Additions and subtractions of coaches at the end of the school year: LL League news, notables | High school sports

A few things to note from the Lancaster-Lebanon League, as the school year comes to an end and the preparatory work for the fall season – gulp – begins …

* There will be a big change at the top of Warwick’s volleyball program, after longtime coach Nate Gajecki announced he was stepping down after 18 years as Warriors skipper.

Gajecki’s tenure certainly ended on a high note, having guided Warwick to a co-Section 1 crown and the program’s first league championship last spring. The Warriors followed that up with a third-place finish in the District 3 tournament, before retiring to Northampton in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A playoffs.

Warwick finished the season ranked 8th in the PVCA State Ranking.

Gajecki started the season as the longest-serving manager in the LL League. He is leaving as one of the most successful volleyball coaches in league history, and now Warwick is tasked with finding his replacement.

* Linden Hall is set to join the LL League as an associate member in the fall, and the Lions basketball team – which has just won its fourth consecutive Class 2A District 3 championship – is now looking for a new head coach after Ellen Bair quit to take on another very interesting basketball gig.

Linden Hall has gone 46-12 under Bair over the past four seasons, including a 15-6 mark last winter, which included a trip to the second round of the PIAA playoffs – after the Lions defeated Columbia in the D3-2A title match for the second year in a row.

Bair took the head coaching job at Shipley School from Bryn Mawr in suburban Philadelphia. The Gators compete in the Friends School League and have won Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association state championships in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. It’s traditionally a strong women’s basketball program, and Bair is will slip right after four successful campaigns at Linden Hall. , which will join Section 4 of the LL League next winter – with a new head coach. Stay tuned.

We are thrilled to announce that Ellen Bair has been named our head coach of varsity women’s basketball! We can’t wait to get started! #GoGators🐊 pic.twitter.com/8qqGxM4cGt

— Shipley Women’s Basketball (@ShipleyGbball) June 17, 2022

* Elizabethtown has a new women’s basketball captain, and he’s a familiar face on the schedule: Todd Brubaker will slip into a seat, JV coach and college assistant, calling the shots for the Bears.

Brubaker, longtime coach of E-town’s athletic program, succeeds John Myers, who resigned last season after guiding the Bears to 103 wins and two sectional championships during his nine seasons on the bench.

Now Brubaker has the keys to the E-town girls’ program.

* Lampeter-Strasburg has named Tony Fink’s successor as the Pioneers’ women’s basketball coach. Say hello to Steve Villbrandt, an LL League guy who’s spent the past few years as Jason McDonald’s loyal assistant in Pequea Valley.

Villbrandt will replace Fink, who guided LS to 159 wins in his 10 seasons on the bench, including a co-Section 3 title – and a trip to the state playoffs – last winter.

* Yet another women’s basketball coaching position could be filled as early as Monday night, when the Penn Manor school board votes to approve Michael Glackin as the next Comets skipper.

Glackin has spent the past two seasons as one of Megan Collins’ top lieutenants on the bench, and he’s poised to take the reins of the program if he gets school board approval.

Penn Manor has won 65 games in Collins’ seven years on the bench, including 17 wins last season when the Comets won their first Division 1 championship. in 47 yearswent to the LL League semi-finals and made their deepest post-season journey in program history with a run to the D3-6A seventh-place game.

This leaves a vacant coaching position in LL League women’s basketball circles: Garden Spot. The Spartans are ticking one box at a time as the district is also in the process of hiring a new athletic director. Sparty Nation may not have a finalist for the women’s basketball position until August. Stay tuned.

* Sad news to pass on as former Warwick women’s basketball head coach and Manheim Township and Cedar Crest assistant Mike Hackman died earlier this week. Hackman survived a chilling incident in Mannheim Township two years ago:

RIP to Mike Hackman, Cedar Crest women’s basketball assistant, who passed away tonight. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. A hilarious guy who has cracked me up and many others over the years. May he rest easy now.

— Pat Huggins (@phuggsports) June 17, 2022

TWITTER: @JeffReinhart77

More LNP LL League coverage