Petition seeks removal of CHS football coach
Posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 3:33 pm
By Tim Cox/Editor
MILFORD – The drumbeat you hear is a group of parents seeking the head of Caroline High School football coach Gene Boley.
The group recently submitted a petition to school principal Harper Donahoe seeking Boley’s removal. The parents presented their petition to the Caroline County School Board on Monday night. A number of them also used the opportunity to air a litany of complaints against Boley, who just completed his second season of coaching and guided the Cavaliers to their second 2-8 season.
Parents, most of them fathers of football players, took up the first portion of the board’s meeting as they detailed their concerns about Boley. They complained that Boley has used profanity with the players and cursed them, repeatedly lied to players, manipulates players and plays them off one another, and has not abided by a written agreement between coaches, players, and parents. Boley exhibits poor communication skills, is neither a mentor nor a role model, and essentially is not a positive influence for the players, they contended.
About a half-dozen parents addressed the board about Boley. Their comments usually drew applause from a group of about 12-15 other parents and supporters.
Boley defended himself against the claims in a phone call to The Progress on Tuesday.
He admitted one instance when he cursed a player, said Boley. He notified Donahoe and apologized to the player the next day, he said. Otherwise, he acknowledged occasional use of mild profanities but said he has not cursed players.
“I’ve never cussed the kids on the sidelines in the games, in practice,” said Boley. “If anything, I’ve tried to correct the kids from the language they use in practice.”
Boley suggested that allegations of lying were the result of his telling players that they had the potential to start at a position to help motivate them. “I do tell a lot of kids, ‘If you work hard, you have a chance to be a starter.’ ” However, some players do not reach that level, he noted. “We do pick the best kids to be starters.”
“That looks like I’m lying to players,” he added.
“I think the future what I’ll do is refrain from telling kids they have an opportunity to be a good player…if they see that as lying.”
The written agreement with players and parents notes that players who miss practice without a valid excuse may miss playing time or be removed from the team. “I have followed that rule to the letter,” said Boley. If a player has a valid reason to be absent, another player may not be aware of it and only realize he is missing, noted Boley, and later wonder why the teammate has been allowed to play.
Boley said he has tried to teach the players more than football skills. “I always talk to them like football is a job,” he said, and encourages players to “treat it like a job” in order to accept responsibility – to show up on time and make a good effort.
“I try to build the kids up here…They need positive enforcement, not negative enforcement.”
“He’s not a mentor. He’s not a leader,” Shirl Taylor, who presented the petition, told the board.
“We feel like he bullies the kids,” she added. “It’s a power trip.”
Players and parents alike are afraid to confront Boley because he retaliates by benching or demoting players, she said.
Boley also has sent “very inappropriate” text messages to players, said Taylor, taunting them and using terms like “wuss” if a player sought to be excused from practice because of an injury or other health reasons.
Boley acknowledged that he has encouraged players to participate in weight training for their own good. “If you want to compete on this football team, you need to get yourself bigger so you don’t get hurt…I see nothing wrong with telling kids that.”
Player and team statistics have not been properly updated on a website service used by coaches in the region, Taylor also said.
“Breaking spirits is not an option,” Larry Boxley told the board.
“My biggest concern is how these kids…the way they’re being talked to, the way they’re being treated,” said Boxley.
“We need a mentor up there,” Robert Gerber told the board. Game films produced for the football team are not suitable to be sent to college recruiters because they are of poor quality, he said. Gerber said he has resorted to contacting other coaches in the region in an effort to obtain copies of their game films on behalf of Caroline players.
“The way things are going need to change,” said Gerber. “Something needs to be done.”
Fred Baker, a father of three, threatened to leave the county with his family and to encourage others to do the same. “We need leadership skills here,” he said, not a coach who denigrates the players.
“He’s just plain not a good coach,” said Cory Wright.
“There’s no reason for us to be a 2-and-8 school,” he added.
Boley attributed the grievances to a lack of communication between him and parents and acknowledged receiving complaints from parents during the past season. “I really believe I do have to do a better job of communication with parents,” he said.
In his first season he held a pre-season meeting with parents, but this past season he did not. He is re-writing a team manual that he will review with parents prior to next season, he said.
“I appreciate the input of parents,” said Boley. “They’re welcome to talk to me about anything.”
“If I’d had a parent meeting, I probably could have cleared up some of these things,” he said.
Some of the parents who spoke at the meeting were parents of players who were disciplined, according to Boley. In addition, he was not familiar with the names of some people who signed the petition. “They don’t have a child on the varsity,” he said.
Donahoe said later he received the petition a week ago. Since then he and athletic director Jeremy Jack have been attempting to contact people who signed the petition to set up individual meetings with them to hear their grievances. Only one person has participated in a meeting so far, he said.
Boley and all fall coaches are evaluated in December-January, noted Donahoe.
Asked about the complaints and allegations that parents had aired that evening before the School Board, Donahoe said, “I’m not really happy about it.”
Donahoe did not condone profanity by coaches. “We don’t believe in that at all,” he said.
