A big fat ‘no’ to football consultant
Uniontown High School, falling behind in regional and state competitions, is examining the possibility of hiring a retired science teacher and a highly successful instructor in her day as a science fair consultant.
“We used to dominate,” said a member of the school board who’s pushing for changes to the makeup of the Red Raiders’ science fair team. ” I’m afraid we’ve forgotten how to compete. The thing is, we’ve lost our way, our science fair culture and conditioning isn’t what it should, or can, be. “
Of course, this is a joke, a fabrication, but even if it were true, it would make more sense than the proposal by Uniontown school director Ken Meadows to hire an ex-football coach as a “consultant” for the Red Raiders’ football program.
“We need an overhaul,” Meadows told the school board. “We can’t compete at this level with the shape the program is in.” The Raiders are currently in the midst of 22-game losing skid.
Does the football program need to turned around? Beats me. This is high school. The school team is what it is until it isn’t any more. Talented athletes appear in random allotments. The sophomore class is lousy. The freshmen are better. The 9th graders are really good. And you should see the 7th and 8th graders!
Coaching, conditioning, recruitment can help any team. But let’s not get carried away.
First things first.
The faux science fair consultant at least speaks to a core function of the institution: academic enrichment.
The serious proposal to bring on a football consultant speaks to … to the absurd lengthens some high school officials will go in the name of sports, especially if the sport is football.
(Need I remind the school board that the Red Raiders’ baseball team doesn’t even have a field of its own to play on?)
Now, it might be encouraging to note that the school board turned down Meadows’ suggestion to hire Jim Render, who coached Uniontown way back in the 1970s before moving on to a stellar career at uber-rich Upper St. Clair, where his teams won better than 400 games and captured two state championships.
I say “it might be encouraging”, but the board didn’t exactly turn the idea down. With one director absent, the board voted 4-4, a tie. For the moment, at least, the Meadows gambit was defeated.
At the same time, remarks by school directors were somewhat disheartening. Board vice president Terry Dawson noted Render was fired by a previous board. Director Don Rugola said he had “many questions.”
Not one school director rose to say what a tremendous waste of money hiring Render (who hadn’t even been asked) would be or what a tremendous diversion it would represent: shining a light on sports at a time when students at Uniontown, and elsewhere, need all the academic and career- and job-preparation enhancements they can get.
Meadows hit the nail on the head. “I think there is some interest there,” he was quoted as saying. “If not Jim Render, if they want somebody else, find somebody else.”
By all means bring on academic “consultants,” if they are needed. The Uniontown school board should consider hiring the very best people to “consult” on teaching the core subjects of science, math, and engineering as well as history, composition, languages, and the arts.
However, no academic consultants will ever be hired. (Go ahead, school board, prove me wrong.)
Listen, participation in sports is a good thing, and high school sports can impart many lessons; it can teach determination, persistence, discipline, teamwork. I would be the last person to denigrate individual achievement in sports. Excellence in high school sports is fine; not infrequently it sets the table for a life of achievement in other endeavors. At the very least, it does no harm and it can do a great deal of good.
Still, high school sports needs some perspective; it can be fun and productive. Winning should be one goal, but making it the be-all and end-all needs some serious reevaluation.
I know this attitude cuts against the grain. There are plenty of people, including a good number of friends and relatives, who think high school sports is all about winning. Grade school, junior high, junior varsity all are about preparation. High school is about notching victories.
We can applaud that attitude without succumbing to its dreadful romance: in the long run – heck, even in the short run of five to ten years – winning hardly matters at all; exertion, execution is enough – “the hard blue glow of high purpose.”
As for the kids themselves, over time they will remember the fellowship of sports and the friends they made.
You do not boo high school athletes, and you don’t hire consultants to whip them into shape, or to get “the program” moving in a winning direction.
Drop out of the WPIAL for a season or two , or step down a level in competition, if you must. But, school directors, kick the idea of a football “consultant” to the sidelines.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.