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Message: [QUOTE="Shenexon, post: 1333903, member: 129"] Interesting but lengthy comment from the PS article: [URL='http://connect.syracuse.com/user/JDParent13214/index.html']JD Parent 13214[/URL] 51 minutes ago I told myself yesterday that I wasn’t going to get involved in this online circus, but after reading SIX articles on the exact same topic, and reading the 300 and counting comments across those six articles, I feel compelled to provide my two cents. I have children at JD, but none play on the basketball team. I know almost all of the players on this team, and my children have been friends with many of these players and their families since elementary school. It saddens me greatly to see the players and parents put through this online witch-hunt. What I am about to say will not be popular with 290 or so of the 300 people who have commented on these articles, but here goes: The only person responsible for Coach McKenney’s situation is Coach McKenney. Not the parents, not the administration, and certainly not the players. I don’t think there is a single parent on the team with enough clout to get a coach fired, and that includes Jim Boeheim. Even if he could, do you really think Mr. Boeheim would want his name attached to this mess? He’s got enough on his plate, and his son had a great season. His son was a starter as a junior, and he was the team’s third leading scorer. Does anyone really think that the Superintendent would want to fire a long-time coach, with a great record, based on the complaints of a few parents? It doesn’t make sense. Based on the number of comments supporting Bob, the district knew they would take heat for this. Although all of the details have not been released, and probably never will, if you really think about it you should get the sense that there were some serious issues going on behind the scenes. Issues so important, that the district was willing to take all of this online punishment in order to do the right thing. Being such a large district, JD has a ton of lawyers on retainer, and the board of education is made up of some high-level professionals as well. Do you really think they would want to dismiss Bob without having all of their ducks in a row and risk an employment lawsuit? Do you think this all came about between the game on Sunday and Tuesday afternoon? That’s impossible. There have been issues between Bob and the School Board for quite some time. The events of the past few days have simply been the “final straw”. Consider this – the board could have simply decided to not renew his contract this summer. It would have been very easy, it would have required no explanation, and it certainly would not have become the media spectacle it is today. The fact of the matter is that there have been enough things brewing with Bob that the district didn’t want to risk additional damage by keeping him around until the summer. A high school basketball coach has almost zero duties in the months of April, May, and June. If there weren’t egregious issues going on behind the scenes, the district would have delayed this action until the summer. Do you really think the district would want to set a precedent by allowing parents to dictate the firing of a coach? It makes for a good story to get people riled up, but it has no basis in reality. The comments on these articles are suggesting that parents were mad that Coach benched the player. The coach DID NOT BENCH the player. The school did. So to think that a group of parents could get the coach fired for benching a player is just wrong. It never happened. Coach Mac wanted the benched player to play. Given the tone of the issue between the two players and what was said, the fact that Coach Mac was willing to look the other way in order to win a game is disturbing, and I’m sure that weighed on the district’s decision. Take a step back and think about this for a moment – the coach fostered an environment where an insensitive word could be used by players, he allowed two players who had issues with each other to “go at it” all week, never stepping in to try to diffuse the situation, and when it finally exploded, he was willing to look the other way and allow the player to play. When he was told by the district the player couldn’t play, he allowed 4-5 other players to “protest” that decision, in a very public forum. Knowing this, how is it that people can think “parents got him fired”? Bob got himself fired by not having better control over his practices, and for insubordination after-the-fact. Consider this – Bob recently took a phys ed teacher position at Bishop Grimes. Do you know how many phys ed positions there are in the JD district, with three elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school? If Bob was on good terms with the district, he would be earning a public school salary at JD and not working at Grimes. Nothing against Grimes, but I’m sure their gym teachers only earn a fraction of what JD gym teachers earn. Ask yourself why JD never offered Bob a teaching position? How could one benched player or a group of parents affect that? JD could have offered Bob a teaching position at anytime over the past several years, and they didn’t. Parents from this year’s team have nothing to do with that. It doesn’t make sense. There are a lot of former players who have posted on Twitter what a great coach Bob was – and they are correct – he was a great coach for some players. For those players who have had a great experience I am happy for you – that is what HS sports should be about. Keep in mind though, Bob has been here for close to 20 years, with 14 or so players on each team, and only a handful of public comments have been made. There are a lot of players who have had a different experience with Bob, but they will never publicly post that, for fear of getting the wrath of all of these commenters in these articles. I saw a Twitter post last night from a former OCC athlete who discussed the pain he and his team went through when their team was shut down due to Bob’s mismanagement as the OCC athletic director. Under Bob's watch, OCC teams had to forfeit a total of 16 games in a single season: men’s soccer (eight), women’s tennis (four), women’s volleyball (three) and women’s soccer (one). Bob allowed illegal players to compete on those teams. Syracuse.com was quick to post comments from former players in support of Bob, but I wish they would also search out players who did not have a good experience to provide a more balanced view. Change is good. For both JD and Bob. It’s time for him to move on. There is a reason Bob went from being a college athletic director, to a 500+ win high school basketball coach, to a gym teacher at a private school with a high school enrollment of approximately 250 students. This is all about Bob – not about a benched player or a group of parents. Shame on the district for taking action so close to the game on Sunday. Had they waited a week or two it still would have been a big story, but not a HUGE story. By taking action so quickly after the end of the season, the district makes it easy for everyone to assume this is about a benched player or meddling parents. I can tell you this is not the case. However, the fact that the district was willing to do this so close to the end of the season should give everyone a better sense that there were very serious issues going on behind the scenes which had nothing to do with players or parents. It was Bob’s own behavior that put him in this situation. 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