Newburgh Free Academy boys basketball coach Luke Pereira has resigned following a 21-2 season that nearly ended with a state title,
The Times Herald-Record reported Thursday.
Pereira, 53, took the job in 1994 and went 249-68 with six Section 9 championships. Last season ended with a 58-56 loss to Mount Vernon in the NYSPHSAA quarterfinals. Mount Vernon went on to win the Class AA championship.
"I don't feel like I want to plan 120 practices next year," he told the newspaper. "I don't feel like I want to have open gyms. I don't feel l want to drive to Newburgh on Saturdays. We ask the kids, when they play, to make a big commitment. I feel like I don't want to make that commitment any more."
Supreme Court hears Brentwood case: The 1997 letter that started it all was the focus of heated questions Wednesday at the Supreme Court during arguments over limits on recruiting student-athletes.
At issue is whether Brentwood Academy near Nashville, Tenn., has a free-speech right to contact prospective students about its sports programs, even though the school belongs to an athletic association with rules that bar such contacts. Justices Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer and David Souter dwelled on the letter from Coach Carlton Flatt that invited eighth-graders to attend spring football practice.
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association sanctioned the school because of that letter and follow-up contacts, but Brentwood won the first phase of its suit before the Supreme Court in 2001 as the high court ruled that the TSSAA was quasi-governmental and could be sued.
Now the two sides are battling over whether the letter amounts to protected speech under the First Amendment.
A ruling is expected by the end of June.
From Candor to Colorado: Three-time NYSPHSAA Class D cross country champ Christian Thompson of Candor will run for Colorado beginning in September.
