Knox2

CAK returns virtually everyone. If they are going to make a run, this will be their year. But they have work to do. They have very good ball handlers, and a couple of posts that have made very good progress. Their biggest weak link IMO is that they are a team full of guards, and they lack overall size. They really missed this year the size and inside play of Pinkstaff last year or Hoffman from a couple of years ago. They just don't have the 5-9 to 5-11 girl(s). When the outside shots are falling, CAK can play with anyone, but if they're not falling...

' Scott, Thanks for the news. /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> I wasn't referring to concerns he may have had. I was referring to my perception of what CAK thought of him. While there was certainly not all but some who had a concern about the boy's coach staying, I don't think there was any of that with the girls coach. My point is that I don't believe there was any consideration being given to making a change from the schools side. CAK was fortunate to have coach H, and I wish him the best in the future.

I don't think there was any handwriting on the wall with Coach H. I don't know of anyone who wasn't thrilled to have him. I don't know what his reasons were, but I am confident this situation has no similarity to the boys coach situation.

Lulu, If that parent was openly making the comments you attribute to him, then I??™m sure he realized that some would support and some would not support his position. While I don??™t agree with using this forum anonymously to attack a parent by name, that is the decision of the posters who have done so. What I addressed to you was specifically about CAK as an institution. These are your statements: 1. CAK is changing quickly 2. I am sad to say, it is changing in a downward spiral. 3. This change started around 9 months ago. Now, you can put the facts together and see who and where the change is coming from. 4. Wake up parents! Your have invested your time, energy, and money in CAK. Do not let this fine institution be destroyed! I am one of those parents who have invested my time, energy, and money in CAK. You seem to be making broad statements about the ???downward spiral??? of our school. But the only specifics you site have to do with the dismissal of Coach Darden. Comments like ???changing quickly??¦ downward spiral??? and ???wake up??¦don??™t let this fine institution be destroyed??? make it appear that your concerns are much more wide spread. Maybe you are just emphasizing your point and you just really don??™t like the athletic director and or his decision to dismiss Coach Darden. If there is something more that I??™m missing please elaborate. Just my opinion, but if you are going to use this forum to air your concerns about your job, at least be fair and point out what your concerns are, rather than indicating the school is on it??™s way to being destroyed without backing up your assertion. If letting the basketball coach go constitutes our school being destroyed or a downward spiral in your mind, then we don't see things the same at all.

Lulu, I appreciate your service to the kids at CAK. I don't want to mince words. I don't pretend to know every detail, but the only major change in administration that I'm aware of that happened about 9 months ago was the athletic director. Since you have chosen this forum to express your concern, please be clear. Am I missing it? Either you are saying that the athletic director is running the school, or there has been some other substantial change in administration. You are indicating a "downward spiral." Surely you are not referring to only the basketball coach's dismissal. Please spell out for those of us who are slow on the uptake, what changes there have been to the administration that have resulted in the "downward spiral" and what you base your assessment that there is a downward spiral. IMO, if you are going to throw out harsh comments such as these, it is your responsibility to back them up with facts. To be clear, I am not saying you are incorrect, I just haven't read any evidence, and I find it hard to believe that a new AD is running the whole school. You ask us as parents "not to let this fine institution be destroyed." Give us the facts so that we can take action.

Man, that's good! If you can determine tone of voice in text I am in way over my head. /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> (Just kidding shnikens)

Thanks for being a good sport. I'm not sure if you caught the Monty Python reference or not.?. /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" Yes, we will have to agree to disagree. If you are on the inside, then you certainly know more than me about the specifics in this situation. My beef has been the attitude many have shown toward CAK. If you'll notice, ??'ve never contended that this was or wasn't handled in the best way; I simply don't know. However, there are several arguments that I have observed repeatedly stated (not all necessarily by you) that just don't hold water, in my humble opinion. 1. First, not all parents were / are in agreement. Obviously, if parents have control over the administration as alledged, nothing would ever happen. Have you ever been in a room with 20 or 30 parents and tried get a unanimous decision on something as serious and divided as a coaching change? 2. If parents can give feedback that they want a change, then clearly parents can give feedback who don't want a change. 3. Regarding donations. While donors are (and have to be) a part of a private schools existence, I am not aware that the parent who has been demonized and made fun of is a large donor. I know there are some big donors, I just wasn't aware that he is one? So let's be straight, is your point that he has the AD's ear because of his donations? 4. While parents have input at CAK, and they should have input, to indicate that they are making the decisions and the administration and AD are virtually puppets is rediculous and simplistic. 5. To indicate that the only people who could possibly agree with and defend the schools decision must be either administration, board, etc. is just as absurd as saying that anyone who disagreed with the schools decision must be from Coach D.'s family. 6. People, mostly close to the coach, have repeatedly acted like the administration is either bought off, crooked, or stupid to consider a change. How can one look at the results of the last 4 years and come to that conclusion? I'm not saying that that you would look at the results and have to conclude a change is in order. But any objective standard would indicate that there are honest, sincere reasons that the administration might have felt it should be considered. On another note, in the other thread you suggested several (pretty clever) reasons why I choose to respond to this topic. (Obviously, you have your own reasons as you have your share of posts too.) I thought of just responding "all of the above" /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> but I'll tell you frankly why I have: Reading the posts (particularly early on) not just sticking up for the coach, but attacking CAK bothered me. Secondly, as 4warriors implied, the playing field is not level. I suspect that the administration is not likely going to feel they have the freedom to speak openly and elaborate on what went into their decision. This coupled with the fact that although there are certainly many people who supported the decision, most have decided to remain silent. Right or wrong, I elected to speak my mind. Not to engage former players supporting their former coach, but to discuss the issue with adults who at least theoretically can separate the emotional side of the situation from what was reasonable; to ask the question, is CAK doing everything they can to be the best they can be. Now, if you (or someone else) know of inappropriate facts or inappropriate parental involvement that led to this decision, I sincerely hope that you'll discuss that with the appropriate parties. I assume you are a parent. IMO, you can't have it both ways. If the parents wield the power you alledge (quote: "Just another example of how the parents run the school.") then you have the ability to take action and make it stick.

You, who are so wise: If "the parents" run the school, why weren't the parents who didn't want a change able to prevent Darden from being let go? If the parents don't always agree, do they have a "parent" vote to decide on a course of action? What does the poor, helpless administration do when all of "the parents" don't agree and therefore can't tell them what to do. I'm just wondering, because I'm missing out on making these decisions. PARENT POWER!!!!

4warriors, your posts on this subject have been logical and well stated. As great as Coach D's background is, and with as much support as he had, and even with the valid extenuating circumstances to win at CAK, there are still people charged with the responsibility to make sure CAK athletics are moving in the right direction to be the best they can be. The athletic director is not the only one, but it is certainly one of his top responsibilities. He is afterall, the athletic director. How anyone can come up with some far fetched conspiracy and demonize one parent is beyond me when you look at not only the won / loss record over the last few years, but also the trend. (Not one season, but over several years.) If he hadn't at least considered the question, "Do we need to consider doing something differently?" he would have been negligent. I truly "get" supporting your former coach or fellow teacher. I also "get" if someone doesn't feel like it was handled the best way possible (I don't know whether it was or wasn't.) What I don't understand is how anyone can look at the results and with a straight face act like the decision makers are either ignorant or in someone's back pocket. (The parent that some have blamed has a kid who not only started but likely got the most playing time of anyone on the squad.) I have not seen one post that was mean-spirited about Coach D. What I have seen is multiple posts of people attacking the athletic director, the administration, and CAK as an institution. Not to mention calling a particular parent out by name and making fun of them. A year or two from now, hind site may prove that it was indeed a mistake. But what kind of an athletic director would conclude that there is no way that things can get better? At some point, you have to take some risk that things may get worse instead of better. Perhaps the people charged with the responsibility of CAK athletics decided that 9 - 37 in our district is the right time to take that risk.

Good post. Hey, I can admit it; competitive really isn't the best word choice. You are right, very few of the games have been uncompetitive. And CAK teams always play hard. What I was trying to say was that the recent teams have not been really competitive in the district with respect to their win loss record. (I wasn't trying to get on the edge here, I was referring to the win / loss record in the district.) Meaning that they were not in a position to finish (in most cases) in the top 2 - 3 in the district that they competed in. You can be competitive in every game and still go 0 - 12 in the district. So I guess we're talking symantics. I believe most players, parents, coaches, administrators, etc. in the future would like to see the program move forward, and be competitive in most individual games, and be competitive in the sense of having an opportunity to compete for a district title. I mean really, isn't that one of the goals of a high school team? I don't think I'm chartering new territory here. Henceforth, in honor of 'theusainboltofhstrack' , I will attempt to be clearer if using the word competitive so that it is clearer what I'm stating. As far as referencing coach Treadway, I believe when making a list of programs at CAK (CAK has a middle school too...)that have been competitive, err, no, scratch that, have been successful at competing for district wins and winning their district, and also have fine Christian leadership, I would have to say coach Treadway does a fine job. Feel free to disregard him if you disagree. I can appreciate a good dig on soccer just like the next guy, but you have to admit Coach G has done unbelievably well with that program and is a fine Christian leader. As far as understanding your previous posts, the font was not too much of a problem. It was too small for my bifoculs, but I was able to pull out some 10X binoculars that worked great with my 28 inch computer monitor. I did have to look up a lot of your words though. Thanks for caring! /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

I agree with everything you said, except perhaps the last sentence. If you could get into the parents minds that you are speaking of, I don't believe you would find many, perhaps any, that really feel that the only thing that is important is wins and losses. If they felt that way, they wouldn't be at CAK. If it was all about W & L, there are a host of other schools that have offered more wins in men's basketball than CAK. They didn't choose CAK because winning in basketball is all they care about. If those parents had the choice to get the best coaching imaginable but had to take with it poor moral character that would be a lousy role model for their kid, I don't believe they'd take that deal. Sometimes in a discussion like this that can be very emotional for people close to the situation(I'm not saying you) , there is a tendency to act as if you can't have a strong Christian coach with high moral character and have a competitive program. This simply is not the case. There are plenty of examples from schools other than CAK where the program is competitive and the leadership is also of strong moral character. Certainly, at CAK, Coach G in soccer, coach Bradley in football, and coach Treadway in middle school football are a few examples of this as well. Someone posted the district record for CAK over the last several years earlier in this thread. You can see the wins and losses, and you can see the direction of the competitiveness of the team. It may be that not 1% of this outcome is due to the Coach, but should anyone really be shocked that a change was considered? I don't know if the administration handled it well or handled it poorly, but my guess is that there is no way that they could have handled it that wouldn't have upset his former players and friends.

Well said, but I will say that I don't know how you have a discussion about an athletic program and how succussful it has been without discussing wins and losses. Rhetoric aside, I doubt you can find a parent of a CAK athlete who really thinks that winning is the only important thing. I just think that there are a number of parents who think it's ok to want the teams to be competitive year in / year out along with the other things that make CAK athletics special.