Upon Further Review

In the two weeks since Fort Defiance decided that Terry Waters’ 231-65 record during his 14 years at the school wasn’t good enough, we still haven’t heard anything.

Nope. Nuttin. Nada. Not a whisper from the administration as to why it happened. Only “no comment[s]” from Athletic Director Jack Tucker and Principal Larry Landes. Oh, that and the promise of a letter sent to Waters in the next few weeks that, according to Landes, will give the outraged parents and wrestlers of the program “confidence” in his decision to release the well-loved coach.

Fort just doesn’t get it, do they? Don’t answer that, because I’m done asking questions. When this paper first reported the Waters’ release back on June 11 (yeah, we tend to cover sports news, not 8-year-old T-ball. Sorry.), we asked questions. I followed it the next day with a blog that asked questions. That, in turn, was soon followed by a column that asked a question or two. Parents, the Monday after Waters was dumped to the wayside, got to ask their questions at a meeting with Landes. We should all be done asking questions, but Fort Defiance refuses to answer. Proving that, no, they don’t get it.

This isn’t some Dynasty cliffhanger here, guys in charge at Fort. This shouldn’t be some power play to get “your” people in. Not at all. What this should be is about the wrestlers. The students at your school who pour sweat, blood and tears onto the mat of that old gym you pass as a wrestling room. This is about guys like Jeff Weeks. This is about guys like Kevin Delawder and Gabriel Curry. These are about all these guys and more.

You call them students, yet toy with their emotions. Leaving kids hanging off the balcony for weeks, promising that their coach will get an answer but, really, will the wrestlers? (OK, I asked one question.) Nope. They’ll just hear rumors and innuendos as to why there will be a different wrestling coach at Fort when they return in the fall. Unless you release this letter to the public, send a copy to every wrestler and parents that’s all they’ll ever have to go on.

And that’s not fair to the kids. I don’t have many soapboxes, but watching high school athletes get used and abused is one of them. The VHSL uses them for money, splitting sports into divisional play, so they can pocket more ducats off the big two sports and bring in the most green (football and basketball). Schools, and it seems that we’re only talking the Group AA “big boys” here (Fort, Waynesboro, Stuarts Draft, R.E. Lee), refuse to budge when it comes to smart basketball scheduling that would allow these students who get home late from practice, to be cheered on by more people.

Alas, and then there are the towns some of these “big boy” schools are in. Places like Waynesboro where football bleachers sit half full during home games, a place where community support is softer than and old orange. Stands that, for the most part, are only filled with moms, dads, girlfriends and boyfriends.

The only way Fort to even attempt to right this ship is by collecting them up, bringing them into the school and telling them why Waters in no longer coach. Not sit in front of parents and dishing out smug answers to questions they really want to know and should know. Darn it, to blazes with your legalize. Give these kids and answer.

Instead, they’ll have to wait and it’s still no guarantee they’ll ever know why Waters isn’t there.

It’s too bad a school wants to carry these kids’ emotions on a string. And the real adults in this matter wonder why the youth hate us so.