Boyle County - Steve Adams

[Danny]

This has been festering for a while now and now that the season is over I need to get it off of my chest.

 

I am a huge Boyle County fan, parent, supporter. There isn't a person at Boyle County that I don't like. I like the entire administration, teachers, coaches, parents and all of the kids. I thoroughly enjoy being a part of Boyle County. The atmosphere of the school and the desire and focus to be a school of excellence truly reminds me of when I was a student at Bowling Green High School where excelling in everything was the focus of the entire school. I feel that at Boyle County.

 

I say this because there is no person at Boyle County that I love and respect more than current basketball coach Steve Adams. Coach Adams has been everything I want in a coach for my kids. My kids only play basketball and while I interact with coaches for different sports at Boyle County I interact with Coach Adams more than anyone else so when it comes to loyalty inside of the school Coach Adams is at the top of that list.

 

It's been brought to my attention that now that Chuck Smith has returned to Boyle County that next year he will be taking on Coach Adams' current schedule and Coach Adams will be taking on a brand new heavier schedule. It was also brought to my attention that Coach Adams' schedule wasn't supposed to be changed to accomodate the returning football coach and not only that, a fellow teacher made him aware of his new heavier schedule next year and not the administration. This was also made news to him on the day of 45th District Final approximately 5 hours before tipoff. I know for a fact that Coach Adams has sacrificed for the school system and taken on a heavier workload in the past when teachers have retired so they wouldn't have to hire teachers. Why the administration would treat him like this is beyond me. Is there not some way to accomodate both Chuck Smith and Steve Adams? Why does Steve Adams have to "take one for the team" and Chuck Smith doesn't? Well, I know the answer why. This is me saying I completely and totally do not agree with how Steve Adams is being treated. It's like they don't care about anything he has done for the basketball program at Boyle County. He has been there 6 years now. He has 3 district titles, 4 trips to the region tournament, 3 region semifinalists and a region finalist on his 6 year Boyle County resume. Why would any administration treat a successful coach the way they are seeming to treat him? Maybe my loyalty to Coach Adams and the basketball program is clouding my vision but I can't understand for the life of me why the administration wouldn't actively seek a way to make Chuck Smith and Steve Adams happy. It can be done if they try and I hope they try before it is too late. When coaches aren't happy they leave and as a parent of kids who have played for him and who will be playing for him I hope the administration does all that they can do to accomodate Steve and Chuck before we lose Steve. I could care less if Chuck is there if Steve is gone. My kid doesn't play football so Chuck Smith returning means little to me. Losing Steve Adams would be a devastating loss to a program that is constantly improving each year. I hope the administration looks out for all of the student-athletes and not just the ones that play football. If it ain't broke.......

 

I had to get this off my chest. It's been on my mind for two weeks now and I didn't want to be a distraction during the season. The season is over now so I will do all I can one way or another to keep Coach Adams at Boyle County.

 

And yes, the entire administration and Board of Education knows exactly how I feel about this situation as well. I have already emailed them my thoughts.

 

Show up in person at the next school board meeting and openly discuss these issues,,,they will just blow your emails off.....

[Watusi]

Reading between the lines, but based on what is posted in this thread it seems to me this is 100% on the administration. I don't think I would place my anger towards the football coach. Admittedly, I am making some assumptions, so take it for what it is. I would bet money when they approached Coach Smith they asked what is it going to take to get you here? If the answer to that question was X amount of money and a certain classroom responsibility, then at that point it is in the Administration's lap as to whether or not they can make that happen.

 

However that came to be, though, it is how the administration decided to implement their changes that caused the problem.

 

If Mr. Begley made it happen by changing Coach Adams' workload without consulting him about it, then that is incredibly weak management IMO. A principal has the right to force teachers into accepting whatever schedule changes he deems necessary. There is nothing wrong, in theory, with taking that road, even at the expense of a good employee. In practice, however, there sure isn't much right about it.

 

Would it be fair to guess that if Mr Begley had just faced Coach Adams like a man and requested he accept some schedule changes that this would have all worked out and the sting would have been less? I have worked for strong leaders, and I have worked for some weasels, and one thing the strong leaders all had in common is they dealt with problems directly, with honesty. Even if the message was undesireable, I always appreciated it if it was delivered to my face.

[PurplePride92]

Reading between the lines, but based on what is posted in this thread it seems to me this is 100% on the administration. I don't think I would place my anger towards the football coach. Admittedly, I am making some assumptions, so take it for what it is. I would bet money when they approached Coach Smith they asked what is it going to take to get you here? If the answer to that question was X amount of money and a certain classroom responsibility, then at that point it is in the Administration's lap as to whether or not they can make that happen.

 

However that came to be, though, it is how the administration decided to implement their changes that caused the problem.

 

If Mr. Begley made it happen by changing Coach Adams' workload without consulting him about it, then that is incredibly weak management IMO. A principal has the right to force teachers into accepting whatever schedule changes he deems necessary. There is nothing wrong, in theory, with taking that road, even at the expense of a good employee. In practice, however, there sure isn't much right about it.

 

Would it be fair to guess that if Mr Begley had just faced Coach Adams like a man and requested he accept some schedule changes that this would have all worked out and the sting would have been less? I have worked for strong leaders, and I have worked for some weasels, and one thing the strong leaders all had in common is they dealt with problems directly, with honesty. Even if the message was undesireable, I always appreciated it if it was delivered to my face.

 

 

Good point. That is misguided anger on my part to be mad at Chuck Smith.

[Starks]

Judy Mason

Ronnie Bottoms

Chris Pardue

Larry French

 

Soon you can add Steve Adams to the list of good coaches the administration has ran off at one time or another. I hope they run him down 127 to Mercer County. Come on back home Stevie! Titans are better than Rebels.

[PurplePride92]

Judy Mason

Ronnie Bottoms

Chris Pardue

Larry French

 

Soon you can add Steve Adams to the list of good coaches the administration has ran off at one time or another. I hope they run him down 127 to Mercer County. Come on back home Stevie! Titans are better than Rebels.

 

 

Here's the thing though. Each one of those cases was an isolated situation. I'm not even sure the same administration was in place for all of those coaches when they were at Boyle County. I do know there was some hard feelings when all of those coaches left and I know some people still upset about some of those coaches to this day. I also know people that were happy to see them leave. I hope Steve stays at Boyle County. I truly do and if he does decide to go somewhere else I'd hope it wouldn't be a 12th Region school. Especially Mercer County. Thank God Danville still has a coach. :lol2:

[Starks]

Here's the thing though. Each one of those cases was an isolated situation. I'm not even sure the same administration was in place for all of those coaches when they were at Boyle County. I do know there was some hard feelings when all of those coaches left and I know some people still upset about some of those coaches to this day. I also know people that were happy to see them leave. I hope Steve stays at Boyle County. I truly do and if he does decide to go somewhere else I'd hope it wouldn't be a 12th Region school. Especially Mercer County. Thank God Danville still has a coach. :lol2:

 

 

If I am Mercer County I am on the phone calling him right now. I think he'd listen to what they have to say. Mercer graduate too? You can come on down too Purple. Don't be shy.

[Hatz]

If I am Mercer County I am on the phone calling him right now. I think he'd listen to what they have to say. Mercer graduate too? You can come on down too Purple. Don't be shy.

 

Come on Starks. Why would he leave one bad administration for another who's history is just as bad? :thumb:

[Booby Miles]

Timing may have been wrong with Coach Adams finding out right before the district finals or the administration may have not handled it the correct way but as I stated earlier I think both coaches have been taken care of so there shouldn't be any issues now.

 

To be successful both programs need good coaches and they have that and I believe the school wants that and will support that.

 

Trust me when I say Boyle County does a good job with their coaches and school system because I have been on the other end of bad coaches and administrators. It's not a fun situation to be in.

[First]

"Timing may have been wrong with Coach Adams finding out right before the district finals or the administration may have not handled it the correct way but as I stated earlier I think both coaches have been taken care of so there shouldn't be any issues now"

 

I don't know what taken care of means but, looking at ALL of the facts of this one, you can't just waive a magic wand and undo what's been done. If I cheat on my wife then go back and tell her everything is back to normal today, I've still cheated in her - going to be some major resentment and trust issues. Again, what's been done cannot be undone.

[Plato]

A couple of thoughts

When negotiating his deal I bet Chuck Smith had no clue what Coach Adams made, taught, or anything else.

Unlike teachers who come in as low man on the totem pole, new coaches come in with the most negotiating power they will ever have (with a few exceptions of consistently highly successful coaches who stay at that school for a long time)

Steve Adams is a very good coach.

 

PP - we don't build fences around Scott Co and there are plenty of large houses to choose from

[Booby Miles]

"Timing may have been wrong with Coach Adams finding out right before the district finals or the administration may have not handled it the correct way but as I stated earlier I think both coaches have been taken care of so there shouldn't be any issues now"

 

I don't know what taken care of means but, looking at ALL of the facts of this one, you can't just waive a magic wand and undo what's been done. If I cheat on my wife then go back and tell her everything is back to normal today, I've still cheated in her - going to be some major resentment and trust issues. Again, what's been done cannot be undone.

 

There is no comparison to cheating on your wife and telling someone their job duties have changed. Doing more work for less pay or no additional pay is the norm now but as I said it probably was handled wrong and if Boyle knew Coach Adams was mad about the change and didn't make things right then there might or should have been some resentment but with what I've heard they did accommodate both coaches so Coach Adams could look at it as they really want me as their coach because they re-did something that was already done. I can't speak for Coach Adams so this is all speculation on my part.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Watusi
fixed quote tags

[First]

I'm not implying that it's literally the same as cheating on your wife. And this isn't just about telling someone that their job duties have changed. The commonality is breaking trust. Per what was stated, Adams was told that nothing would change. Then things were changed per the deal that was given Smith and they still hadn't informed Adams. Then, 3 weeks after the fact, Adams heard it all from a co- worker.

 

If those are the facts, there's going to be major trust issues that can't be repaired regardless of any amount of backpedaling.

[Starks]

Come on Starks. Why would he leave one bad administration for another who's history is just as bad? :thumb:

 

 

While I won't defend every decision that Mercer has made in the last few years(Jaggers and Britt) I do feel like they are on better ground than they were as recently as 2 years ago. Definitely better than what seems to be running Boyle County right now. They hit their home run with Smith. If they don't want Steve Mercer will welcome him back home.

[PurplePride92]

A couple of thoughts

When negotiating his deal I bet Chuck Smith had no clue what Coach Adams made, taught, or anything else.

Unlike teachers who come in as low man on the totem pole, new coaches come in with the most negotiating power they will ever have (with a few exceptions of consistently highly successful coaches who stay at that school for a long time)

Steve Adams is a very good coach.

 

PP - we don't build fences around Scott Co and there are plenty of large houses to choose from

 

This is all true and things I didn't take into consideration that I wish I would have before I made some of my comments about Chuck Smith. It's not his fault.

[PurplePride92]

I'm not implying that it's literally the same as cheating on your wife. And this isn't just about telling someone that their job duties have changed. The commonality is breaking trust. Per what was stated, Adams was told that nothing would change. Then things were changed per the deal that was given Smith and they still hadn't informed Adams. Then, 3 weeks after the fact, Adams heard it all from a co- worker.

 

If those are the facts, there's going to be major trust issues that can't be repaired regardless of any amount of backpedaling.

 

 

Simply having a mature, adult conversation would be an excellent start.