Canfield Basketball Coach Non-Renewed

W

WGS3P

Member
Canfield Head Boys Basketball Coach Todd Muckleroy was recently called into a meeting and asked to resign. When he inquired why, he was told that they were going in another direction. No specific/documented reasons were provided. During his tenure, Coach Muckleroy had, he believed, dealt satisfactorily with all issues that had come up and assumed he had the administration’s backing. His most recent end-of-season evaluation was three years old(!) and had no mention of areas that needed improvement. Although his team hovered around .500 this past season, they did manage to beat Poland twice (always a big accomplishment).

What appears to have happened is that a small of group of alums/disgruntled parents gained the ear of the administration and expressed their dissatisfaction leading to Coach Muckleroy’s firing without benefit of due process. Additionally, this group has pushed to select the next coach, disregarding the school’s nomination and selection process. Hopefully, the AD, principal and superintendent can somehow right this ship that they’ve allowed to capsize.
 
 
That's a touch converstaion to have.

Every public school coach is on a one year deal; I'm not sure the union necessarily has any weight with supplemental contracts. If you're a teacher there, maybe they do. If you're not working in the building, I assume you get zero support, and it's "tough break, man."

Taking all the classes I took, one thing that i came away with was to never tell someone WHY they didn't get the job or WHY you're letting them go, unless you have a spotless explanition with evidence.

3 years without an evaluation; I'd be petrified as an AD to non renew someone, or worse, let someone above me do it, which shows poorly on me.
 
Sounds like a bubble community, they don't want outsiders in it no matter the results they're mind is made up! Maybe he was too firm for the parents and they're fed up???
 
WGS3P said:
Canfield Head Boys Basketball Coach Todd Muckleroy was recently called into a meeting and asked to resign. When he inquired why, he was told that they were going in another direction. No specific/documented reasons were provided. During his tenure, Coach Muckleroy had, he believed, dealt satisfactorily with all issues that had come up and assumed he had the administration’s backing. His most recent end-of-season evaluation was three years old(!) and had no mention of areas that needed improvement. Although his team hovered around .500 this past season, they did manage to beat Poland twice (always a big accomplishment).

What appears to have happened is that a small of group of alums/disgruntled parents gained the ear of the administration and expressed their dissatisfaction leading to Coach Muckleroy’s firing without benefit of due process. Additionally, this group has pushed to select the next coach, disregarding the school’s nomination and selection process. Hopefully, the AD, principal and superintendent can somehow right this ship that they’ve allowed to capsize.
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And who are you going to get that's any good in Late May?
 
All of these supplemental's are year by year. I wonder why they asked him to resign? All you have to do is not-offer him a contract. Was he offer and accepted a contract already for the coming season? It seems like most of these are done by April so coaches can get their summer plans together. Being supplemental, the union has nothing to do with this. My guess is they already have their candidate and just need to approve them. It's rough, but it really is what it is. There are tons of coaching vacancies across the state. If someone ever wanted to coach, now is the time.
 
14Red said:
All of these supplemental's are year by year. I wonder why they asked him to resign? All you have to do is not-offer him a contract. Was he offer and accepted a contract already for the coming season? It seems like most of these are done by April so coaches can get their summer plans together. Being supplemental, the union has nothing to do with this. My guess is they already have their candidate and just need to approve them. It's rough, but it really is what it is. There are tons of coaching vacancies across the state. If someone ever wanted to coach, now is the time.
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A sucker is born every day. I get people want to be head coaches and many have a love for the game. Sadly, these coaching hirings and firings has, pretty much, become a sad joke. Coaches are very lucky to get 3-4 years in at a school and then they’re shown the door . Thus, you have a shortage of quality coaches who are saying, enough is enough. This has become an endless and terrible cycle. Good luck to those who are willing to give it the old college try.
 
Coach Muckleroy has taught and coached at Canfield for the past 12 years and deserves better than the treatment he‘s receiving from the administration (AD, principal and superintendent). Considering bringing back a former coach, expecting great things in a now tougher environment is likely a pipe dream.
 
Canfield has always seemed to have a decent reputation in sports. The community needs to watch what it does. Seems like right now all it takes is a parent or two to run to the athletic director and he doesn't say no to the parents. It is tough to keep an athletic department in good standing if that is what the coaching community sees, there will be fewer coaches to apply, and you start a steady decline.
 
1 time said:
A sucker is born every day. I get people want to be head coaches and many have a love for the game. Sadly, these coaching hirings and firings has, pretty much, become a sad joke. Coaches are very lucky to get 3-4 years in at a school and then they’re shown the door . Thus, you have a shortage of quality coaches who are saying, enough is enough. This has become an endless and terrible cycle. Good luck to those who are willing to give it the old college try.
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You have to have a love for it because at the public school level, no one does it for the money. Back in the day it was truly a "teachers". Non staff were not even considered for coaching jobs. It was a "supplemental" contract where teachers (at that time were truly lowly paid) used it to make ends meet. Many times you had coaches who had little to no experience in the sports they were coaches, so you learned along with the kids. As time has evolved and HS sports have become 7-8-9 month commitments, not to mention the constant pressures from community folk and overzealous parents...teachers have left and you have more non-staff coaches than ever. And many of these coach in places where they can coach their sons or daughters, and that brings about another set of stressors. I've often told people if you have someone who "wants" to coach, especially the minor sports at your school, then you should feel fortunate. The line of people wanting to coach is short, or not there at all.
 
Canfield is an insane place right now. They're bringing back Cullen to coach. Community has wanted this, and they are getting it.
 
Be careful what you ask for, you may get it. Saying the “Community” wanted him to return is an over-reach. He’s a good man/respected coach but there may be other deserving candidates out there. “You can’t go home again,…”
What I’d like to know is who initiated the non-renewal and how did the AD and principal vote on the matter? What were their positions on the matter when speaking to Muckleroy and making their recommendations to the superintendent? Who drove this train to the creek where the bridge is out?
And, if Coach Cullen is, in fact, to be the new coach, how did the administration get away with not following the normal job posting requirements (first internal school system personnel, then open to the public notification)?
 
As a former Assistant Superintendent, I can tell you that there is absolutely no process required to end a supplemental contract. 35 years ago, when I was coaching, the district that I worked in sent all coaches a non/renewal letter at the end of every school year. They then met with individuals and reissued the contracts or advertised the jobs. This was to prevent the “assumption hire,” of a coach who wanted to say, I ran the summer (spring, off season) program because I assumed I was rehired. We have progressed from those days thankfully, but the legal requirements haven’t changed!
 
I can’t speak to your process but the coaching slot advertising/hiring procedures are in print in Canfield’s Board policy documents.
Regardless, in this case, a coach was told his contract would not be renewed without explanation. Whoever caused this should own up to it.
 
Regardless I am familiar with both gentleman in question, I don't know the new guy that well, he seemed like an alright guy though. I know John Cullen very well, I had him for several classes like 20 years ago and had friends who played basketball and no one ever had anything bad to say about him. I feel bad for the other guy, but it isn't the end of the world and he is still teaching. At least he didn't get treated as poorly as Stephen Hlaudy the cross country coach.
 
WGS3P said:
Be careful what you ask for, you may get it. Saying the “Community” wanted him to return is an over-reach. He’s a good man/respected coach but there may be other deserving candidates out there. “You can’t go home again,…”
What I’d like to know is who initiated the non-renewal and how did the AD and principal vote on the matter? What were their positions on the matter when speaking to Muckleroy and making their recommendations to the superintendent? Who drove this train to the creek where the bridge is out?
And, if Coach Cullen is, in fact, to be the new coach, how did the administration get away with not following the normal job posting requirements (first internal school system personnel, then open to the public notification)?
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Supplemental contracts carry no guarantees of continuing employment. The process for filling them is SOMETIMES dictated in a union contract. As for who made the decision, all it takes is 3 board members letting the superintendent know not to bring a name to them because it won’t pass. Who started the process is meaningless but the board has the final approval.
 
In the case in question, an incumbent coach was called in and told he would not be renewed without any justification provided. This despite support by the AD until this meeting took place. Apparently outsiders to the administration campaigned to have the coach cut loose so they could get a person they liked in his place. That the AD, principal, superintendent and school board members would acquiesce to such a disrespectful and disloyal manner of action is a black mark for this school’s administrative chain. The incoming coach doesn’t get off the hook entirely if he unofficially agreed to take the position knowing how it was opening up.
 
WGS3P said:
In the case in question, an incumbent coach was called in and told he would not be renewed without any justification provided. This despite support by the AD until this meeting took place. Apparently outsiders to the administration campaigned to have the coach cut loose so they could get a person they liked in his place. That the AD, principal, superintendent and school board members would acquiesce to such a disrespectful and disloyal manner of action is a black mark for this school’s administrative chain. The incoming coach doesn’t get off the hook entirely if he unofficially agreed to take the position knowing how it was opening up.
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Unfortunately this happens a lot. Parents are running May of these athletic departments and then they leave when their kids leave. The splineless in charge have little business to be in the positions they’re in. A good hire, but a terrible situation.
 
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