The Pat on Sports: Bad move school board

Well, the end result of a turmoil filled basketball season saw Cougar skipper Len Pierce dismissed from his position as coach. This has set us down a dangerous path.
For those of you new to this controversy I will give a little background. A number of players walked out prior to the Halls game this year, because of a conflict of styles with Coach Pierce. The game was played with the two remaining varsity players and some conscripts from the JV squad.
After this game tryouts were held and a number of student athletes ranging from quarterback Brance Stiner, to baseball player Blake Potter, to golfer John Hatcher, among others, answered the call and became the new Cougars.
The new Cougars stunned Clinton in their debut and won in a barnburner. It was a rough year otherwise for the team, many of whom had not played organized basketball in over a year and they never truly were able to gel as a team.
The season ended with a loss in the first round of the district tournament. Nothing further was mentioned that I know of concerning Pierce.
This weekend I learned that Coach Pierce had indeed been removed as head coach. Though I am not totally shocked by this move I want to let you all know what this truly means for us.
Now all it takes is for a small number of parents to pull their kids from a team and then start pressuring school board members into removing a coach. Now no coach in the county is safe.
Some will argue that Pierce had a sub par win/loss record. If that is the case no high school coach is really safe.
Others argue that it had to do with Pierce’s coaching style. Well boo-hoo. Parents should never ever have a say in coaching style. Anybody can be a good coach from the stands. Very few of you could hack it up on the sideline.
I also seriously doubt the chain of command was truly followed here. This stinks like my socks after two a day football practice.
In theory it works like this. The athletic director recommends a coach to the principal. The principal then chooses to hire or fire the coach. I know Gary Seale is technically the man who fired him. In my opinion he did not come to this decision, but was forced to by somebody higher on the totem pole.
I remember a time when a certain Dr. Steve Pebley was head football coach at CCHS. He was originally promised five years in which to turn the program around. After three years his record was the same as most that had coached football at CCHS. The principal at the time, coincidentally now a member of our esteemed board of education, was told by then director of schools, who I won’t mention by name because I am not able to say anything nice about him, to recommend a football coach. Said principal recommended the good Doctor. This wasn’t acceptable so he kept coming back for recommendations. Finally the director took it to the school board who voted 3-2 to fire the Doctor (it was only a five member board at the time).
To me this is an even worse situation because none of the higher ups even had the guts to do anything themselves.
There is no way anybody from the outside in their right mind will ever take a coaching job here again. In fact I’d be shocked if many were even willing to come teach here again. When I was in the education department at UT it was widely known that you didn’t go to Campbell County to teach, let alone coach. Don’t think this won’t be noticed by folks in the know there.
I could be a teacher if I so chose. Actually I am certified to be a principal as well. I have no desire to be either at this point in my life and probably never will. Thank you Campbell County Board of Education for that. Of course I can’t complain if not for them I might be teaching and miserable right now. Frankly they’d have fired me pretty quick.
In closing I will go back to Len Pierce. I have known him for a long time. I consider him a mentor and a friend. I will always remember his first tour of duty as coach very fondly. In fact a defining moment of my memories of Cougar basketball came during his time as coach. I also had a great relationship as a writer during his second go round as coach. Many coaches that are having bad seasons avoid the press. Len always bent over backwards to give me info. Now he can enjoy some time with his family.
I do not weep for Len Pierce, he will be just fine. I do weep for anybody who would take a coaching job in this county after this debacle.
I hope the folks who did this are happy.

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