Leading off today: There are still more questions than answers coming out of Western New York as of Thursday evening after a longtime baseball coach issued a statement saying his sudden departure last week in the midst of the Monsignor Martin Association playoffs was voluntary.
St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute Paul Nasca said in a statement to The Buffalo News that he has dealt with anxiety for many years and left because the job's stress was taking a toll on his health.
The disclosure came days after the school confirmed it has hired a Buffalo law firm to look into the baseball program's "culture" without specifying what prompted the outside review beyond saying that a
baseball team parent had raised concerns on May 29.
Nasca, an alumnus of the school, spent 37 years with the St. Joe's baseball program, including 15 as the varsity coach. His teams have won 252 games, eight MMA regular-season championships and five playoff titles.
The paper reported receiving a copy of a school email to parents on June 1 stating Nasca was taking a temporary leave of absence from the program. One day later, St. Joe’s announced Nasca was retiring.
Nichols defeated St. Joe's 5-3 on Saturday to win its first Georgetown Cup title since 1983.
Parents who spoke to the paper said they were not aware of any wrongdoing on Nasca's part or misbehavior by players that the coach had allowed.
"I am not aware of any improper behavior or misconduct by coach that would have led to his departure," said Jennifer Birkemeier, a baseball parent. "The social media rumors are absolutely disgusting, and the slander of his name and the school is unacceptable."
Asked about purported specific incidents, Nasca declined comment.
Nasca said he gave up a coaching position with a local youth club baseball program before leaving St. Joe's.
More coaching news
Nick Medicis is taking the boys basketball job at Fayetteville-Manlius after 19 seasons in charge at Rome Free Academy, with family considerations behind the decision. Medicis and his wide, Jessica, have four young children.
"Our (youngest) kids are at the age where they're going to start kindergarten," he told Syracuse.com. "Danielle, our oldest, is a sixth-grader. She'll start modified sports. So the timing was really like, if we're going to do this, we have to do it now. And it was a lot of sleepless nights. I'm super excited for this, but it's just that connection that I've had with Rome for so long. I got here at 23 and I'm leaving here married with kids. So it definitely was not an easy decision."
He will remain a physical education teacher in the Rome district, where his team went 15-7 last season.
• Tom Vasey has retired after 11 seasons in charge of girls basketball at Our Lady of Mercy and three at Fairport. He was 213-99 with five Section 5 championships and two trips to the NYSPHSAA final four in Troy.
Not just another day at the office for NYSPHSAA's Zayas
Robert Zayas has attended dozens of state championship events during his 14 years as executive director of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, but this one is different: He's at the state girls lacrosse semifinals in Cortland on Friday as a parent.
Olivia Zayas is a sophomore defender and midfielder for Shaker, which faces Penfield in the Class A semifinals. The winner plays Suffern or Huntington on Saturday for the championship.
"For the past 25 years, I’ve been running state championship events,” Robert Zayas told The Times Union, "and to have the opportunity to experience it as a parent, it's just been a lot of fun.
"There's thousands of families every single year that get to experience state championships, and it's really interesting to experience it from the parents' side, because it reinforces that every decision that we make -- the information that we distribute on our website, how we host the events -- it truly does have an impact upon so many kids and so many families."
Mass. school forfeits state lacrosse semifinal
The boys lacrosse team at
Ipswich High forfeited its Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association state semifinal contest Tuesday after the school suspended multiple players who were photographed smoking cigars while celebrating a recent victory.
MIAA rules state student-athletes are not allowed to use or possess tobacco products during their season.
Despite what the photo appears to show, the father of one of the players claimed that the cigars were fake. He told school administrators he had them made with tea and materials from a friend's shop so that seniors could take part in a post-graduation tradition without breaking the MIAA rules.
"I called my friend, he owns a smoke shop, and I said, 'Hey, do you have any fake cigars?'" John Gianakakis said. "And he goes, 'Nah but I can tell you how to make them if you want. I don't know how they're gonna taste,' and I'm like, 'I don't care how they taste, it's for props.'"
Ipswich school administrators did not accept the explanation and maintained the suspensions for six players, after which three others said they would also not play. That left Ipswich with just 11 players, and the school informed the MIAA that the team would forfeit the scheduled Division 4 semifinal vs. Cohasset High.
