Basketball star Herb Pope is staying at Aliquippa High School.

Aliquippa had its first day of school yesterday and Pope attended classes. He told Aliquippa coach Marvin Emerson that he would not be transferring to another school.

Pope, a junior, had visited Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Fla., last week and was considering a transfer there.

"He said he went there just for a vacation," Emerson said with a laugh. "He made sure he came to see me today [at school] and said he's not going anywhere."

Pope is a 6-foot-8 forward who is ranked among the top 10 juniors in the country. He had made a verbal commitment to Pitt during his sophomore season but has decided to open up his recruitment and will consider other schools.

Coach suspended

Montour football assistant Mike Schrenker has been suspended indefinitely for allegedly using a racial slur in the Spartans' game Friday against Chartiers Valley.

Montour coach Lou Cerro declined comment and referred all inquiries to Montour superintendent Joseph Findley.

"This is a personnel issue that I am not able to comment about publicly," Findley said. "But people need to know we take this very seriously and are dealing with it."

Coaching update

Dave Mislan is the leading candidate to be the new boys' basketball coach at Brentwood High School.

Mislan was a star guard on Brentwood's 1989 team that made it to the PIAA Class AA championship game and is an assistant coach at Mt. Lebanon.

Brentwood will select its coach at a school board meeting next month.