Stan Wier
Photo by Lonnie Webb
When transfer talk heats up in New York boys basketball, you can usually count on the discussion revolving around the latest defection from a private school to a PSAL member or vice versa in the Big Apple.
That’s why this week’s development in Buffalo was a shocker. All-state selection Stan Wier, who helped Nichols (Buffalo, N.Y.) to a Federation Class A championship last March in Glens Falls, said he will not return to that school in the fall.
Wier, a 6-foot-2 rising junior who averaged 16.5 points and made the New York State Sportswriters Association’s fifth-team all-state squad, told The Buffalo News he is still evaluating his options. His younger brother Cam will also be transferring.
If Stan Wier stays in Western New York, it’s quite possible he could return to his home district. He played for East Aurora (N.Y.) as a freshman before bringing his solid perimeter skills to Nichols, a private school.
However, competitive factors suggest it’s at least as likely that he will transfer to one of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council members or even national titan Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va. That’s based both on his comments to the newspaper and the fact that Nichols generally plays a more interesting schedule than the public schools in Section VI.
Wier told the paper he’s already been offered scholarships from Rhode Island (coach Jim Baron formerly ran the show at nearby St. Bonaventure) and Colgate. If moving onto the radar of ACC and Big East schools was the sole objective in transferring, he could have just stayed at Nichols. Nichols teammate and NYSSWA Class A player of the year Will Regan is a University of Virginia recruit, and the school also counts Christian Laettner among its alums.
Football recruiting
The University at Buffalo may have landed its quarterback of the future with the announcement by Joe Licata that he has committed to play for the Bulls.
The Williamsville South (Williamsville, N.Y.) star threw for 2,462 yards and 36 TDs with nine interceptions as a junior and had attracted a moderate degree of interest from schools, even snaring an invitation to a junior prospects weekend at Notre Dame last fall before the regime change in South Bend.
Licata informed Bulls coach Jeff Quinn of his decision after attending the Bulls Jr./Sr. Camp at UB Stadium over the weekend.
* Syracuse continued its focus on keeping the in-state talent by locking up two more commitments this week.
Defensive lineman Donnie Simmons of Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.) in White Plains and punter Jon Fisher of Oakfield-Alabama (Oakfield, N.Y.) said they’ll suit up for the Orange in 2011.
At 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, Simmons is likely to line up at outside linebacker early in his college career, perhaps moving inside as his frame fills out. He reportedly had offers from Akron (as an aside, doesn’t it seem as though every New Yorker has an offer from the Zips?), Fordham and Delaware, with Rutgers and Temple also expressing interest.
Fisher is a hard-core Syracuse fan from the Batavia area, not far from where Orange special teams coach Bob Casullo attended college at Brockport State. When Casullo offered following SU’s three-day camp, Fisher jumped.
Fisher averaged 46.7 yards per attempt for the small-school Hornets last fall, which attracted the attention of fellow Big East members UConn, West Virginia and Rutgers.
Girls basketball: Mary Louis star makes her decision
Point guard Karin Robinson, a NYSSWA fourth-team all-state selection last season as a Mary Louis Academy (Jamaica, N.Y.) junior, has committed to play at George Mason.
"They called every week, e-mailed,” the Mary Louis rising senior told The New York Post. "They were one of the few schools that did that. I liked the fact that they actually stayed on top of me, kept interest in me."
Robinson also had offers from Cincinnati, Memphis, Seton Hall and West Virginia.
Coaching developments
* We can’t wait to see what kind of grief the new boys basketball coach at Grand Island (N.Y.) gets the first time he forgets to call the local newspaper with his team’s score and stats.
Former Niagara Gazette sports reporter Nate Beutel, who’s also been stringing for The Buffalo News recently while working on a master’s degree in elementary education, has been appointed to the post. Beutel, 22, previously was the JV coach at Medaille College and was a football assistant at nearby Wilson Central.
* Erik O’Bryan, who took North Tonawanda (N.Y.) from 3-17 to 16-4 (with two wins vs. traditional Section VI kingpin Niagara Falls) in three seasons, is leaving to take over the boys basketball program at Niagara-Wheatfield (Sanborn, N.Y.).
O’Bryan will replace 14-year varsity coach Joe Casale under a district agreement with the teachers union that gives preference to district employees in coaching assignments. O'Bryan teaches phys ed in the N-W district; Casale, who has been involved in coaching there for 26 years, is not an N-W teacher.
* Add Columbia (East Greenbush, N.Y.) softball mentor Gary Holtz to the lengthy list of coaches who've turned in their retirement papers. Holtz will remain on the football staff at Union College, but he'd done with high school coaching after 362 wins in 22 seasons at Columbia, where he was also a basketball assistant. Holtz's teams won seven sectional titles and reached the 2009 state semifinals.
* Geneseo (N.Y.) track and cross country coach Mike Garger has left to become the head coach job at Fredonia State. His boys and girls cross country teams went 381-95 (including 42-0 last year) in 13 seasons, with the girls earning a NYSPHSAA championship in 2007, and the girls track squad has nailed down 12 straight Section V crowns.
* Tom Hughes has been appointed football coach at Edison (Elmira Heights, N.Y.), where Archie McNelis retired after 23 seasons. It's Hughes' first head coaching job.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
