DiBiase case could deter new coaches

The thought of joining the high school coaching ranks passed through these brain cells a few years back, if ever so briefly.

The decision not to go that route wasn’t for lack of opportunity. Ask most athletic administrators and they’ll lament the lack of applicants for many openings, even in the most popular sports.

But there was the inevitable conflict of interest of trying to make coaching co-exist with this sort of real job – a conflict that previously ended a satisfying run as a basketball official.

And that wasn’t the only reason.

This vantage point offers a unique opportunity to view various coaching environments up close and from afar at the same time. Listen attentively enough, and you hear from all sides within a game, within a season and within a program, and beyond the joy of victory exhaled from those most successful what you often hear isn’t all that pretty.

The subject of most criticism is the coach, and the source of such criticism often is anonymous.

This topic arises every year at some school in some town, but comes up again now because of reports regarding the South Portland school board’s decision not to rehire boys basketball coach Tony DiBiase after 17 seasons.

DiBiase is not without major credentials. The Westbrook native is a former football and baseball player at the University of Maine, and since coaching his first varsity basketball game at Machias in 1977 he has amassed 392 victories. He has won three state championships, one each at Gorham (1982), Portland (1986) and South Portland (1992).

He’s also South Portland’s varsity baseball coach, a status that apparently will go unchanged next spring.

So why is DiBiase losing the basketball job from the same school?

He was told by his athletic administrator in mid-May that his basketball coaching contract had been recommended for renewal. A few weeks later, the principal and superintendentent opted to make a change.

DiBiase said he hasn’t been given a reason, and has hired an attorney in an effort to get the job back. School officials cite confidentiality reasons for not explaining their decision.

It’s pretty easy to surmise why DiBiase wasn’t rehired, even after receiving an initial recommendation.

One possibility is because South Portland hasn’t won a state title in 15 years – the Red Riots outlasted Bangor in five overtimes in the’92 final – or a Western A crown since 1993. Some program supporters might think change is needed to help South Portland overcome the stranglehold on Western Maine Class A basketball now maintained by the Portland schools – Portland, Deering and Cheverus.

Another possibility is that a few parents went over the athletic department’s head to complain about issues like playing time, and rather than stand up for a staff member who has served the school for nearly two decades DiBiase was considered expendable.

Whatever the reason, DiBiase at least merits hearing it in a face-to-face manner. That may come Aug. 6, if the school board schedules an executive session on that date to discuss the issue.

Then again, he may never get a straight answer, and the lunacy of that is not only a terrible educational lesson, it’s a good reason good people choose to leave the coaching profession – or opt not to join it in the first place.

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or at eclark@bangordailynews.net.