06-25-2019, 04:06 PM
So... it's been a long summer for me. I've (mostly) kept it to myself, because- at heart- I'm a Stoic. Feelings are my enemy (think Ron Swanson from "Parks and Rec"). But today I got an email that just put me over the limit.
Backstory: I was the offensive coordinator for our local HS team last year... and have been coaching for nearly 25 years. The HC for our local team was let go, because- after 20 years as HC- his winning % was around 20%... and our varsity has won 1 game in the past 4 years. He was bad... and it was a good thing that he was (finally and mercifully) let go. At that time, every other coach on the staff either retired, resigned or wasn't sure if they were coming back. In some cases it was due to them following through on plans they had already made... in other cases it was to go and coach something else during the Fall. I don't know that any of the departures had anything to do with the HC being let go. He really wasn't that respected by us, his "underlings" (this was a guy who never asked anyone for suggestions and preferred to run all 3 phases of the game all by himself). As the lone remaining coach, I was asked to work with the summer rec. department to get summer football plans made... and to meet with the kids and get our spring lifting program implemented. Not only did I implement it, I was present every day in the weight room at 6:30am, so that the kids could see how important their time in the weight room was (i.e.: if I'm going to ask them to do it, I'm going to be there with them).
During the spring, construction was begun on the older school building. Among the areas being renovated was an old storage area, which had football game films, going back to the 1960s. I grabbed all the boxes of films and kept them safe, with the intention of restoring them to DVD and either giving them to the former players in our community (as a goodwill gesture)... or as a possible fund-raiser for the program. That's an important part of this story.
When the time came, I applied for the HC opening. The only other candidate was a guy who had been fired previously by the school (as the HC of the baseball team)... who also had applied to be the AD (both times there was an opening... and, both times, he was not given the job. In fact, the administration re-designed its personnel just to make sure that this guy wouldn't get the AD job). Long story short: I didn't get the job... AND I was told that the new HC already had his staff in place- and I wasn't on it. So, after everything that I had done for the program since March (including combing through 20 years of stats so that we would have a record of stats, such as most passing yards in a game, most tackles in a season, etc), I was let go- without even a phone call from anyone at the administration. It was pretty frustrating.
One of the first things I did, was to bring all the old boxes of films to the school (since I was no longer part of the program) and let them decide what to do with them. I sent the AD, the principal and the superintendent an email letting them know what I had intended to do with the films... and then telling them where I had left them (outside of the office). I assumed that they would want to keep possession of these old films, for the reasons I had mentioned previously to them. Today I got an email from the school secretary telling me to come get "my" films if I wanted them... because the new HC doesn't want them... and neither does the school.
OK, so here's my question: am I crazy for thinking that the school would WANT to keep these films around? I would pay $100 for a DVD of my senior season in high school! I can't speak for anyone around here, but I would assume that some of the folks around here would feel the same way I do. Maybe not. But I just can't believe that the current leadership doesn't see any value in these things. Now, I'm also very frustrated about how the whole coaching thing turned out... and maybe that's part of my frustration. But I just think it is so backward-thinking to want to just "toss them out" into the trash. Am I wrong?
Backstory: I was the offensive coordinator for our local HS team last year... and have been coaching for nearly 25 years. The HC for our local team was let go, because- after 20 years as HC- his winning % was around 20%... and our varsity has won 1 game in the past 4 years. He was bad... and it was a good thing that he was (finally and mercifully) let go. At that time, every other coach on the staff either retired, resigned or wasn't sure if they were coming back. In some cases it was due to them following through on plans they had already made... in other cases it was to go and coach something else during the Fall. I don't know that any of the departures had anything to do with the HC being let go. He really wasn't that respected by us, his "underlings" (this was a guy who never asked anyone for suggestions and preferred to run all 3 phases of the game all by himself). As the lone remaining coach, I was asked to work with the summer rec. department to get summer football plans made... and to meet with the kids and get our spring lifting program implemented. Not only did I implement it, I was present every day in the weight room at 6:30am, so that the kids could see how important their time in the weight room was (i.e.: if I'm going to ask them to do it, I'm going to be there with them).
During the spring, construction was begun on the older school building. Among the areas being renovated was an old storage area, which had football game films, going back to the 1960s. I grabbed all the boxes of films and kept them safe, with the intention of restoring them to DVD and either giving them to the former players in our community (as a goodwill gesture)... or as a possible fund-raiser for the program. That's an important part of this story.
When the time came, I applied for the HC opening. The only other candidate was a guy who had been fired previously by the school (as the HC of the baseball team)... who also had applied to be the AD (both times there was an opening... and, both times, he was not given the job. In fact, the administration re-designed its personnel just to make sure that this guy wouldn't get the AD job). Long story short: I didn't get the job... AND I was told that the new HC already had his staff in place- and I wasn't on it. So, after everything that I had done for the program since March (including combing through 20 years of stats so that we would have a record of stats, such as most passing yards in a game, most tackles in a season, etc), I was let go- without even a phone call from anyone at the administration. It was pretty frustrating.
One of the first things I did, was to bring all the old boxes of films to the school (since I was no longer part of the program) and let them decide what to do with them. I sent the AD, the principal and the superintendent an email letting them know what I had intended to do with the films... and then telling them where I had left them (outside of the office). I assumed that they would want to keep possession of these old films, for the reasons I had mentioned previously to them. Today I got an email from the school secretary telling me to come get "my" films if I wanted them... because the new HC doesn't want them... and neither does the school.
OK, so here's my question: am I crazy for thinking that the school would WANT to keep these films around? I would pay $100 for a DVD of my senior season in high school! I can't speak for anyone around here, but I would assume that some of the folks around here would feel the same way I do. Maybe not. But I just can't believe that the current leadership doesn't see any value in these things. Now, I'm also very frustrated about how the whole coaching thing turned out... and maybe that's part of my frustration. But I just think it is so backward-thinking to want to just "toss them out" into the trash. Am I wrong?