Another one of those we-didn’t-see-this-coming coaching changes occurred recently.
Last month, a day before the holiday break was to begin, Rangeview’s Dave Gonzales was basically handed his walking papers to vacate the Raiders’ football sidelines.
Funny things — the 53-year-old, who was stunned at the news as well as by the timing, led the program for 12 years, was 68-54, made the playoffs 10 times, won his team’s past five league titles and was named 2014 South Metro League coach of the year. And he remained squeaky clean in the departments that count most.
But not that he had credentials or anything …
Raiders athletic director Vic Strouse clearly was uncomfortable when he told the Aurora Sentinel on Monday that “we decided to go in another direction,” and that was pretty much all he would say about it.
Obviously, he was told what to do.
It’s yet another case of a school giving itself a black eye. You have to love school administrators who can’t get out of their own ways and either can’t or won’t explain or justify their moves.
“Go in another direction?” Which one would that be? Gonzales’ teams have won their past 36 league games. Plus, he’s liked as well as respected throughout his rosters over the years as well as by his peers, and his Raiders have been far and away the best group within Aurora Public Schools District.
And stable? Rangeview has been noted for it. Examples: The Raiders have had all of two boys basketball coaches since opening their doors in the early 1980s and Gonzales’ dozen years of tenure leading football were currently tops throughout the ever-growing city that also includes the Cherry Creek District and some privates, including Regis Jesuit.
Of course, we all know coaches are on one-year contracts and schools freely exercise rights to choose which leaders roam their sidelines.
But schools only look small and petty as if they’re hiding something as they always duck behind no-comment policy when it comes to personnel decisions. If they’re a public school, why can’t they go public with their choices? And what does it do for the educational value? Kids are taught to run, hide and hope that everything will be OK if they close their eyes and hope real hard.
Plus, if Rangeview pulled the plug on Gonzales for getting spanked in the Class 5A preliminaries by a subpar Columbine, it’s dreaming and doesn’t understand the lay of the big-school land. During this cycle, Aurora, like so many other districts, can’t crack into the hold by those in the Creek, Jeffco and private segments.
Even if, say, Bill Belichick took over the Raiders, would they be smashing folks in the postseason?
Not a chance.
I contacted Gonzales, almost always an affable sort who doubles as a stand-up guy. He confirmed the firing and not much else. He said he wants to remain “on the high road.”
Cool. The former world champion masters powerlifter and member of the Aurora Central hall of fame has nothing more to prove and won;t rock the boat by drawing attention to himself. He knows better. He’ll lead Raiders track. He had a daughter who was an excellent student-athlete at Rangeview. His son was the best Raider footballer in 2014 as a sophomore, the league’s offensive player of the year. And he won’t be dragged into a spitting contest.
Good for him.
But this could be bad for the Raiders, no matter if administrators want to admit it or not.
And they may want to take a long, hard look at their own direction.
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