Leading off today: New Paltz State men's basketball coach Doug Pasquerella has resigned after five seasons in order to return to coaching and teaching at Homer High, the Times Herald-Record reported.

   At Homer, Pasquerella expects to coach boys' basketball, a fall sport and possibly girls lacrosse, the newspaper reported. He will be teaching physical education in high school and elementary school.

   "The irony is it's the same position I left five years ago -— it opened up through retirements and teaching moves,'' Pasquerella, 33, told the newspaper.

   New Paltz was 11-14 last season, bringing Pasquerella's five-season record to 42-85. His first team finished 11-17 but came within a victory of an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. He previously spent seven seasons as a men's basketball assistant at Cortland State.

   New Paltz has begun its search for a new coach.

   Habecker's back in business: Former Ithaca High soccer coach Terry Habecker will coach Newfield's boys this fall, he told The Ithaca Journal.

   Habecker was let go at Ithaca in June after 35 seasons (435-176-37 record) because of a district policy that gives priority to district employees for coaching positions. Habecker retired as a physical education teacher in 2004.

   Newfield was winless with two ties in 2006.

   Milano's family files suit: The family of Spackenkill High football player Mark Milano, who died last Oct. 7 after he was treated at Saint Francis Hospital for an ankle injury, is suing.

   The lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court names the hospital and the emergency room physician, Dr. Kimberly Wattoff, as defendants. The medical group that ran the emergency room, Emergency Physicians Services of New York, was also named in the suit, which alleges the teen was given an overdose of narcotics.

   Attorney William Tendy, who is representing the Milano family, said medical records indicate Milano was given multiple doses of morphine and Dilaudid (a synthetic form of morphine) after he was admitted Oct. 6 for treatment of a dislocated ankle suffered in a game.

   Hospital spokesman Larry Hughes said he could not comment specifically on Milano’s death or the lawsuit, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported.

   Nassau changes baseball format: The conference alignment in Nassau baseball will change for the 2008 season to the dismay of many coaches, Newsday reports.

   Teams will be grouped by program strength rather than enrollment, conforming to the format used in basketball, soccer, softball and girls volleyball. All Section 8 Class AA teams will be evaluated together and then broken into several divisions. Class A, B and C will be assessed together and then assigned to divisions.

   "It's pretty clear what the coaches want," Massapequa coach Tom Sheedy, president of the Nassau Coaches Association, told the newspaper. "The powers above the coaches decided it will be an ability-based league. Enrollment is nice and simple."

   The coaches are resisting the change in part because a team with a dominant pitcher can be one of the best clubs that day and struggle the next. Additionally, relative parity within divisions will make for more close games -- and fewer opportunities for players at the end of the bench who normally get at-bats in lopsided games. Sheedy said he carried 26 players this spring but might stick with as few as 18 next year.

   The Newsday story did not get into the effect on postseason play, but dividing 22 Class AA teams into three or more divisions has serious implications. The seventh-best team in the county could end up with a 5-15 record and the eighth-ranked team, playing in a lower division, could go 15-5.

   The sub-.500 team could very well be superior but get a lower seed -- or be left out of sectionals altogether.

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