Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012: Shen approves replacements for two coaches

   Brian Clawson and Jonathan Bain were named as the next Plainsmen varsity football and boys varsity soccer coach, respectively, The Saratogian reported.

   Clawson has been a football assistant coach since 2008. Bain has been the JV soccer coach since 2007. Both are also teachers in the district. Brent Steuerwald announced before last season he was stepping down after his 43rd year as the only football coach in Plainsmen history. finished with a 307-84-4 mark.

   Mike Campisi coached boys soccer 32 years, retiring with a 534-91-60 mark, two mythical national championships and six New York State Public High School Athletic Association titles.

   Shen must still replace girls basketball coach Ken Strube, who announced his impending retirement at the beginning of the season. JV coach Tim Minor has already said he will also retire this spring.

   Gates Chili coach fired after rape charge: Monte Nowden, 38, the second-year boys varsity basketball coach at Gates Chili, was fired Monday after town police charged him with third-degree rape and third-degree criminal sex act. Gates Police said Nowden is accused of having sex on Jan. 30 with a female student, 16, in a nearby movie theater.

   Nowden is a former star athlete at the school as well as an accomplished football player at UConn. He was inducted into the Section 5 football hall of fame. The school district said Nowden was also fired from his job as a per diem in-school suspension supervisor.

   Nowden's bail was set at $5,000 cash. His next appearance in Gates Town Court is Feb. 13. School officials learned of the alleged incident Monday morning and said they immediately contacted police.

   "When you're in a position where you have influence over other people, you have a responsibility," Police Chief David DiCaro said. "In this case, he had a moral, ethical and legal responsibility not to engage in this kind of activity. ... The bottom line is, he's an adult and he has the responsibility to not get into a situation like this."

   Gates Chili officials appointed JV coach Chris Amesbury as interim varsity coach.

   More Nazareth drama: Nazareth, the defending Federation Class AA champion in girls basketball, finds itself in hot water once again -- and this time the Lady Kingsmen might really have a problem.

   The New York Post reported that Nazareth is being investigated by CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens over whether freshman Brittney Jackson should have been ineligible for three games she appeared in recently after coming to the Brooklyn school in November from The Mary Louis Academy.

   Though Nazareth co-coach Lauren Best told the paper that proper procedure was followed because the rules do not indicate that a freshman transfer who never played for another school must go through the committee, there is precedent in place, as other schools have taken steps to get clearance for players in a similar situation in the past.

   The issue could be discussed at Wednesday's scheduled meeting of league principals. The penalty for a finding of non-compliance by the school would begin with forfeits for games Jackson played. The league could also shut the team down for the remainder of this season and beyond.

   Last week, the newspaper also reported that the CHSAA Eligibility and Infractions Committee recommended that Christ the King and Bishop Ford forfeit their first meetings with Nazareth, games they refused to play following coach Apache Paschall's death on Jan. 3. The final decision is in the hands of the principals on Wednesday.

   Random thought: Is there any paper in the country these days that works the high school beat harder than The New York Post? The preps crew there, working in possibly the most competitive media market on the planet, scores scoop after scoop on breaking news, recruiting updates and good gossip that ends up being factual.

   Catching up I: This note escaped my attention over the weekend but is too amazing to not double back on.

   Webster Thomas' 79-68 boys basketball victory over Victor on Friday was No. 457 of his 34 seasons on the bench for Bill O'Rourke Jr. Combined with the 343 wins by Bill O'Rourke Sr., that gave the father-and-son team 800 victories in 62 years of coaching.

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   I think Jack Curran would be allowed to give that accomplishment a "so-what" shrug of the shoulders -- not that he would do so -- but no one else in the sport in New York can.

   Catching up II: Mohawk junior Carson Murphy went over 1,000 career points in style Monday during a 63-56 win over Ilion, breaking his own school mark by pouring in 41 points.

   Murphy reached 1,000 with a 3-pointer during his 20-point third quarter en route to his eighth 30-point game of the season.

   Tyler Sayre broke Albertus Magnus’ all-time scoring record with a basket in the first quarter of the Falcons’ 81-63 win at Spring Valley. The senior forward scored 24 points to reach 1,096 -- or 15 more than 1994 graduate Antoine Duvert.

   In girls hoops, Lynbrook senior Brooke Gerstman recently broke the school mark of 1,076 points by Caroline Kaufman that had stood since 1989.

   Catching up III: Oswego City School District suspended girls basketball coach Phil Reed for the remainder of the season. District Superintendent Bill Christ did not elaborate, but at least one parent contact several media outlets over the weekend to complain about a Friday practice that was allegedly excessively harsh on players.

   "It is with considerable disappointment that the Oswego High School girls’ varsity basketball coach has been suspended from his coaching duties for the remainder of the season," the district's statement said. "The Oswego City School District encourages hard work and dedicated efforts from coaches and student-athletes both in practice and under game conditions."

   Random thought: It's possible there was more to the Oswego situation than just a harsh practice and a terse note to players. In fact, I would hope there's something else that the district took into consideration.

   Otherwise, the presumed allegation against the coach -- that he conducted a "run till you hurl" practice -- just doesn't cut it. Off the top of my head, a 3-11 team might be sufficiently lacking in talent so that outhustling and wearing down an opponent might be the only way to win.

   Double standard? The PSAL's borough tournaments were scheduled to begin Tuesday -- minus Thurgood Marshall and Gompers, barred after a brief scuffle in which players left the bench during Gompers' 67-66 win last Thursday. Gompers coach Ned Jackson and TMA's Abdu-Allah Torrence received word over the weekend that they had been hit with the organization's traditional two-game ban even though the incident wasn't serious enough to stop the game.

   So how is it that Abraham Lincoln and South Shore, whose game last Tuesday featured a fracas substantial enough for the contest to be ruled a double forfeit, are being allowed to play in Brooklyn's borough tournament?