Leading off today: Fresh off his third NYSPHSAA football championship, Clymer/Sherman/Panama
coach Ty Harper announced on Sunday that he will not return next fall.
Harper coached a merged Clymer/Sherman team to a 1-7 record in 2014 before Panama joined the program in 2015. He compiled a 78-24 record, including state-championship seasons in 2018, '19, and '24 with CSP.
He made the announcement at the team's season-ending banquet Sunday afternoon in Celoron.
National honors for two coaches
Two New Yorkers are among 24 from across the country to be selected as
2023-24 National Coaches of the Year by the NFHS Coaches Association.
West Genesee's Frank Colabufo, a 500-game winner and New York Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, earned the honor in boys hockey. His Wildcats have won a trio of NYSPHSAA titles, most recently in 2023, and 14 Section 3 championships.
Mount Sinai cheerleading coach Megan Wesolowski earned the award in the girls spirit category.
Wesolowski has led the Mustangs to six NYSPHSAA state championships, including the past five in a row. Her teams have also scored eight consecutive Section 11 crowns.
More awards updates
Gatorade has started rolling out its state players of the year from across the country in various sports.
The pick in football is St. Anthony's senior Gary Merrill, who ran for 1,955 yards and 32 touchdowns to go along with 1,762 yards and 19 scores through the air. The star quarterback has committed to the University of North Carolina, where he will play midfield for the lacrosse team.
The girls volleyball honoree is Fairport outside hitter Kiera Cornman, a University of Hawaii commit in beach volleyball. She helped the Red Raiders to three straight Section 5 large-school championships and a pair of NYSPHSAA titles.
Past Gatorade N.Y. boys players of the year
Past Gatorade N.Y. girls players of the year
• We've posted the New York chapter of the United Soccer Coaches selections in our reference section. The list serves as our all-state team for boys soccer.
Coaching milestone
Little Falls girls basketball Pam Munger recorded her 500th victory over the weekend when the Mounties edged West Canada Valley, 49-46.
Munger, who began coaching at the Section 3 school in 1987, is working with just a seven-player roster this season but has Little Falls off to a 10-1 start.
Two New Yorkers will be pulling double duty
Robert Zayas, the executive director of the NYSPHSAA, has been tasked with chairing the Strategic Planning Committee of the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Zayas, who arrived at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association in 2012, will preside over a 16-person group that will meet over three days in Indianapolis later this month, and the panel's assignment is weighty.
"We're charged with establishing the next strategic plan for our national organization, and there's a lot going on right now," he said. "What's happening at the collegiate level is certainly interesting to see how and if that and how that would trickle down to the to the high school level. So we certainly have our work cut out for us."
A prime example is the rapidly changing NIL landscape that state high school associations are struggling to address as outside agencies and influencers have rushed in to gain a foothold. That's on top of some long-standing concerns.
"There's so much happening right now with transfer eligibility, and with litigation and legislation," Zayas said. "A lot of states are different throughout the country and we're also very similar. So yeah, it's going to be an interesting meeting.
Meanwhile, longtime Fairport coach Scott Fitch has been named head coach of the 2025 Men's U16 National Team by USA Basketball, which will compete in the 2025 FIBA U16 AmeriCup in June.
Fitch has taken on numerous USA Basketball assignments in the past decade, and this is a significant step up the ladder. Most recently, he was as an assistant for the gold-medal winning squad in the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup.
"I always feel blessed every time I'm asked to be a part of it," he told PickinSplinters.com. "It's something special. It's something that very few people get to experience in their lives. As a high school coach, I think it's one of the highest things that you can achieve."
Following in his father's footsteps, Fitch became the head coach at Fairport in 2001.
