Leading off today: Fifth-year McKee/Staten Island Tech boys basketball coach Tim Hynes quit this week after being hit with a list allegations of misconduct that includes questions as to whether he intentionally lost the team's first PSAL playoff appearance in 19 years,
The Advance of Staten Island
is reporting.
Hynes resigned Wednesday after a meeting presided over by principals Linda Waite (McKee) and Vincent Maniscalco (Staten Island Tech). Neither of the principals responded to the newspaper's requests for comment.
Hynes, 35-86 in five seasons, said the allegations against him included verbal abuse and mental trauma, bias against one of the schools comprising the blended team, intentionally losing the playoff game against Alfred E. Smith High and harming players' chances of attending college.
"I said to myself I should resign and at least I'm walking away because I'm upset with the situation, instead of being fired for doing something wrong -- because I didn't feel I did something wrong," Hynes told The Advance.
Hynes alleges that Waite pressured him on the eve of the playoff game to reinstate two players who had skipped four games apiece leading up to the PSAL game, which Alfred E. Smith won by a 79-52 margin. Hynes said the players missed at least one of the games due to a ski trip and that they also missed numerous practices.
Hynes alleges he was told by Waite and AD Jim McCarthy that he had to use the two players in the game, and both did appear on the court for a few minutes. But the coach was summoned to an April 24 meeting that set the table for the allegations against him, leading to Wednesday's resignation.
East Hampton hoops star arrested: Three teenagers, including East Hampton basketball star Michael Russell, are accused of attempting to rob a bicyclist in East Hampton last month.
Russell, a junior, was selected to the Class A second team by the New York State Sportswriters Association. East Hampton town police said Russell, 17, the grandson of coach Ed Petrie; Darius Z. Petty, 17, of East Hampton; and Jeramee Griffin, 17, of Southampton, tried to rob a cyclist on April 2. Each was charged with felony counts of first- and second-degree attempted robbery.
According to the East Hampton Star, Russell said in a statement after his arrest on Friday that he declined to join the other two suspects in the attack and saw them from a distance standing over the victim.
Russell, who also plays football and lacrosse, was arraigned on Saturday and released on bail, the newspaper reported.
Milestone for Carthage coach: Rob Grimm recorded five goals and three assists Thursday as Carthage (15-0) routed Indian River, 17-3. It was career victory No. 300 for coach Kirk Ventiquattro. He is 300-79 since starting the Carthage program in 1989.
