If any one cares(coach White being fired)

This is from the school paper about what happen with Coach White,

Running on empty

By Dan Good

The sport of cross country isn't difficult to understand. A pack of runners group together like laboratory mice. Anticipating the start. Take your marks. The official's gun sounds, and the runners take off, the only goal being to cross the finish line in the shortest amount of time.

It's not rocket science - heck, there's not even a ball involved. It's running. Jogging. Sprinting. One foot in front of the other.

If only this story were as easy to understand.

***

In the fast-paced, high-stress world of NCAA athletics, personnel changes happen every day. Coaches are hired. Coaches are fired. Coaches come and go, re-stationed like military families. They are nomadic, wayward travelers just looking for a place to stick.

The PSAC is not new to this trend. Bloomsburg has four new coaches this year, California (Pa.) has two and Clarion, three. Millersville recently tabbed Scott Zacharda as its new women's swimming coach and is filling a head coaching vacancy in baseball.

Coaching changes aren't all that surprising.

Keith White's was.

A 25-year track coach at Millersville, White had his contract bought out by the University on July 7 with just over one year remaining. The manner in which White was removed - quietly, subtly and with vague reasoning - has called into question the direction of Millersville's women's athletic department and brought to light frustrations student-athletes and coaches have had with the school's administration.

***

Robert Thomas has a dignified, classy office. Millersville's vice president of student affairs is tucked away in a corner of Biemsderfer Center, overlooking the pond in the center of campus. Plaques and family photos break up the uniformity of plain white walls. The carpet is as thick, cushy and soft as a gymnastics floor mat. Two large bookshelves and a stack of library books on his desk imply that Thomas is a reader, and his current projects have titles like "The Ambitious Generation" and "Promoting Reasonable Expectations" and "College of the Overwhelmed."

In the opinion of White, Thomas should have been reading more intently into Doreen McAfee's tenure as Millersville women's athletic director. McAfee was named to the position when Marge Trout retired in 2001.

"I personally believe that Dr. Thomas was lied to so much in a chronic situation, over and over, from someone who is totally manipulative," White said. "If you disagree, if you question any policies, you then are on the hit list, and [McAfee] has been the worst thing for Millersville athletics in my 30-plus years of being at Millersville as a student and as a coach."

After graduating from Millersville in 1980, White developed the Marauder women's cross country team from scratch a year later, coaching the team to a .711 winning percentage in 24 seasons. In men's track and field his winning percentage was .520, and in women's track and field it was .602. In 13 seasons coaching men's cross country his winning percentage was .429.

White is a past president of the United States Track Coaches Association and has also presided over the NCAA Division II Cross Country Coaches Association. He was Millersville's representative for the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) bargaining team during summer-long negotiations for a new coaches' contract. He has donated over $100,000 to Millersville's track and cross country programs during the past ten years. He has coached All-Americans. He was the NCAA Division II East Regional and PSAC Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1996.

Now, for the first September in forever, White is catching up on housework.

According to former and current Millersville track athletes, White was more than just a coach.

"He was like that father figure while you're away at school," said Millersville senior cross country captain Justin Veisz. "Any problems you ever had with school, social life, anything, you could go to him and talk, and no one would ever feel hesitant to go in and see him. You knew coach White cared about you, and every single kid on that team had a special place in his heart."

Former Millersville runner Brian Contrisciane agrees.

"[White] had a choice between getting married and starting a family, or developing and starting the women's cross country team at Millersville, and he chose the women's cross country team at Millersville," Contrisciane said. "He helped girls with pregnancy, depression, drug addictions, kids with families that have died...and that was just in my four years."

***

White's contract was bought out in the midst of contract negotiations between the APSCUF and Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The coaches, represented by APSCUF, had been working without a contract since June 30, 2004 and were demanding salary increases and improved health care coverage.

While a strike was narrowly avoided, White found himself jobless when the new contract was signed.

APSCUF president Pat Heilman lauded White's union efforts.

"To Keith's credit, even after he was...unceremoniously tossed out of his office, he kept working on that coaches' negotiation," Heilman said. "He was that committed to the union for coaches, that even if the language in the current contract couldn't protect him, he wanted to see that language change so that other people wouldn't experience what he did. That's truly admirable....All of the coaches in the system owe him an eternal debt of graditude for what he did."

Millersville's decision to buy out White's contract had nothing to do with his union standing, Thomas said.

"Coach White was an effective spokesperson," Thomas said. "The decision [to buy out White's contract] was made carefully, it wasn't impetuous or spur of the moment. We never made a decision like this in that way, but I don't want to get into more detail about when, and with whom and all of that sort of stuff."

As quoted in a press release, Thomas' reasoning for the buyout of White's contract was to "move the program in a new direction." White doesn't understand what that means.

"I don't know what benefit they would get other than, they're getting rid of somebody who spoke out about the injustices within the department," White said.

White's former athletes don't understand what that means, either.

"We don't know what the new direction is," said Shannon Murphy, Millersville senior track captain. "Even if it wasn't a reason we agree with, at least we'd have a reason. That's the worst part, that we don't know what's going on."

What is known is that White has clashed with McAfee on numerous occasions.

"It's no secret that my feelings towards the direction of the athletic department when Doreen McAfee came in, was not a positive thing," White said. "Student-athletes were not treated with the respect I felt they deserve...I've never been silent about that. I've spoken up in meetings with her individually and I spoke up at meetings with the union and Dr. Thomas. I tried to do it the right way, but for whatever reason it didn't appear that anybody was listening."

Despite repeated interview requests, McAfee could not be reached for comment. An interview with McAfee was scheduled for September 15, but Millersville women's athletics administrative assistant Carol Fridinger cancelled the meeting due to a scheduling conflict.

McAfee, in her fifth year at Millersville, oversees 11 sports teams. She supervises nine women's teams and the men's track and field and cross country squads. Prior to serving at Millersville, McAfee worked at Wingate (N.C.) University in 2000-2001 and Christian Brothers (Tn.) University from 1996-1999. She was selected for the job at Millersville through a national search.

There have been successes during McAfee's administration.

"There was a lot of change going on, and some of it was good change," said Scott Pennewill, Millersville women's volleyball coach in 2001. "We actually moved our matches out of Brooks [Gymnasium] into Pucillo [Gymnasium]. There was a sense of upgrading the program."

For a sizeable chunk of the Millersville athletic community, upgrade seems to be a seldom-used term regarding McAfee's administration, and according to Millersville track athletes, coaches weren't the only ones being impacted. A two-year member of Millersville's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Veisz said the role of the group changed after McAfee became more involved with the organization's proceedings.

"Once [McAfee] came in everything changed, and it became almost a community service program," Veisz said. "I couldn't say that she would run the meetings, but she was always kinda pushing for us to do stuff...that I didn't think SAAC was meant for."

Contrisciane believes the committee was overhauled to hush student-athletes' criticism.

"The reason why changes were made was because everyone was [complaining] about the problems that were going on with their teams, and that was mainly the swim team, the volleyball team, the cross country team and the track team," Contrisciane said.

***

Mark Daum is a high school substitute teacher these days, but until September 1 he was the Millersville women's swimming coach. He resigned from the job after five seasons and a 12-24 record. He resigned when he realized his team didn't have practice time secured at its own pool.

"When you don't even know when you can practice, you don't have an assistant coach, you have all of these kids, and if we're all in it for the student-athletes...I couldn't do it by myself anymore," Daum said.

In a coaching evaluation form from the 2001-02 season, dated May 15 2002, McAfee graded Daum highly, writing, "Athletes seem very excited about the direction of the program as compared to where it was before [Daum's] tenure." She followed by writing, "[Daum] did a great job as a part time coach with a hectic schedule."

According to Daum, a rift between the two developed during the 2002-03 season when Daum requested practice time for his team during a six-week winter break. Daum believes that conflict caused the University to oust his assistant coach, a vacancy which has yet to be filled.

In Daum's 2002-03 evaluation form, McAfee writes, "There is little evidence of Mark being enthusiastic of coaching swimming at Millersville, and places very little demands or expectations on his athletes." Later, she writes, "It is apparent that Mark is critical of this administration in his conversations with the students...the students have noted the following: 'he has to deal with an uncooperating athletic department,' and 'it is a shame that the athletic director creates so many unnecessary headaches.'"

On Daum's 2004-05 evaluation form, dated 27 May 2005, McAfee writes, "There is no reason that Mark should not finish in the top tier of the PSAC and carry a squad size (with solid swimmers with respectable conference times) of approximately 25-30 swimmers. Once this is consistently achieved, we should look to add an assistant coach in this sport."

The Kutztown women's swimming team has two coaches and 24 swimmers. Clarion has two coaches and 26 swimmers. Bloomsburg has two coaches and 17 swimmers. Yet Daum, coaching 30 swimmers, was all alone.

The need for an assistant coach was expressed by Millersville swimmers in student evaluation comments from the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons.

"With 17 girls on the team, one person can't possibly be expected to run practice, take us to meets, get splits during the meet, and talk to everyone about their races, too," one swimmer wrote. "It's really unfair to us as a team and to Mark because I saw how stressed out he was this season."

"A team should not have to run like this," wrote another swimmer. "If you have a part-time coach then you absolutely need an assistant coach. A part-time coaching staff means a part-time team. Mark is a good coach and we have a good team, but our situation is obviously not ideal."

While he applauds Millersville for its academics, Daum blames McAfee solely for his departure.

"How can you coach in an environment where you're constantly threatened to keep your mouth shut or your team won't get things? It's retaliation," Daum said. "There is no school that is this dysfunctional within a segment of their athletics. Yes, there are isolated incidents...but this is open chaos."

***

Like Daum, White spoke out to administration. Like Daum, White spoke out for student-athletes. Like Daum, White is no longer at Millersville.

"I've never known Keith White to speak up for himself, it's only been for the student-athletes," Daum said. "That's why we're all...supposedly here. If you speak up for your program or stick up for your student-athletes, you are retaliated against."

Trout was disappointed to hear of White's dismissal.

"I think the most frustrating part as a retiree, is seeing good people being frustrated and leaving the program," Trout said. "Like any administrator you're going to have disagreements with coaches but I always found [White] one to be able to sit down with, and talk with and communicate with, and we'd get on the same page."

White and many of his runners never got on the same page as McAfee. The team's assistant coaching staff was trimmed. On occasion, track athletes were forced to drive school-issue vans to meets. In one instance, no buses arrived for the track team on meet day.

In the Spring of 2004, a group of Millersville track athletes met with McAfee and Millersville men's athletic director Daniel Audette - and later, Thomas - regarding transportation to and from meets, roster cuts and budget cuts.

"We walk in and sit down [for the meeting], and Doreen takes control of the meeting, and her honest-to-God first thing she says is, 'I just want to let you guys know, this has taken a lot of our resources and time, and that we are never going to have a meeting like this again,'" Contrisciane said.

Contrisciane left the meeting dissatisfied.

Murphy recently met with Thomas regarding the coaching change.

"It was pointless," Murphy said. "I asked him everything, I had a couple of teammates give me questions, and everything that he answered was, I'm not legally allowed to talk to you about that, or I didn't know about that."

According to gender equity reports acquired from the Ganser Library, rosters for all of the track teams were significantly reduced from 2001-02 to 2002-03.

The 2002 report lists 22 participants for men's cross country, 50 participants for indoor track and field and 44 participants for outdoor track and field. One year later those numbers had slipped to 18, 36 and 36, respectively.

Similar results can be found on the women's side. From 2002 to 2003 the women's cross country roster had shrunk by five, indoor track and field by 13 and outdoor track and field by 12.

Millersville's current men's cross country team has 12 runners. The women's team has 9 runners.

Sophomores Brad Amersbach and Mike Snyder, two contributors to Millersville's cross country team in 2004, were casualties of the roster cuts.

White blames the teams' treatment on his tense relationship with McAfee, and admitted that there are runners on the team who are considering transferring.

"Knocking the numbers down I felt had more to do with Mrs. McAfee's distaste for my standing up against [her], than it did for any philosophy that was established by the University," White said.

"My budget within a year of Mrs. McAfee taking over went down about 33 percent, and I know that the student government of the University would never cut funding to the student-athletes, they have always been beyond fair to us. It wasn't like the money wasn't coming to the athletic department, but it surely wasn't being distributed appropriately."

***

The Dixon Award is given annually to the PSAC's most successful all-around athletic program. The top six men's and women's finishers for each school are combined to rank each school's athletic performance as compared to the other schools in the conference.

In 1999-2000, Millersville finished first of 14 teams. In 2001-02, Millersville finished fourth. In 2002-03, Millersville finished fifth. In 2003-04, Millersville finished 10th. In 2004-05, Millersville finished 12th.

The Millersville's men's athletic program gained a point between 2003-04 and 2004-05, while the women's athletic program lost six points, moving from 48.5 in 2003-04 to 42.5 in 2004-05.

In a year's time men's cross country lost 3.5 points. Men's indoor track and field lost 2.5 points. Men's outdoor track and field lost 4.5 points. Women's cross country lost two points. Women's indoor track and field lost four points.

The decline in Dixon Award standings coincides with a year-to-year decrease in the operating expenses of many of Millersville's sports teams.

In 2001-02 the operating expenses for track and field and cross country were $26,349 for both the men's and women's teams. By 2002-03, that amount had fallen to $21,385. Operating expenses for Millersville's field hockey team fell from $21,465 to $13,650. The Marauder women's lacrosse team saw its operating expenses shrink from $21,739 to $10,570. Women's swimming went from $32,000 to $5,612.

While the operating expenses of the Millersville men's teams remained constant, differing $2,000 from 2001-02 to 2002-03, the women's teams as a collective group saw their operating expenses decrease in a year's time by $53,595.

Gender equity reports from 2003-04 were not available.

Daum was critical of his teams' financial situation and the university's line-item budget, which he feels is ambiguous.

"I don't know how much basketball gets. I don't know how much volleyball gets. I don't know how much softball gets. If you're a good child, we'll give you a little bit more," Daum said. "My allocations changed from report to report. How do you offer somebody a scholarship when you don't even know how much you have? If you don't have a budget, you don't see that, nothing's shared, who knows."

In Daum's opinion, the story is much deeper than it appears.

"It's known now, it's out, but there's ongoing matters being looked into. It's a shame. It's heartbreaking now, to sort of find out the pieces of where some of this money is getting siphoned off at," Daum said. "There is a cover-up, and nobody will accept responsibility or accountability because everybody's trying to cover themselves."

Kent Barrett, NCAA associate director of public and media relations, did not confirm or deny the presence of an investigation. Thomas declined comment.

***

It's been a season of renewal for Millersville's track teams. There is a new track. There is a new philosophy. There is a new coach.

Ed O'Gorman has assumed interim coaching duties for Millersville's track and field and cross country teams. Prior to the promotion O'Gorman was an assistant coach for the Marauders for two years, and before that, the head coach at the State University of New York College at Fredonia from 1998 to 2003.

Millersville will conduct a national search for a full-time coach in the spring. While he is appreciative of O'Gorman for taking on head coaching responsibilities, Thomas is sensitive to student-athletes' concerns on the topic.

"I think we had our eye on what we thought were the best future interests of the program and I believe that in time we will be able to really realize more of the potential of the program we have now," Thomas said.

Becky Smith, a Millersville senior cross country runner, isn't happy with the direction of the program.

"A lot of people on the team don't have respect for coach O'Gorman, and it's kinda hard to have a coach that you don't have respect for," Smith said. "We have to do what he tells us because he's our coach but it's hard when you don't get along and you don't have respect for him."

Contrisciane believes that O'Gorman was Millersville's ideal replacement for White.

"If you go back and look at all the coaches that have been fired over the last four years, it's been all the coaches who have raised a stink about the situation going on in the athletic department, every single one of them has been fired," Contrisciane said. "All the people hired since then are people who can nod their head and say yes to the administration, and coach O'Gorman is a perfect example of that."

***

White calls Wendy Shiffer the first victim of McAfee's "hit list."

Shiffer was Millersville's cheerleading coach when McAfee became women's athletic director in 2001. According to Shiffer, relations immediately soured between the two.

"Occasionally I'd bring my kids to practice and football games, because my husband [former Millersville football coach Jim Shiffer] was coaching so they were there to see their dad's game and I was there coaching the cheerleaders," Shiffer said. "We were at a game one day, and I had one of the kids in a backpack on my back, and she said I couldn't bring the kids to the game because they were a liability."

Shiffer quit, and the Millersville cheerleading team shut down until Matt Null assumed coaching duties in 2002.

White calls Pennewill the second victim of McAfee's "hit list."

Pennewill began Millersville's volleyball program in 1990 and returned to the school in 2001 after stints at Drexel and Clarion.

"Marge Trout hired me for a second time, knowing that she was retiring and that there was going to be a change at the athletic director's position," Pennewill said. "Any time you have that you run a risk, because the athletic directors want their people in there."

Following the 2001 season, Pennewill decided to move on from Millersville. He now coaches volleyball at Johns Hopkins. He enjoys his current position.

"Probably the biggest adjustment for me was, at my other institutions having pretty much total control over my program, every aspect of it, and that's not how it's run at Millersville," Pennewill said. "I would say I had the least amount of control ever, I don't know if that's because of administration or just how the system's set up."

According to White, the coaching turnover from Shiffer to former Millersville field hockey coach Diane Drumheller to Daum, follows an uncanny pattern.

"I was number seven on the list, and I was the first one that actually got fired, but six people before me were run out," White said. "A lot of these people resigned and left on their own, but they all left knowing they really didn't want to do it, but they weren't going to work in that environment. You had quality people before my situation that complained to the university about treatment, and no one did anything."

***

APSCUF has begun to take notice of the trend.

Last week, 14 members of the State Coaches Committee mailed a letter to Millersville president Francine McNairy. The letter expresses the committee's anxiety about the women's athletic department at Millersville.

"The Committee and coaches throughout the System are concerned about the management of the Women's Athletic Department and the treatment and turnover of coaches who coach women's sports at Millersville University."

The letter continues.

"We are concerned by the amount of coach turnover that has occurred in the Women's Athletic Department at Millersville. In the last four years, four of the eight head coaches and one full-time assistant coach have either resigned or been non-renewed. Subsequently, morale among department personnel, their student-athletes and alumni is at an unprecedented low. Negative recruiting from within and outside the Conference is already luring athletes from Millersville's athletic programs. Top quality coaches may also be dissuaded from considering Millersville University as an employer. This incessant turnover of coaches and lack of leadership in the Millersville Women's Athletic Department shows instability and reason for concern that warrants the University's attention."

The buyout of White's contract is also addressed.

"Coach White was only about 18 months from being eligible to retire from the University, and his dismissal appears to be more like retaliation than a carefully planned managerial decision regarding the Track and Field and Cross Country programs. Not only does this decision reflect a disregard for the Coaches' Collective Bargaining Agreement and its inherent requirement of good faith, it ignores all the student athlete and alumni public support displayed on Coach White's behalf. Additionally, White's dismissal has had a chilling effect on coaches' union activity at Millersville University, which illustrates that the Women's Athletic Department at Millersville University may be an uncomfortable place for some coaches to work."

In the letter, the committee pleads for McNairy to find a solution.

"We ask you, as University President, to lead your Women's Athletic Department out of this morass and do right by the student-athletes, alumni, and the dedicated coaches at Millersville, including Coach White. They deserve better treatment, and Millersville University deserves to restore its reputation."

***

According to Daum, much has changed since Trout retired.

"When [Trout] left it was a unified group, everyone was on the same page, I was only there for a year but we were all working together," Daum said. "She was a real pioneer and for her to build something, and see it literally destroyed the way it is now, I know is very, very upsetting for her."

Following White's release, Daum believes that Millersville athletics will be stifled for years to come.

"Right and wrong I feel exists in the world, and not as expressed to me by various administrators at that University," Daum said. "Leadership is stepping up, but if you're constantly pointing fingers...who's in charge? Where does the buck stop?"

Shiffer relays similar sentiments.

"There's complete lack of professionalism and teamwork within the upper administration, it's clear that they're not all on the same page and it's clear that there is agenda," Shiffer said. "I don't know if that agenda is securing one's own position, I don't know. It's hard to decipher what is gossip and certainly what is real."

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people do care. that's a heck of a good article for a student reporter to have written. hope it makes a difference