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August 3, 2006

Scotty Boyle: Broiled and Roasted

Do you know how hard it is this day and age to find a good, quality coach to work with high school kids on academics and athletics? Very hard.. That's what makes Lowell High School Athletic Director Brian Martin's decision to bounce Scotty Boyle even more incredulous.. Boyle coaches two sports: basketball and football. He excells at both working with urban kids. So what does Martin do? He leaves an e-mail message on Boyle's phone, telling him his contract as basketball coach won't be renewed next year. That was it. Now why didn't he tell Boyle to make a choice on which job he wanted. It leads me to speculate that Martin already has a "friend" in mind to take over the hoop duties. I thought Education Reform, taking the selection of coaches out of the school committee's hands, was designed to depoliticize these hirings. All ed reform did was give more power to ADs to be political.
Boyle has been an outstanding ambassador for all coaches at Lowell High. I have never met the guy, but I've seen him work with kids and the results he gets. Today, I heard from two single parents who said Mr.. Boyle is like a Big Brother to my son. "He gets my son to go to school, to study and to practice. My son couldn't tell time before. But Mr. Boyle has been a role model," said one mother who couldn't understand Martin's decision. She said she had no one to turn to, so she called The Sun.
If Martin did ambush Boyle by e-mail, shame on High School Headmaster Bill Samaras and School Superintendent Karla Brooks Baehr. This is no way to treat a stand-up guy. But I have to believe that Martin wasn't working on his own; he had to have gotten a sign-off from Samaras and/or Baehr. You just don't sideline a popular coach without checking with the bosses. Unless, of course, Brian Martin thinks he's the boss at the high school.
Martin's a good guy too, which makes this all so incomprehensible. There has to be more to the story here. Did Boyle do something that offended Martin and this is payback? Did Boyle offend a Lowell High alum? I don't know what's going on, but this wasn't the way to handle things.
Boyle's done a great job turning around the basketball program and he's kept the Red Raiders grid team on a steady climb since taking over the job. Winning, however, isn't everything. Boyle loves coaching. He loves working with kids and building character. I have never heard a single bad word uttered about Scotty Boyle from anyone. And that, my friends, is why this is so shocking.
Tell me, please, who is in line to take Boyle's job? Martin had to have a successor in mind to pull this stunt while Samaras and Baehr were on vacation and out of the city.

Posted by JimC at August 3, 2006 4:53 PM