Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012: When parents win, good men often lose

   You know what's worse, though? Going into complete panic mode and reacting without adequate investigation of the facts because someone has hurled the "B" word into an accusation made in a public forum.

   That was one of the running themes Monday night as 10 community members poured their hearts out in defense of Kerry Bennett, who was fired earlier this month after four NYSPHSAA softball championships and more than 600 victories on the diamond.

   Speaker after speaker (watch the recording of the meeting here) implored members of the school board to reconsider the decision to fire Bennett amid allegations at a previous board meeting by a disgruntled parent that the coach created an environment that allowed and possibly even encouraged the bullying of that man's daughter after her decision to abandon the Cicero-North Syracuse softball team before the state championship game in June to attend the senior ball.

   If C-NS has a zero-tolerance policy against bullying, as was stated by a board member before an overflow audience, that's fine. At this moment, though, there is no credible evidence publicly uncovered to suggest Bennett committed or condoned bullying, and several speakers specifically refuted the existing hearsay.

   The 10 speakers, the maximum allowed by the board, had no sway last night. After their at-times emotional defense of Bennett, the board president announced that there would be no further discussion of the matter by district officials, the decision to dismiss Bennett would stand and it was time to move on to other matters on the agenda.

   That brought about jeering and shouted questions from the crowd. At that point, spectators were warned by board President Pat V. Carbone that they would be ejected if they did not pipe down.

   I wouldn't go so far as to term that to be "bullying," but it was damn close.

   What we witnessed last night contributes to suspicions that one person can't bring down the career of a veteran educator, but he/she can certainly get the ball rolling for a willing school board.

   I do not know Kerry Bennett, the deposed C-NS coach, so I would not presume to speak in his defense beyond what I've noted this month: Even if the acts in question met the definition of bullying and merited action under the zero-tolerance policy, there's no publicly known corroboration to support one father's suggestion that Bennett was culpable.

   The school board may have obtained indisputable evidence to the contrary, and of course the taxpayers will never be allowed to see it. More likely, though, the board simply caved. More than one speaker suggested that the fact that Bennett's varsity assistants and players were not interviewed during the investigation said as much.

   I hope that's not the case here. But given the recent ruckus in the football program, evidence suggests they're susceptible to external influence.

   Lather, rinse, repeat.

   Besides being the operating instructions on a bottle of shampoo, those words represent the reality in high school sports. Good people get whacked all the time. I've probably reported on or read about 75 such incidents across the state over three decades of covering schools.

   Rich Miles, who had the audacity to try benching a player for violation of team rules, represents the past. He

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got fired as boys basketball coach at Red Jacket last season on the eve of sectionals.

   Bennett represents the present.

   And now it looks like Al Monaco represents the future. He was fired as boys basketball and golf coach at Williamsville South last week. There will be the usual community organizing on his behalf -- by the way, the work of colleagues and former players on behalf of Bennett was nothing less than a gold-medal effort and a playbook for future protests -- and pleas to the school board at the next meeting, but the man is as good as gone.

   It looks as though he ticked off someone who wasn't afraid to cry foul to the superintendent and/or the school board over something as ridiculous as the lack of playing time. Monaco apparently had the gall to put the interests of the team ahead of the agenda of one player.

   The cast in the Monaco saga is already impressive: Monaco is a respected coach very active in basketball at all levels; Scott Martzloff was a Division I recruit on McQuaid's 1988 state-title team and is now the superintendent; Dave Archer, executive director of the Basketball Coaches Association of New York and president of National High School Basketball Coaches Association, wrote a letter on Monaco's behalf less than 48 hours after the story broke.

   "Unfortunately, there are many examples of disgruntled parents trying to get a high school coach fired throughout our state and nation," Archer wrote. "In state and national leadership roles that I have, I am quite aware of how most school districts handle these situations. I honestly cannot think of another school district that handled accusations against a coach as unfairly and poorly as Williamsville did. Most districts employ a completely fair process, seeking input from other parents, other players, area coaches, experts, etc. The results of a fair process would have overwhelming kept Al Monaco as coach at Williamsville South."

   Said Depew coach Larry Jones, co-chairman of the Section 6 basketball committee with Monaco: “We realize this could be any one of us. To think that a parent thinks they have the right to go to the superintendent over a kid basically not getting playing time, then we as coaches are going to be in trouble, and districts will have trouble finding qualified coaches because they'll be having to deal with disgruntled parents."