selected sixth-team all-state this month, is in the running for a national honor.

   The left-hander has been named one of four finalists for the New Balance Game Changer Award for "team players who change the game and their community," The Journal News reported.

   Online voting is being conducted through Aug. 6. The winner receives a $10,000 college scholarship and $2,500 of New Balance merchandise to donate to a charity of his choice.