Rochester Making Moves.

Written Friday April 20th at 8:30 PM

The Rochester Falcons are making headlines this offseason in the Girls Sports.

Volleyball

The Falcons have named Kirk Gibbs the new head coach of the volleyball program taking over for coach Sarah Titran. Gibbs will be the third coach in three seasons for Rochester that needs to find some consistency in it's program. He brings over 20 years of coaching experience including 11 years as the team's Junior Varsity coach.

The Falcons had a 4-3 record in the White last season.

"There is no one that has more passion and pride in the Rochester Volleyball program than Coach Gibbs. There is no doubt in my mind that Kirk will provide our student-athletes and strive to make this program consistently competitive. I'm extremely pleased with the way Kirk conducts himself as a coach and how much time and effort he invests in our program" said Athletic Director Luke Beach in a press release.

Thoughts

This is an interesting hire to promote Gibbs to the Varsity program. He will have his challenges ahead of him not only in the White but also in the city of Rochester with Adams and Stoney Creek. The Highlanders and Cougars are both in the Red this season. Stoney Creek is expected to be the best team in the city and are well coached under Ross Talbot. Adams made gains last season under coach Bridgette Harding but they could be young this season. I'm optimistic on this hire for Rochester even though I have some concerns here despite having a young nucleus back with most of these ladies that were coached by Gibbs at some point in time. If the Falcons wants to be competitive they must take things one game at a time.

Girls Basketball

Jeff Haney is back.

The long time Falcons Girls Basketball coach is back on the sidelines at Rochester taking over for coach Al Poynter. Haney has a 132-69 record which includes three district titles and two regional titles.

Haney also coaches Girls Golf as well (won three State titles) and has had successful stints coaching the Junior Varsity and Freshman programs for both Girls and Boys.

"We are thrilled that Coach Haney has chose to return to lead our Girls Basketball program. Jeff is an outstanding coach and knows what it takes to lead a successful basketball program. He will demand the very best of his student-athletes both on the court and in the classroom and anyone that knows Jeff will tell you his teams are always prepared when they step onto the court" said Beach in a press release.

Thoughts

I liked that Rochester kept this coaching hire in house. This is a team that will have it's third coach in three years and has gone through a ton of turmoil. I think Haney will fix the mess that the Falcons are in and they should turn the corner led by a young nucleus along with Tori Hawkins. They went 2-19 last season and 2-12 in the White. Rochester will be in the Blue next season, in which they will likely be deemed as the early favorite to win the Blue. The Falcons have not fared well against their city rivals in which they were blown out in both meetings against Adams and Stoney Creek. Haney must fix this as well if Rochester wants to be the top dogs in the city of Rochester.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest developments on these two stories.

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