Wednesday, June 26, 2019: Poughkeepsie needs a new football coach ... again

   Leading off today: Rumors that the Poughkeepsie football team builds its playbook on an Etch A Sketch each year to make starting over easier are exaggerated, but the Pioneers will play their 2019 season under their fifth head coach in five years according to Hudson Valley Sports Report.

   Joe Houghton has stepped down from both his coaching job and teaching position after just one season, AD Christian Hodge confirmed to the website. Hodge said Houghton has moved to New York City to take a teaching job and will be coaching on Long Island.

   Houghton's arrival from Long Island City High to replace Nigel Whitaker made him Poughkeepsie's fifth coach in six years.

   More job changes: A letter to the editor of the nearby Batavia newspaper disclosed that Lyndonville AD Lee Dillenbeck was not reappointed by school board members, whose 4-3 vote overruled the recommendation of the superintendent.

   Dillenbeck, who has coached a variety of sports over a 23-year career at the school, will reportedly remain as the boys basketball coach.

   And then there's this:

It appears that Henry Sassone will not be brought back as boys basketball coach at North Salem - or be the school's athletic director - next year. Sassone is among the most influential figures in Section 1 Athletics and is in NYS Basketball Hall of Fame.

— Kevin Devaney Jr. (@KDJmedia1) June 26, 2019

   Sassone is a career 400-game winner with four Section 1 championships.

   Sedgwick retires: Syracuse CBA girls lacrosse coach Doug Sedgwick has retired after seven Section 3 and four NYSPHSAA championships over 15 seasons, exiting with a record of 238-65.

   "I was blessed to play for good coaches who brought more to the game than just the game," he said. "I think my message to the girls is that -- and this is a cliche -- you have great players and you win because you have great players, but not really. You win because the kids, they love each other, they care about each other."

   Sedgwick, who has expanded a successful office furniture business from Rochester and Syracuse into Ithaca, Corning and Manhattan, said his work keeps him quite busy and now is the time to make the change.

   Interim AD at Geneva: Geneva's school board has appointed elementary school Principal Tricia Budgar as interim athletic director after the favored candidate turned down the job offer.

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   Superintendent Trina Newton said the can- didate preferred by two committees in the district declined, triggering a re-posting of the job that attracted just one re- sponse when Budgar offered her services.

   Budgar does not have physical education certi- fication, which will necessitate assigning those duties to someone else in the district with the credentials.

   Randy Grenier served as the part-time AD before retiring in December. The job was handled on an interim basis since January by Nate Schneckenburger, an assistant principal at the middle school.

   Awards: Mount Sinai senior Ken Wei has been selected New York's male track and field athlete of the year by Gatorade.

   Wei tripled in the NYSPHSAA Division II meet this month at Middletown, winning the long jump, triple jump and 110-meter hurdles. He followed up with Federation crowns in both jumps and then placed sixth in the long jump at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals.

   Wei will attend MIT in the fall.

    • The NYSPHSAA announced that Hewlett High is the spring 2019 winner of the Community Service Challenge, as selected by the organization's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee from among 78 nominations.

   Hewlett held its fifth annual Leaders Club Field Day last month, bringing together students who participate in two sports and also exhibit leadership, sportsmanship, responsibility and patience. This year's event saw a record nine schools and 120 kids participate.

   Keep an eye on this: With the first round of debates commencing Wednesday night, The Daily Caller reports that the leading contenders are in agreement on an issue that could be the source of controversy in scholastic sports.

   The website reported recently that every Democratic presidential candidate polling above 1 percent supports the Equality Act, a bill that would force schools to include male athletes who identify as transgender girls on female sports teams.

   The bill, which passed the House of Representatives in May, amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make sexual orientation and gender identity protected characteristics under federal anti-discrimination law. The bill would force public schools to expand female athletic teams to include biological males who identify as transgender girls.