Leading off today: A tip of the cap to the Basketball Coaches Association of New York for continuing to work to promote the sport.
BCANY Executive Director David Archer announced Tuesday that the organization will organize scholastic boys and girls basketball events this summer to fill the void left by the demise of the Empire State Games.
The organization's board of directors will finalize details at its meeting March 18 as the New York State Public High School Athletic Association holds its boys final fours in Glens Falls.
Archer said coaches throughout the state are eager to add events to the schedule for high school players, who have seen opportunities outside the AAU circuit dwindle in recent months. The ESGs scheduled for Rochester this July were scrapped late last year when the state slashed the operating budget and the local organizing committee was not able to secure the estimated $1 million needed to operate the Olympics-style event.
More recently, the NYSPHSAA announced an extension into the 2011-12 school year of a schedule reduction to just 18 games -- the shortest in the country according to the BCANY -- for its member schools.
Crackdown: The PSAL may be trying to send a message about recruiting with the news that two well-known and successful coaches have been hit with severe penalties.
Steve Mandl, who coached George Washington to 25 straight baseball division titles beginning in 1984, was suspended immediately, as was Forest Hills boys basketball coach Ben Chobhaphand. They're banned from coaching for one year according to New York media reports.
"I didn't do anything, but I don't want to talk about it right now," Mandl told The New York Daily News. "I'm (too) busy with my team right now to get into that. It didn't hit me yet. I just found out. I think it's ridiculous."
Lehman coach Adam Droz told the paper he notified the PSAL last year about allegations that Mandl recruited one of his players. Walton coach Jason Norman said his AD was contacted last month about whether one of his top players legitimately transferred to George Washington.
The basketball investigation apparently began after Francis Lewis coach Perry Dortch told the PSAL over the summer that Chobhaphand was allegedly recruiting 6-foot-5 Denzel Thomas, who played on the JV squad last season. Thomas briefly enrolled at Forest Hills and now attends Queens High School of Teaching.
In a sidebar today, The Daily News said the prevailing wisdom is that recruiting is widespread but rarely prosecuted by the PSAL or CHSAA. And in this instance, the timing is more than a little curious; Forest Hills is the No. 8 seed in the city's Class AA basketball tournament. that begins this week.
"It's crazy," said Cardozo basketball coach Ron Naclerio. "If Ben could have gone back several months or a year or two and done things differently to not be in basketball jail, I'm sure he would have. I don't know."
One unidentified Queens basketball coach questioned the PSAL's consistency: "The same crime in Queens and the Bronx gets you in the Garden in Brooklyn," he said, referring to the PSAL championship game.
Paschall speaks: Nazareth girls basketball coach Apache Paschall had been silent about an investigation into his alleged recruiting infractions by CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Eligibility and Infractions Committee until sitting down with The New York Post this week.
Paschall, assistant coach Ron Kelley and Nazareth administrators met with the committee three weeks ago, and a ruling is expected soon. Paschall and many of his players came over to Nazareth in the fall after St. Michael Academy closed its doors in the spring. Questions arose about eighth-graders who followed him to Nazareth.
"Since this happened, I’ve been scared to go see any kid play and I have seventh and eighth graders that are looking at us," Paschall told the paper. "I haven’t been around, because I don’t want it to be hotter than it is. It’s hurting my program. I have eighth graders that aren’t even responsive to me now, because they think we might be thrown out of the league."
