Friday, February 1, 2008

Meadows removed as DeSoto coach, retained as athletic director

By Daphne Brown of DeSoto TODAY

The persistent clamoring of unsatisfied parents apparently has prompted a reorganization in the DeSoto ISD athletic department.

But DeSoto School Superintendent Lloyd Treadwell said this was an action that board members had inquired about when the former superintendent was here.

The whole DeSoto story is nice and all, but the film version is much better.

“This is something the board and I had been talking about,” Treadwell said. “In fact, this was something the board had asked (Alton) Frailey to do before he left.”

The district announced this week that Dave Meadows, who has held the simultaneous positions of the district's athletic director and head football coach since being hired in DeSoto in 2001, will assume the role of athletic director only.

As the district congratulated Meadows on being named the District 8-5A Co-Coach of the year, a handful of parents involved in the district's booster club organization brought their concerns to the DeSoto School Board late last fall in spoken and written words. They asserted, among other things, that Meadows allowed their children to take the field while they were hurt and then called their dedication to the team into question when they didn't or couldn't give their all.

According to information released by the school district, a new head football coach is being sought following “an administrative reorganization that divides the duties of athletic director and head football coach into two positions.”

“Meadows has been fulfilling both roles for the past seven years, taking the football team to the playoffs every year while guiding other sports to success including last year's state championship girls track team and the boys 4x400 relay team,” according to the information. Under Meadows' direction, the boys and girls basketball programs are annual state contenders with both ranked on the state level this year and the girls currently 12th in the nation.

“Meadows has accepted to continue as the athletic director for DeSoto ISD,” according to the district.

The administrative reorganization came from Treadwell with input from others, according to the district.

“This is actually a very good time to advertise for a head football coach,” he said.

In October, Treadwell said the board had asked Treadwell to have a report on the reorganization prepared by the February board meeting.

Meadows' revised contract with the district will be included in administrative contracts for approval by the school board as an agenda item in February. The board also will have to approve the reorganization and added position. Treadwell said the one-year contract will be reviewed at the end of next year, but other details of the contract were not available at this time, the district said.

While the head football coaching position is posted on the district's website and the district does not anticipate applicants from outside of Texas. Applications for the head football position will be accepted through Feb. 15, followed by an interview process. The district hopes to have a new coach in place by March.

The interview process will be handled by a committee established by Executive Director of Human Resources Larry Davis.

“We have so many athletes, in so many different programs that we got to the point that we needed an AD that gives full attention to each program,” he said. “We think in order to move our programs ahead, we think we need an AD that is not bogged down with one sport part of the year.”

The reorganization will direct more resources to the growth of our smaller sports programs and ensure continuity from the middle schools through the high school. In addition, student athletes will benefit from the growth of team and player development programs and summer camps, athletic academic standards and a streamlined college recruitment program.

Prior to Meadows arrival in the fall of 2001, Ben Dial, who passed away in the spring of 2001, was the head football coach and athletic director.

In 2000, Duncanville Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Bob Alpert resigned as head coach and assumed the role of athletic director. The Lancaster and Cedar Hill school districts' athletic directors and head football coaches are different people.

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