Leading off today: Hey, Trailways drivers, be careful departing from Lansing, N.Y. A football coach may have been thrown under your vehicle.

   After reading today's story in The Ithaca Journal, I'm left to wonder who in their right mind would want to coach in the Lansing School District without some assurances that they won't be the next victim of the populace.

   As I mentioned yesterday, Bob Brantner said Tuesday that he had resigned as football coach at Lansing. The newspaper article, however, makes it clear that he didn't have much choice because there appears to have been a distinct lack of support from above or beneath the second-year coach.

   If Brantner's coaching style or philosophy rubbed people wrong in 2008, the senior administration and school board could have opted to not re-appoint him after the season. Perhaps he got worse this year — and "worse" is a loaded word since I have no reason to believe he was ever "bad" in the first place — but administrators and the school board would have been far better off telling the complainers to put a sock in it until after the season.

   That's how it would be handled — and should be handled — in at least 98 percent of communities around the state.

   Now, Lansing will have to seek a permanent replacement after the season. Prospective candidates would be foolish to not wonder whether anyone would have their back the first time the natives got restless.

   This reminds me an awful lot of how people in Fairport couldn't wait to get rid of their coach a few years back. They got their wish, and now Rich Morgan is one of the most successful coaches in the state of Virginia. I'm not claiming Brantner was a lock to ever reach the Carrier Dome, but a 6-7 mark in 1½ seasons hardly consitutes failure for a school that only wins a sectional championship every decade or so.

   Setback for Wolverines: Niagara Falls quarterback Bruce Hartinger was suspended from school indefinitely Tuesday following his arrest on charges of third-degree assault, The Niagara Gazette reported. Coach Dan Bass told the paper Hartinger is also suspended from the team.

   The Wolverines are 3-1 heading into Friday's game at Williamsville North. Tailback Dale Stewart is expected to move to QB.

   “He gives us the best chance to win,” Bass told the paper.

RoadToSyracuse.com Football Site

   Hall of fame coach dies: Former Poly Prep baseball coach Harlow A. Parker, an inductee in the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, died Monday at the age of 91, The Brooklyn Eagle reported.

   Parker, an Elba native and graduate, compiled a 509-232-14 record in 40 seasons of coaching and was also a four-term president of the Ivy Prep School League.

   Back in gear: Atiq Lucas, who had "college impact player" wriiten all over him last year at St. Anthony's before breaking a leg, is off to a great start at Suffield Prep in Connecticut.

   Lucas rushed seven times for 156 yards and two TDs vs. Tabor in his return to action, a 27-6 victory. His TD runs covered 55 and 60 yards.

   For hoops junkies: I recently wandered into AllBasketballReview.com a couple of times before reealizing there was a Rochester connection.

   The site is a collection of news and observations about all levels of basketball from high schools to the international level. The man driving the content is University of Virginia women's recruiting coordinator Jeff House, who cut his teeth as Jeff Van Gundy's assistant at McQuaid in 1985 and on Joe Marchese's state quarterfinalist squad the following winter. He's a 1987 Nazareth College graduate.

   Extra points: Junior Meeghan Arno scored twice to set the school career record in Maple Hill's 7-0 win over Taconic Hills yesterday. Arno tied and the eclipsed Kelena Miller's mark of 78 goals set in 2000. She has 19 goals this season during a 6-0-2 start.