Mike Vlahovich: Thacker situation emphasizes need for deliberation

And so another coach is being put through the wringer.

Mike Thacker’s sudden dismissal as basketball coach at Freeman High School during a surprise board meeting last week has caused a community turmoil and division.

Haven’t we been here before?

Let’s see. Don Van Lierop lost his job at Ferris in similar fashion, got it back a year later and subsequently coached an unbeaten 2007 state champion.

Baseball coaches at Central Valley were summarily dropped and then reinstated.

There was even a community push last winter to oust University football coach Mike Ganey, but at least the board had learned its lesson and solicited an investigation before deciding no action was warranted.

Granted, John Q. Public technically employs its school districts if only because the taxpayer foots the bill. He is entitled to a say. The public has an obligation to watchdog its districts to assure fiscal accountability and the kind of education and extracurricular activities it wants.

But coaches are increasingly becoming a convenient target of clamor by disgruntled folks to get their way.

It becomes incumbent that, while a school board must be willing to listen, it must take the time to discern rather than make hasty decisions.

It must allow the administration latitude to run a multimillion dollar enterprise.

The best administrators a school board can hire engage the community and earn its confidence. They inspire their employees and bring out the best in them.

When personnel issues inevitably arise in this people industry, the best administrators resolve them quickly and sensibly and not because of knee-jerk reaction to someone’s complaint.

Few people raise a stink or even care who is hired to teach mathematics or English. But because a coach is in the public eye, it doesn’t take many disgruntled folk to cause turmoil over differences of opinion.

Thacker is an old-school coach. Passionate, fiery and demanding, he has had his issues over the years. But as one parent of former players said, “Thacker is Thacker.” You take him with a grain of salt.

He has won, roughly, 230 of 320 games during a 12-year career with state appearances and earned seven trophy finishes as high as fourth. Some in the community I’ve talked with consider him the best coach in Freeman basketball history.

So he has plenty of supporters as well as detractors. Sean Campbell’s www.wa1asports.net Web site message board has come to his defense.

People in Freeman were stunned when, after a coaching conduct policy put in place earlier this summer, Thacker was unceremoniously axed right before the start of school and after he had coached through the summer. Reaction sent the board scurrying back into special session Tuesday to review correspondence and readdress the issue. A public meeting Wednesday at the middle school will continue discussion.

Coaching contracts are discretionary. If a coach is deemed unfit, then it is incumbent upon athletic director, principal or superintendent to make a change.

But cowing to parental complaints and reacting hastily is giving in to management by mob rule.