Leading off today: The glare of the media spotlight is burning up one of the nation's top high school football programs, and matters in Alabama are getting uglier by the minute.

   Richard Bishop, dismissed as Hoover High School's principal last week, says he was directed "to turn a blind eye" to reports of alleged indiscretions by head football Coach Rush Propst that could be damaging to the coach and the football program, Bishop's lawyers claim.

   In the letter given to the school board Wednesday before it voted not to retain Bishop, the lawyers said Superintendent Andy Craig told Bishop to ignore allegations that Propst had a "secret family and a completely separate life." It also claims that Bishop received reports alleging Propst had affairs with two school employees, The Birmingham News reported.

   "These alleged indiscretions by Coach Propst created an improper and unprofessional atmosphere within the school and polarized the athletic director, principal and head football coach," the letter states. "The superintendent not only failed to address Coach Propst's behavior, but also directed Mr. Bishop to turn a blind eye to these issues. The contemplated non-renewal of Mr. Bishop's contract fits a pattern of running off school administrators who have knowledge of information that is harmful to Coach Propst and potentially harmful to Hoover High School's nationally recognized football program."

   Propst referred questions to his attorney, who called the allegations concerning his personal life hearsay, the newspaper reported. "It is unfortunate that someone would inject such personal accusations into a public forum based on nothing more than rumors," said Russ Campbell, an attorney for Propst.

   Craig said Friday the letter contains inaccuracies.

   The letter alleges:

• Former Hoover High Principal Sandra Spivey told Bishop in August 2006 that a school official and Propst had an affair that was documented by e-mails, and that former Superintendent Connie Williams and Spivey met with the two to give them a warning. When Bishop asked why they received only a warning, Spivey said Propst was "untouchable."
• Former AD Jerry Browning in April reported to Bishop that Propst "had a secret family and completely separate life," and Bishop told the superintendent about it. "Mr. Andy Craig

ordered Mr. Bishop to leave that situation alone and to specifically stay away from investigating Coach Propst's personal life."

• Carol Martin, an assistant principal, reported to Bishop this month that Propst had slept with a Hoover High teacher. "Because of Mr. Craig's prior directive, Mr. Bishop did not investigate or report this incident to the superintendent."

   Martin said Friday she had not seen the letter but said she did not report Propst had slept with a teacher. "I'm very surprised that Richard Bishop would write such a thing," Martin said.

   30th ESGs complete: The 30th Empire State Games concluded Sunday in Westchester County amid generally positive reviews.

   One aspect in which the ESG fell short was online access to results. Let's just say that the web server hosting the ESG data this weekend was so slow that were it human it would have required an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes.

   With money tighter than ever, newspapers that used to send two reporters to handle live coverage only sent one, and papers that used to send one may have stayed home altogether. That meant that agate clerks were depending upon the ESG site for track, swimming and team-sport results. And those results were frequently inaccessible this week because the server was obviously overloaded.

   Side note: A chorus of boos goes out to all athletes who qualified for the Empire State Games and then pulled no-shows.

   Newsday reported last week that the scholastic men's basketball team lost four of its 10 players at a late date because they made other commitments. Matt Cajuste (Jericho), Kyheem Green (Walt Whitman), Chris Johnson (Lindenhurst) and Marcell Lattimore (Copiague) get 20 lashes with a west noodle for abandoning their team to go hang on the summer mercenary circuit known as AAU basketball.

   Extra points: LongIslandBasketball.com says Suffolk County boys basketball will have a new look this season as Class A champion Kings Park moves up to "AA" and Bayport/Blue Point slides down to "B." . . . Malachi Peay, Campus Magnet's 6-foot-4 swingman, has committed to play basketball at the University of Maine of the America East Conference beginning in 2008. Peay averaged 21 points and five rebounds as a Campus Magnet junior.

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