Selvey ousted as girls coach (4/27/04)

PORTLAND — The Jay School Board ended a seven-year coaching tenure Monday by a split vote. The coach it ousted wasn’t aware his future would be decided at the meeting.

The board voted 4-3 Monday against giving Jay County girls basketball coach Lea Selvey a two-year contract extension. His current contract expires June 30.

Board members Doug Inman, Bryan Alexander, Jay Halstead and president Duane Starr voted against the extension, and members Ted Champ, Frank Vormohr and Mike Shannon voted in favor.

“There were a lot of (reasons for my vote),” said Halstead, in a phone interview after the meeting. “Personally, I just feel like it’s time for the program to go in a new direction. I just think it’s time for some new blood to get in there and to jump-start the girls program again.”

Starr would not comment on his reasons for the vote against the extension.

Selvey will remain at JCHS as a teacher and the varsity baseball coach. He said he was disappointed with the decision, and especially with the way the situation was handled, but does not hold any ill will toward the school board members.

He had been considering making the 2003-04 campaign his last with the Patriots. But, he said he was not told his fate would be decided at the meeting.

“If that’s the way they want to conduct business, then that’s their business,” said Selvey in a phone interview Monday evening. “It doesn’t look good. Nobody said a word to me about it.”

The topic of the girls basketball contract was not on the agenda for the meeting, but was brought up as an additional personnel item. The school board met in executive session prior to the public meeting Monday.

Starr raised the issue during the public meeting, but there was no discussion about the position before Shannon made a motion to give Selvey a two-year extension. Vormohr seconded the motion, and it failed 4-3 in a roll-call vote.

“I’m disappointed from the standpoint of the way they went about it,” Selvey said. “I want to thank (principal) Dr. (Wood) Barwick and (athletics director) Brad Lindsay, because I know I had their support. I guess I see it as a sad situation when you have the support of the AD and the support of the principal — the people who are evaluating you — for it to come down the way it did. Also, I’m not going to bow my head or be ashamed because we had some pretty good years and some pretty good records.”

He also thanked the three board members who voted in his favor.

Selvey finished just over .500 in his career with the Patriots with a 77-73 mark. However, he went 27-18 in his last two seasons — 14-9 in 2003-04 — and won back-to-back sectional championships.

He said he felt he accomplished several of the goals he set when he took over the job in 1997, including leaving the program in better shape than he found it.

Selvey was evaluated by Lindsay and Barwick at the conclusion of the season — as all coaches are — and it was recommended that his contract be renewed. His current contract is a one-year deal.

“There have been difficulties and challenges in the last two years, but at the end of both seasons the coaching staff and players rallied and finished the seasons strong,” said Lindsay. “The positive season-ending surges left us optimistic for the future."

“I feel pretty good about the job that we’ve done,” said Selvey of his work and that of his staff. “I guess they wanted to go in a different direction.

“Obviously four of our last five years we had winning records. There were times that we weren’t especially playing well, but the kids hung in there when times were tough. They turned around to win the sectionals when we probably weren’t the favorite the last two years.”

Jay County’s only losing season in the last five came with a 9-12 record in 2000-01.

“It’s not all about winning,” said Halstead. “I think it’s about developing kids and developing character and having confidence in your coaching abilities and in the kids. And having parental support.

“I think in any program that you have you have to have support from the parents and belief from the players. Those are issues that all coaches take up at times.”

Champ expressed his displeasure with the board after the vote.

“I have to say this so that I can sleep tonight ...,” Champ said before the meeting was adjourned. “(Selvey) was a girls varsity basketball coach that has won two sectionals ... It is a sad day for coaches at Jay County ... We catered to a few cry-baby parents and got him replaced. I feel sorry for all coaches in Jay County.”

Jay County will now begin the search for a new coach. There will be a selection committee — which in the past has included the athletics director, principal, superintendent, teachers, coaches and school board members — which will evaluate potential candidates.

The prospective coach would then have to be approved by the school board. The next regular school board meeting will be Monday, May 24.

Lindsay said he would like to have a coach in place as soon as possible through the normal hiring process.

Selvey said he’s not sure if he would return to coaching basketball, and looks forward to spending more time with his family this summer. He said he’s happy in the JCHS baseball program, which he has led since 1989, but would not rule out another opportunity which might be good for his family.[[In-content Ad]]