Wednesday, July 13, 2016: Laffin won't be rehired as Poughkeepsie coach

   Leading off today: "It's complicated" would seem to be the understatement of the summer with respect to a surprising development this week out of Poughkeepsie.

   Boys basketball coach Brian Laffin has been told he will not be brought back for a 17th season on the Poughkeepsie High bench, a development I believe was first reported on Twitter by MSG Varsity's Kevin Devaney Jr. on Monday.

   "We're looking for new leadership, new direction. It's time for a change," interim AD Bob Murphy told Hudson Valley Sports Report. "This is not about wins and losses, but it's about the character of the young men who take the floor."

   HVSR reported Laffin never had a losing season at Poughkeepsie en route to nearly 300 victories and six consecutive Section 1 finals beginning in 2008, making his forced departure interesting. Adding to the intrigue, Murphy is the current coach at Woodlands -- he's already a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame -- and is the man Laffin replaced with the Pioneers in 2000, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported.

   Taking it a step further, HVSR reported Laffin did the nomination paperwork that led to Murphy's induction into the Hall of Fame.

   Murphy said he observed and evaluated Laffin, and it was the administration's belief that the position could be upgraded, the newspaper reported.

   Laffin declined to comment beyond saying, "I love Poughkeepsie High School and there's a lot of good people and good things there."

   More coaching changes: Ted Klamm, who won more than 250 games and four Section 3 championships at Bishop Ludden, was approved Monday as the new baseball coach at Westhill. He replaces Bob Weismore, who stepped down after 328 wins, eight sectional crowns and two NYSPHSAA championships in 16 seasons.

   "It's a great opportunity. It's probably one of the top baseball programs in the area," Klamm told Syracuse.com.

    • Deven York, a modified and JV coach for 21 seasons, is the new boys lacrosse coach at Canandaigua.

   "It's so exciting," York, 42, told The Daily Messenger. "You look at the modern era of Canandaigua lacrosse and there's been two coaches in what, the last 36 years? John Johnson and Ed Mulheron ... and to have my name come after that is an incredible honor.

   "To me, it's an incredible gift and it's a gift I won't take lightly."

   A badly needed change: Problems at two state tournaments this spring may bring about the momentum necessary to change one of the worst rules used by numerous high school organizations.

   In Iowa on Monday, a storm forced tournament officials to call a regional softball championship game Alta-Aurelia led 5-4 in the top of the seventh inning. Since Logan-Magnolia finished the last completed full inning with a 4-2 lead, it was awarded the win because National Federation of State High School Associations rules require a state tournament game to be completed on the same day it's started.

   "It's a travesty," Alta-Aurelia coach Dave Turnquist told the Sioux City Journal. "The rule should be changed."

   Similarly, a five-hour rain delay May 28 forced the Kansas High School Athletic Association to call the Class 5A state semifinal in Shawnee Heights' favor after six and a half innings, wiping out the two runs Andover scored in the top half of the seventh because the final inning could not be completed.

   KHSAA Executive Director Gary Musselman, who is president of the National Federation, will look into changing the rule that sent Andover packing.

   "I hated it, everybody did," Musselman told the Topeka Capital-Journal. "It makes everybody miserable. ... You hate for kids to lose in that circumstance."

   Prospects improving: AD Daryl Besant said Wednesday that Lake Shore has received verbal commitments from more than 25 athletes to play varsity football this season, The Buffalo News reported.

   The program's viability for the 2016 season was called into question last month after only 15 players expressed interest in turning out for the first practice Aug. 15.

   "Our goal is to forge ahead, take our chances and hopefully on the first day in August everyone we intend on being there is there," Besant said.

   Boys basketball notes: Recent Shenendehowa graduate Kevin Huerter, the consensus state player of the year bound for Maryland in the fall, has made the 12-man USA Basketball roster that will compete next week in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Chile.

    • More college offers -- including Southern Cal, St. John's and Seton Hall -- have been pouring in this week for Sid Wilson, the 6-foot-7 St. Raymond's wing who disclosed this month he will transfer to Brewster Academy in New Hampshire and push back his college enrollment to 2018.

    Wilson, who was 12th-team all-state in Class AA after averaging 17.7 points a game last season, already held offers from Indiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Providence and Temple.