Leading off today: Embattled Buffalo McKinley boys basketball coach James Daye resigned before the start of a state Education Department "Part 83" hearing into allegations he had sex with a student in 1991, The Buffalo News reported today.

   Daye, 45, was who led McKinley to a Section 6 championship in 2007, was paid $63,000 for the last year while suspended as a teacher and coach. Under his agreement with the state, Daye resigned before the start of the Part 83 hearing to determine whether Daye "has the requisite moral character to teach in the public schools of the State of New York" in return for having the charges withdrawn, the paper reported.

   But Education Department officials will notify all New York school districts that Daye no longer is certified to teach physical education and English, and also will enter the information in a national clearinghouse.

   Daye and Samuel J. Finnessey Jr., senior attorney for the state Education Department, signed the statement.

   Daye maintains his innocence and told the paper he spent over $60,000 in legal fees over the last two years.

   He was suspended in March 2008 by Superintendent James A. Williams following the newspaper's report on a charge made by Nena Creech, who said she had an affair with Daye when she was a 17-year-old student in Greenville, S.C., and Daye was the boys basketball coach.

   Creech spoke up after learning of the suspension of Jayvonna Kincannon, captain of the McKinley girls team, and dismissal of volunteer coach Michelle Stiles. Stiles had raised questions about seeing Daye leave the home of a relative of a member of the girls team in August 2007, and Kincannon was suspended after complaining about Stiles' dismissal.

   Trouble at soccer Hall: Closing the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta is possible because of financial problems, a top official told The Daily Star.

   Jonathan Ullman, the organization's president, did not provide a timetable for when the Hall's board of directors would make a decision regarding the 40,000-square-foot facility and four adjacent soccer fields. Fall tournaments, including the New York State Public High School Athletic Association boys soccer championships will take place as scheduled but no tournaments are being booked for 2010, Ullman said.

   Oneonta Town Supervisor Robert Wood said he was told last month that closing was a possibility.

   "I have seen the Soccer Hall grow from an idea through the efforts of a lot of local people," Wood told the paper.

   Mexico district cleared: The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights ruled ths week that the Mexico school district did not discriminate against girls sports, The Post-Standard reported.

   The office released a ruling Monday that there was insufficient evidence to support a Title IX complaint raised in April. Elizabeth Passer, whose two daughters played lacrosse last spring, had objected to the district reducing the number of coaches for girls lacrosse in order to add more staff to the track and field teams.

   Passer's husband, David, is the girls varsity lacrosse coach.

   "It's good news for us," Superintendent Nelson Bauersfeld said. "We have always believed we treat all students fairly and equitably and provide all students with the same opportunities."

   Letter of the law: State football coordinator Dick Cerone is hopeful that the rules will be changes some day soon.

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But for now the expectation is that everyone will follow the existing standard when practice opens on Monday.

   The first three days of practice are non-contact with players not allowed to wear pads. Tackling dummies, blocking sleds and shields are also not permitted in the first three days ago.

   Several Section 5 schools as well as others around the state were found to be out of compliance last year, so Cerone has been drilling home the message that coaches risk one-game suspensions.

   "This rule has been in effect for at least 25 years, it's right in the state handbook," Cerone told The Democrat and Chronicle. "It's cut and dried. No hearing, no appeal."

   As the paper noted, the rules seem outdated to some, especially when players often participate in camps in pads for a solid month leading up to the start of practice.

   "Hopefully, we can get a change in a year," Cerone said.

   High-tech swimsuits banned: Sophisticated swimsuits like the ones that dominated last month's World Swimming Championships in Rome have been banned from high school competition by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

   The NCAA OK'd similar restrictions in July.

   "We believe that all of the records that were set this past year (at Nationals) were set with people wearing those high-tech suits, which is 10 records," said Bruce Howard, the NFHS director of publications and communications.

   Cutting-edge suits contain polyurethane, which lifts competitors ever so slightly higher in the water, decreasing drag.

   Sayville boys and girls coach Ed Kropp told Newsday the issue is minor during the regular season meet level but more swimmers at state competitions have begun wearing the suits.

   "Basically everyone who went to high school states last year, virtually everybody had a full-body suit," he said. "It makes a difference. One of my kids bought the shorter version of the suit and he was just slipping through the water."

   Extra points: New Dorp hired Pat Hopkins as boys basketball coach, The Advance reported. He coached boys JVs in 2000-05 and girls JVs in 2008-2009. Hopkins, 34, takes over for 467-game winner Tony Rafaniello, who moved to Moore Catholic after retiring from the NYC Board of Education this year.