Much has taken place in local high school athletics in the month after the conclusion of the spring sports season, final exams and graduation ceremonies.
And that includes, at East Syracuse-Minoa, a change in the athletic director’s position. The retirement of Bill McEachron created an opening, and the school decided to stay within the district and moved Bob Campese into the AD spot.
Campese has served as the high school’s assistant principal for nine years, but before that he made a name at Henninger, where as football head coach for 15 years he led the Black Knights to five Section III titles.
Even with his assistant principal’s work at ESM, Campese stayed in coaching, serving as offensive coordinator under Kevin DeParde for the varsity Spartans, who won sectional titles in 2006 and 2011. He will continue to serve as Section III football chairman.
At Fayetteville-Manlius, much transition is in store for the fall season, and that’s just in football and cross country, where some big names will be missing due to transfers.
Mary Barger, who helped F-M win its seventh consecutive national championship last fall as a sophomore, has left the district, moving to Pittsford Mendon in suburban Rochester due to a job change involving Barger’s father.
After Section III and state Class A championship efforts, Barger finished 22nd in last December’s Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon. At Pittsford Mendon, Barger will run in the Class B ranks, likely as a state individual title contender.
Her departure hurts F-M’s depth in its 2013 national title quest, though stars like Alana Pearl, Annika Avery, Jenna Farrell and Jessica Howe will return.
Meanwhile, Tyrone Wheatley, one of the nation’s most sought-after junior football recruits, followed his father to the Buffalo area and is now at Canisius High School.
Wheatley played varsity football and basketball for the F-M Hornets in his freshman and sophomore years. At 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds, he immediately turned into a force, especially as a football defensive end and tight end, drawing recruiting attention from the likes of Alabama, Michigan and Penn State.
But Wheatley’s time at F-M was bound to end as soon as his father followed Doug Marrone and left the Syracuse University coaching staff to become running backs coach for the Buffalo Bills. At Canisius, Wheatley will be joined by his younger brother, Terius, who was part of the F-M track and field team last spring.
Back at home, two new varsity football coaches will take over in the fall, as Damien Rhodes succeeds Paul Muench at F-M and, at Bishop Grimes, Anthony Talarico is taking over.
Talarico, who replaces Bill Cloonan, coached the modified team at Grimes last year and will work to bring up participation numbers, always an issue at the small private school.
