Leading off today: It appears Sharon Rosenthal has chosen to take a stand by sitting out the upcoming field hockey season. If she's coaching this fall, it won't be at Scarsdale, the Section 1 school where careers go to die.
Rosenthal, a former Scarsdale High player who had been the school's varsity head coach for 18 years, decided to submit her resignation after learning long-time field hockey assistant Genette Zonghetti was let go as head coach in girls lacrosse.
District policy apparently mandates coaches dismissed from one sport may not coach another sport in the district, The Journal News reported Wednesday.
"It's a very sad day -- a day I didn't think would come," Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal, who teaches second grade in the district, declined to speak about Zonghetti specifically but said, "It's hard to coach without my current coaching staff. ... I thought it was time to go with my staff."
Said Mamaroneck coach John Savage: "To stand up to pressure and problems, that's the kind of person I want teaching and coaching my kids. That's what a great person does. ... Her values and morals are without reproach."
The latest development comes on the heels of the late-season ouster of boys basketball coach Bill Murphy. (See yesterday's blog.)
Rosenthal returned from giving birth to lead her team to the NYSPHSAA Class A final in 2016.
Zonghetti, Murphy and Rosenthal bring to at least seven the number of varsity head coaches to depart unexpectedly in just two years.
In his first year on the job, AD Ray Pappalardi made decisions to not reappoint, Dave Scagnelli in softball, Doc Scholl in baseball and Jim Mancuso in ice hockey. Brendan Curran said he stepped down in boys lacrosse before Pappalardi could fire him.
Scagnelli also lost his posts with the girls soccer and boys basketball programs, the Scarsdale Inquirer reported.
Help wanted: Cortland sportswriter Tom Vartanian recently informed me that he will no longer be able to compile our weekly state rankings in baseball due to demands on his time.
With that being the case, we're looking for someone interested in stepping into that role. Tom had assembled a solid network of advisers from across the state and we expect most if not all of those helpers to stay onboard, so the process of assembling the weekly rankings shouldn't be overly difficult.
Contact me via e-mail if you think you might be interested.
Top team toppled: John Glascoe scored twice to lead Bishop Timon-St Jude to a 5-2 victory over Sweet Home in Western New York boys hockey action.
Sweet Home is ranked No. 1 in the state in Division II by the New York State Sportswriters Association.
Social (in)justice? A girls basketball player in California was allegedly kicked off her team because she shared a tweet containing a photo of Snoop Dogg holding what appeared to be a marijuana joint.
