Just wondering: Now that men's basketball assistant Rob Senderoff has been forced out of his job at Indiana as the
de facto fall guy for Kelvin Sampson, what happens to the New York recruiting pipeline?
A New York native, Senderoff was largely responsible for the Hoosiers landing Devin Ebanks, sixth-team all-state two seasons ago at Bishop Loughlin before leaving New York for a year of prep school. Abraham Lincoln junior Lance Stephenson has Indiana on his list and recently made an unofficial visit there.
Point guard Terrell Holloway, sixth-team all-state for Hempstead last year and now attending an Ohio prep school, said this week that he will play for the Hoosiers next year. But that non-binding commitment was made before Senderoff took the fall for improper phone contact with prospective recruits.
Dan Dakich, director of basketball operations, is likely to move over to fill the coaching vacancy, which could help secure the recruiting class. He's a fomer Hoosiers player and assistant under Bob Knight who also spent 10 seasons running the Bowling Green program.
Clip and save: Here are a couple of good pieces that reporters are advised to print and save in a safe place for future reference:
Newsday delved into the subject of playing surfaces for field hockey teams this morning. Of the 19 schools with field hockey in Nassau County, only Garden City, Manhasset, Port Washington and Cold Spring Harbor have FieldTurf. And only Garden City and Manhasset play all of their home games on that surface; it makes a bumpy transition for everyone alternating between grass and artificial surfaces because, unlike soccer or lacrosse, the ball is more or less intended to stay on the ground the whole game.
The other half of the story is the strategy behind scheduling games. As the story explained, some coaches try to schedule games against fast and highly skilled opponents on natural grass to slow them down.
Meanwhile, the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester wrote this week about eating disorders. The story says that, compared to others, athletes are at least five times as likely to be at risk of developing an eating disorder, but many coaches lack knowledge about the problem. Eating-disorder specialists are presenting a free seminar Friday for Section 5 coaches, school counselors and parents to help them identify students who may have a problem.
Extra points: In a story we've been chronicling here recently, embattled Hoover (Ala.) football Coach Rush Propst resigned Tuesday night effective at the end of the season. The move came one day after School Board President Donna Frazier had called for Propst's ouster. . . . The Smith Center (Kan.) football team scored 72 first-quarter points last night en route to an 86-0 win over Plainville High. Smith Center, a defending state champion, has outscored its opponents 640-0 this season. The previous U.S. scholastic record for points in a quarter was 66 by Prescott (Ariz.) in 1925.
