Mike Anderson didn’t hold back.
“We got played in 10-day period of time,” he said by telephone on Thursday.
The assistant baseball coach at Oklahoma remains livid about what happened to his former schoolboy coach and mentor, Jim Danley, who was unceremoniously ousted last Friday by Reds administration.
Anderson, a former Reds player who also headed Nebraska Cornhusker baseball and briefly led Regis jesuit, said he thought he had been working “in good faith” with Eaton officials, including with Danley, in order to help amicably end what had turned into a bad situation, and thought he was near a solution that would work for everyone. Even State Sen. Scott Renfroe R-Eaton told the school board that it “should know better,” and that its actions “are embarrassing” and is “embarrassing this town.”
Anderson also said “the whole thing stops if there’s a backbone in the administration.”
It didn’t stop.
After 45 years and Colorado records of 807 victories and 11 state championships, Eaton administration and its school board, headed by Superintendent Randy Miller, insisted on Danley signing a so-called 13-point improvement plan that included barring Danley’s son, Kirk, a volunteeer assistant and regular summer coach, from the program; no mention of Eaton’s success outside the spring season; a handbook issued to parents; and encouragement of Reds players to participate in multiple sports.
Danley balked, notably at the school’s failure to remove certain accomplishments (such as his team’s CBS MaxPreps national championship and rankings) from the baseball fence and its website, and at the notion that his staff didn’t support other Eaton sports. He also said his son was willing to step away from the program.
Meanwhile, the school administration has remained silent and posted the job opening.
On Thursday, Danley, 69, said “he’s doing well.” The best thing about a bad situation, he added, was that “it’s a side no one recognizes — I’ve heard from players, ex-players, people all over the country and in Europe. It’s really gratifying to get all the support. It keeps your spirits up and it’s nice to know you’re appreciated in some places.”
Anderson, a 1983 Reds graduate, wants more, particularly, he said, for parents and players to get a grip on reality about the privilege to play high-school baseball; to know their place within the system; and to have a better understanding on just how good you have to be to advance to upper levels.
On the road and recruiting, Anderson, who played three seasons of minor-league ball for the Angels, said Eaton “is not the same community I know … it’s just a petty thing. They haven’t been honest. I know for a fact about Coach Danley’s integrity and honesty. There’s no way that gentleman did anything wrong with that baseball program.”
Danley, who’s still working with a lawyer, said “I’ll be (coaching) at some level at some place. My options are wide open. I’ll look for a way to spend my time doing what I love the best.”
