Leading off today: Craig Gilbert tied the state record for career coaching wins in girls soccer on Monday as Tamarac defeated Schuylerville, 2-1.

   Gilbert's 440th triumph (versus 61 losses and 31 ties in 26 seasons) tied him with Oneonta's Helen Sanford. Tamarac is 5-0 this fall.

   Gilbert has guided teams to 11 sectional championships and a 2004 state title.

   "The way he goes about his business, I don't think there is anyone better in the area," Lansingburgh AD Michael Harkin, formerly of Tamarac, told The Record of Troy this week. "When he breaks the record, there will be no one better in the state."

   Saugerties saga, part 3: The board of education decided Monday that construction of Saugerties High's new track will proceed as planned partly because there is no money for changes.

   The school board held a special meeting Monday to discuss the track, part of a $27.65 million facilities project. Though the board heard comments in favor of changing the track's configuration and adding two lanes, The Daily Freeman reported others raised concerns that the necessary money would come from other project areas.

   Architects and project managers said it would cost between $325,000 and $400,000 to add two lanes to the track. Changing the track's configuration to allow for a regulation soccer/football field on the infield would cost at least $1.8 million more.

   Track coach Ted Suttmeier said the administration was told over two years ago that the preferred track would have eight lanes and more gradual turns and shorter straightaways.

   'NYT' chimes in on concussions: The Saturday edition of The New York Times contained about 1,400 words of must reading on the subject of concussions. I wish it could be made mandatory reading for every high-school athlete and coach in the country.

   Reporter Alan Schwarz confirmed what most of us had already suspected: Many of the 1.2 million teens playing football either do not know what a concussion is or simply do not care. "Their code of silence, bred by

football’s gladiator culture," Schwarz wrote, "allows them to play on and sometimes be hurt much worse — sometimes fatally."

   Though athletic trainers report about 5 percent of high school players sustain concussions each season, widespread surveys of players strongly suggest the number is perhaps 900 percent higher. That's not a typo.

   Schwarz reported that anonymous surveys that ask specifically about concussions have reported rates of 15 percent among high school players each season; when the word "concussion" is replaced with a description of symptoms, close to 50 percent of players say they had one.

   My only quibble with the piece is its fixation on football. Other collision sports such as soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse aren't even mentioned but certainly should be.

   Improvements at SUNY Albany: The University of Albany wants mostly public funding for a $60 million, multipurpose stadium that would seat 10,000 to 15,000 fans.

   The Times Union reports school officials submitted a plan to the State University of New York system but the SUNY board of trustees has yet to consider the request. Gov. Eliot Spitzer would then decide whether to fund the project in an upcoming annual budget.

   The university upgraded its sports program to Division I in 1999, but its current football field is barely comparable to a number of Division III facilities across New York. A new facility would be a plus for Section 2 athletics as well, with a number of high school football, soccer and lacrosse games likely to be played there. That would include some state tournament games now held primarily in Kingston.

   Extra points: Manhasset St. Mary's basketball point guard Scott Machado, a mid-level Division I prospect, will play for St. Benedict's in New Jersey this season. ScoutNYpreps.com reports Machado's family has moved to North Carolina, but he'll stay with friends or relatives. . . . In Western New York news, Ed Hoak, a 10-year assistant, is the new head basketball coach at St. Francis. . . . A high school football game in Scottsdale, Ariz., was called off over the weekend because thieves stole copper wires feeding power to the stadium lights. The lights at Anthem Boulder Creek's stadium wouldn't come on at game time Friday, leading to a 90-minute delay while officials determined that the problem was missing wiring.

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