The Rochester Knighthawks announced Friday that head coach Ed Comeau will not return to the club for the 2009 season, all but confirming Comeau's upcoming move to the New York Titans.

Comeau is expected to be introduced Monday as the Titans' head coach and general manager, replacing the retiring Adam Mueller.

First, the vacancy: Mueller has decided to retire from the NLL, following six seasons as a head coach and a lengthy playing career before that, due to work commitments and the desire to spend more time with family.

In coaching stints with Philadelphia, Minnesota and New York, Mueller compiled an overall record of 46-54. He goes out following a 10-6 campaign in 2008, including a run to the Eastern Division Final.

More on Mueller's departure is expected when his retirement is formally announced, but in the meantime, the Titans had a coaching job to fill, and settled on coaching veteran Comeau, a disciple of the late Les Bartley, the league's alltime winningest coach.

Comeau's first head coaching gig came, in fact, when cancer forced Bartley to step aside as coach of the Toronto Rock just before the 2004 season.

After a 2-4 start, though, Comeau was fired by the Rock, only to surface a short time later on Paul Day's staff in Rochester. When Day resigned to join the expansion Edmonton Rush in 2006, Comeau was promoted to head coach.

In three seasons, Comeau compiled a 35-22 record and guided the Knighthawks to the 2007 Champion's Cup. However, two developments in 2008 signaled that Comeau might be nearing the end in Rochester -- the Knighthawks missed the playoffs for the first time in team history, and the team was sold after the season.

Turns out, Comeau's departure was for an entirely different reason -- he was interested in becoming a general manager.

History suggests the Knighthawks will stay in-house with the selection of a new head coach, having promoted an assistant coach to the top spot in each of their two previous coaching changes.

This time around, indications are that the team will skip right to the playing field, luring veteran defenseman Regy Thorpe behind the bench. Thorpe, the last remaining original Knighthawk (dating back to 1995), has served as an assistant coach at the high school level and was a player-coach with the Rochester Rattlers (MLL) in 2006.

Most importantly, though, Thorpe is the head coach of the Six Nations Arrows Junior A team in the Ontario Lacrosse Association, a club owned by none other than new Knighthawks owner Curt Styres.

Stay tuned.