Peoples Academy coach appeals firing
|
|
Peoples Academy coach Marc Newton watches a game against Spaulding last fall. |
Toolbox
By James Biggam TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: July 8, 2009
A special school board session to address the recent firing of Peoples Academy boys soccer coach Marc Newton will be held today at 5 p.m. at the Morristown Elementary School.
The meeting is open to the public and was brought about after the 11-year veteran coach hand-delivered an appeal of the decision to all five members of the Morristown School Board.
Newton, who boasts a record of 140 victories, 37 losses and 13 ties, was informed on July 24 that he would not be re-hired to coach this fall in a letter from Peoples Academy Principal Phillip Grant and Director of Co-Curricular Activities Jason Michaelieds. The letter cites a lack of sportsmanship, cooperation and communication as the issues at hand.
As of press time, 440 former players and community members had joined the Facebook sites "Let Marc Newton Coach" and "Protest Against the Unjust Firing of Coach Marc Newton." A large sign reading "Bring Marc Back" was prominently displayed during Fourth of July festivities in Morrisville and stickers that say 'Don't Boot Newt" are being passed around town.
But while Newton and his supporters insist he's being hung out to dry, both the Peoples Academy administration and Lamoille South Superintendent Tracy Wrend remain mum on the issue.
"As much as I would like to comment on the specifics of the situation, I can't comment on legal matters out of respect for the process," Wrend said. "It means that only one side of the story gets told, and that's as frustrating for me as it is for the community members. But that's what I need to do for the children and for the best interest of the school district."
Wrend added, "Although there are no legal grounds for the appeal, the board is always ready to listen."
Michaelieds – who began working at Peoples Academy within the past two years along with Grant – was even less forthcoming about the details.
"I've been given a directive by my superiors and I can't comment on anything," he said. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to (comment on the matter). There's certain protocol about these sort of personnel issues that we're just not allowed to comment on. That's just the way it is."
NEWTON'S SIDE OF THE STORY
Although Newton was floored by his recent dismissal, he admits that he did see some of the writing on the wall over the past few years.
Newton had also coached junior high girls basketball at Peoples Academy in 2007 and didn't know what to think when he saw an advertisement for that position in a local paper last September.
"I contacted Jason and asked him what was going on and if I needed to re-apply and he said he wasn't sure if I really wanted to coach or not," Newton said. "But he had never contacted me by e-mail or a phone call to find out. He just put the ads in the paper."
Newton, a 1986 PA grad and former three-sport athlete at the school, regarded the snub as a blatant sign of disrespect – especially from a first-year athletic director.
"I bleed green and gold," Newton said. "There are very few people up here who can say they've been associated with that school for that long – I know what it means to be a Wolf. And then all of a sudden the athletic director can come in here and put on a green and gold shirt and a Peoples Academy hat and know what it means? Almost half of my life has been devoted to the Peoples Academy boys soccer program."
While Newton had received largely satisfactory evaluations from Michaelieds' predecessor, Pat Hanifin, he couldn't help but think that he was at the center of a witch hunt this past season.
"Jason hadn't even worked one year as an athletic director and he told me that he would never hire me as a varsity coach," Newton said. "He told me he would hire me as a J.V. or a middle school coach – maybe – so that I could mentor under somebody else. Last July he told me that I had to write personal goals and team goals for the 2008 season. I was told to write something that I meant, not what the administration wanted to hear. He was very disrespectful, right off the bat from Day 1."
Several Peoples Academy players had been involved in a high-profile melee during a game Netwon coached against Spaulding in 2006, but Newton felt like he addressed the issue adequately. In his mind, any lingering worries about sportsmanship were a thing of the past.
"After the 2007 season, I received a satisfactory evaluation and everything seemed fine," he said. "I had actually applied for the J.V. girls basketball job at the end of the 2008 school year, but they ended up hiring Brian Barney instead. Before the 2008 soccer season, I was informed to come in for a meeting with Jason and Phil to discuss the J.V. girls basketball position that I hadn't been hired for. I thought it was odd, and when I showed up it wasn't about the J.V. basketball position at all. It was an opportunity for them to show me a letter that outlined some concerns from the 2007 soccer season. It caught me completely off-guard because Mr. Grant had indicated to me that he was happy with our performance in the 2007 season."
According to Newton, other accusations against him levied by the administration include:
Texting one of his soccer captains during school hours.
An insubordinate response to a school official when Newton was asked to return the runner-up plaques from the 2007 and 2007 seasons.
Inappropriately approaching a former captain at a basketball game to discuss rumors that the player was trying to get him fired.
Sending an e-mail to the Vermont Principals' Association during the soccer season.
Ignoring members of the administration at the Peoples Academy softball team's state title game last month.
Newton categorically denies the last claim and says the first four are easy to explain.
In regards to the text message, Newton quickly points to other PA coaches who have done the same thing. He realizes that PA has a zero-tolerance policy for having cell phones activated during school hours, but he believes the infraction was minor.
"He wanted me to bring him lunch and all I did was say, 'No,'" Newton said.
Addressing the concern about returning the runner-up plaques, Newton says Hanifin was the one who gave him the hardware in the first place because the plaques were sitting in a storage closet.
When asked about confronting his former captain at a basketball game, Newton recalls that he'd heard through the grapevine that the player in question intended to talk with Grant in an attempt to have Newton fired.
"When I hear something like that, I try to resolve the matter," Newton said. "So, in a very non-confrontational manner, I asked him at a basketball game if what I'd heard was true. And he said, 'No,' and we shook hands and that was the end of it."
The issue of e-mailing the VPA came about after Cote Trombley received two yellow cards in a game and received a two-game suspension. According to the VPA's Web site, the accumulation of two yellow cards will lead to a one-game suspension provided that neither violation is harmful in nature.
"It was supposed to be one game, but he was given a two-game suspension," Newton said. "I told Jason, who was supposed to advocating for this player, and he said it was two games and that was it. On the request of the parent, I e-mailed the VPA and (head referee) Frank Martel to find an explanation and I never got an answer. I have probably contacted the VPA five or six times over the course of my coaching career and every time I got a response. This time I got nothing. I got reprimanded by our athletic director and the principal."
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the entire ordeal for Newton has been the waiting game. His unsatisfactory evaluation from the 2008 season was signed and dated on Nov. 17, 2008, but it was not shown to him until last month.
"In my 2003-2004 evaluation, 94 percent of the time I was rated above-average to excellent," said Newton, who began coaching J.V. soccer at PA in 1991. "On the 2008 evaluation that I received from Jason, that same percentage of the feedback was checked off for average and needs improvement. So apparently over the course of four seasons I lost my touch. How can a guy in his first year as athletic director rate a coach of 18 years in that manner? I don't get it, unless they had a personal vendetta and an agenda to drive me out."
GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF A DISPUTED CALL
Peoples Academy suffered one-goal losses to Stowe during the past two Division III championships, and the 2007 defeat was particularly tough for Newton because of a disputed penalty kick awarded to Stowe.
Following the game, Newton approached one of the referees and voiced his displeasure over the critical call.
"I told Miles Etter that I thought he blew a penalty call, but I felt justified," Newton said. "I had Stowe parents telling me the same thing. Somehow that comment made it back to Phil Grant and he deemed it inappropriate. But it was just between me and him – from a coach to an official."
Etter still remembers when Newton walked up to him after the game, but his recollection is that the conversation was less private than Newton contends.
"I can't address that whole issue with him (being fired), but I can say there was a statement made at the game that I thought was inappropriate," Etter said. "I took it as him not dealing with the situation very well. If that was his idea of private, I would say it didn't happen that way. We were still on the field and I wouldn't concur that is was necessarily a private conversation. And regardless of where it was said, it was not a very responsible thing to do. Any official who hears something inappropriate is going to talk with other officials. It's one thing to have a discussion with somebody, it's another thing to be accusatory and make a very pointed statement in that accusation."
Another sportsmanship-related grievance stems from several Peoples Academy players removing their shirts before shaking hands with their opponents. At the World Cup and other top levels of soccer, players often exchange jerseys with their opponents after games. Etter acknowledges that the custom is less prevalent after high school games, but he can't remember ever being taken aback by the tradition during his 20 years as a referee.
"Not too many parents are going to be too thrilled that their kids are exchanging jerseys with the other team considering the expense, but I don't think it's a big deal," he said. "The only time I would take notice is if they take it off and twirl it around and flaunt it – that's disrespectful. But other times have not been too big of an issue."
While Etter sticks to his story that Newton's remarks in 2007 were inappropriate, he remains open to the possibility that the PA coach's sportsmanship has improved over the past year.
"He did call my fellow official and said something positive this previous year, so I took that as a positive sign," Etter said. "I thought, for whatever reason, that it was a good move on his part."
ONE MOTHER VOICES HER OUTRAGE
Vicki LaBounty has been one of the most vocal community members going to bat for Newton over the past few weeks.
Her oldest son, Travis Fitzgerald, was a standout defender who graduated from PA in 2007. Her youngest son, Luke Fitzgerald, has led Peoples Academy in scoring the past two years and has already received a partial scholarship to play for the University of Vermont in 2010.
"I have had two children who have been coached by Marc and I speak very highly of him," LaBounty said. "My youngest son is going with a scholarship to UVM and my feeling is that he didn't do that by himself. Luke chose Marc to be the one person to go with him to his UVM interview with Jesse (Cormier) and Wade (Jean), and to me that really speaks volumes."
LaBounty believes that Michaelieds may be interested in taking over the varsity boys soccer job himself, and she won't be surprised if her youngest son and some of his teammates refuse to play this fall.
"Luke is devastated," she said. "He says he doesn't want to play without his coach. A number of the boys have threatened to boycott the soccer season if Marc's not there for them."
If Newton's firing was performance-based, LaBounty is fairly certain that it wasn't related to his ability to produce victories on the field. After all, it's tough to knock his tradition of success with a program that he's guided to five title games and two state championships in 11 years.
"I haven't seen anything close to any misconduct that warranted him to be fired," LaBounty said. "As far as I'm concerned, his wins alone really should prevent him from being fired. The bottom line is that we don't have any concrete evidence that warrants a dismissal. And we can't get any real answers. What they're doing doesn't really add up. These are nitpicky things they're accusing him of. It's like they're picking him apart, literally. It just doesn't make sense. As a parent, I feel that we're entitled to some answers."
22