Leading off today: It's a coaching news kind of day in New York high school sports, beginning with a new destination for New York City girls basketball coach Mike Toro.
Toro, already a veteran of the metro scene at the age of 32, announced Monday on Twitter that he is leaving St. Joseph's High in Brooklyn next fall to become the AD and basketball coach at St. Jean Baptiste, an all-girls school in Manhattan.
Administrators at St. Joseph's announced in the spring that the school will close following the end of classes next June. (Another Brooklyn school, Bishop Kearney, closed this past spring.)
St. Peter's makes change: As is usually the case in coaching changes, we're unlikely to learn what prompted administrators at St. Peter's to change football coaches in mid-season. If it even remotely related to the team's record, then they apparently grade a whole lot tougher on Staten Island than most other precincts of the state.
The Advance reported Monday that George Mahoney was relieved of his duties and replaced by former coach and AD Mark DeCristoforo. The majority of the coaching staff was also dismissed.
Mahoney, who took over for DeCristoforo following the 2017 season, was 1-3 in his second season, but two of the losses were to upper-echelon CHSFL members Archbishop Stepinac and Christ the King. The other loss was to an above-average Chaminade.
"The vision of the administration on our football program and the current coaching staff didn't align," Principal Michael Cosentino said. "Our decision had nothing to do with wins or losses, but rather the process (the coaching staff had taken in attempting to be successful).
"We felt a change was necessary at this time with the idea that (the current state of the program) would not help with the growth process of our program and, ultimately, the school. We're doing what we feel is the right thing for our students and the school on a whole."
DeCristoforo became head coach in 2013 and posted a 29-21 record in five seasons, including a 10-1 mark in 2014. When he stepped down after the 2017 season, the school named DeCristoforo its director of football operations.
DeCristoforo will retain his titles as athletic director and dean of discipline.
Queensbury job dispute: The boys basketball coaching change at Queensbury has resulted in an appeal to have the New York State Education Department review the new hiring.
The district's school board appointed Greg Dixon last month pending the commissioner of education issuing him a temporary coaching license. The Post-Star reported Dixon is not a teacher, school leader or pupil personnel service member in the district.
Doug Fraser, a teacher in the district, was informed in April that he would not be reappointed to the position for a 12th season but applied for the position anyway.
