Never-ending Mandl case has taken spotlight from gutsy George Washington

3:06 AM, June 11, 2011 ι By ZACH BRAZILLER

This week should’ve been positive, about the showdown for the PSAL Class A city championship between forever powers Tottenville and George Washington.

I touched on those subjects – from Tottenville ace Michael Sullivan and his scoreless postseason streak to the toughness the Trojans have shown all year to our traditional (and painfully tedious) in-depth features – but that wasn’t what this week was about.

It was about a coach, the poor manner in which his suspension for alleged recruiting was levied and the Department of Education looking to extend his case in New York State Supreme Court by any means possible.

If you’re a regular reader of this site, you’re well versed in legendary George Washington coach Steve Mandl’s fight to get back to his team, the four trips he’s made with his attorney, Milo Silberstein, to court, twice this week.

Justice Shlomo Hagler was expected to make a decision on the preliminary injunction hearing by Friday, but none was given. There is the chance it can come Saturday – possibly 10 minutes before first pitch.

On Feb. 15, Mandl was suspended for one year by the PSAL for alleged illegal recruiting. He’s taken the PSAL and Department of Education to court for violating his due-process rights.

Mandl was suspended without a hearing of any kind, for an alleged infraction – supposedly recruiting current center fielder Fernelys Sanchez to transfer from Lehman to GW – that took place long ago. When he was finally given a hearing after filing a grievance through the UFT on March 23, he was told by PSAL director Donald Douglas the league would get back to him within days; six weeks later the suspension was upheld.

But even that was messy – in a certified letter Douglas said Mandl was suspended for the 2010-2011 season, but the DOE says it’s actually an entire calendar year.

Even worse, the investigator in the case, Steven Nathanson, was a former rival, having coached baseball at DeWitt Clinton High School. What’s next, Cardozo boys basketball coach Ron Naclerio investigating Lincoln’s Dwayne (Tiny) Morton?

Virtual seconds after he was told by George Washington athletic director Jodie Ferguson he was being suspended, Mandl received a call from one high-school sports reporter – me – asking about the suspension. Additionally, it was given out just before the February week-long break, which extended the process, one of many orchestrated maneuvers Mandl and Silberstein claim.

The entire way, the PSAL and DOE have sought to hammer Mandl, to make him miss the entire year, Silberstein has repeatedly said. Did he break the rules? Who knows what really happened with Sanchez, who has denied he was recruited by Mandl.

What’s u

Philip Hall

Suspended George Washington coach Steve Mandl could be back with his team for Saturday's PSAL Class A championship game against Tottenville.

psetting is the way it was handled, first by the PSAL, now by the DOE and now by Mandl – yes, Mandl.

I understand trying to get back on the field early in the year. Even at the midway point. But why now? What’s one game going to accomplish other than being a distraction? With interim coach Nick Carbone – classy from the get-go and deserving of his own program somewhere – leading the Trojans to a 44-2 record, national ranking, undefeated league season and Clarkstown South Tournament title, wouldn’t it be best to leave it alone, to get ready for next year? Mandl hasn’t given Carbone the credit he deserves, saying the team is “on auto pilot.”

If that was the case, they wouldn’t have come back so often this year, rallying past William Bryant and Norman Thomas in the playoffs. Some coaches, who I’m not at privilege to name, marveled at the Trojans’ small-ball tactics that were previously lacking under Mandl.

Mandl has talked about how much his players need him, that none of them have colleges lined up without him. Coaching Saturday doesn’t change that.

His players of course want him back and maybe that is motivation enough for wanting to return. His No. 32 jersey hangs in the dugout during games and after the PSAL Class A semifinals sweep of Lehman his players brought the jersey with them to shake hands. But at this point, what’s the benefit?

If anything, his absence has fueled the Trojans, giving them a common cause. Carbone has said that if Mandl is in the dugout Saturday his team will play some "really, really inspired baseball" and if not the same chip that has carried them this far will be on their shoulders.

Added incentive and emotions either way.

Again: There are no winners here – not Mandl, not his players and certainly not the PSAL or the Department of Education. The spotlight has been taken away from these players fighting adversity, from all their heroic comebacks and onto a bungled suspension and a coach not willing to fade into the background.

A complete circus across the board.

zbraziller@nypost.com