An Iowa high school that terminated the contract of its football coach for “ineffective leadership” and “failure to maintain student interest and participation” didn’t have evidence to back up their charges, according to the Iowa Court of Appeals.

Bruce Wall first joined Jesup Community School District in 1999 as a teacher. The next year, he began coaching football and baseball and, in 2008, had three separate contracts with the school — teaching, head varsity football coach and head varsity baseball coach. Although his football team initially had successful and moderately successful seasons, the win-loss record for the varsity team had become abysmal beginning in 2005.

In the 2005 and 2006 season, the Jesup J-Hawks had one win out of nine games. The following two years the team won no games at all. And, during that same four year period of 2005 through 2008, the team was outscored by its opponents by a total of 1,521 to 200 points.

In November 2006, according to court documents, following the end of the football season, Jesup’s principal emailed Wall a spreadsheet listing the scores and scoring differential of the past 22 games, asking, “What have you done to try to make our program better?” The principal, who had earlier met with the district’s athletic director and superintendent to discuss the football program, told Wall to establish a mandatory weightlifting program during the off-season, encourage athletes to go out for track, start a flag football program for elementary students and to become more involved/visible in the younger kids football program.

Wall responded to the email and recommendations, noting that his “record over the past seven years is 26-39″ and that was a “40.6 winning percentage,” better than the 35.8 percent prior to his tenure. A flag football program he ran from 2000 to 2004 languished, he said, due to a lack of volunteer coaches. He proposed new incentives for athletic participation in weightlifting, but questioned the legality of making such a program mandatory.

Two years later, following the 2008 season, Wall was asked by the principal and athletic director to tender his resignation. Wall declined. The coach’s first formal district evaluation was held in Feb. 2009 and, in April 2009, the superintendent served Wall with a notice of termination of his football coaching contract for the following five reasons:

• Ineffective Program Leadership
• Failure to Maintain Student Interest and Participation in the Program
• Ineffective Team Discipline
• Lack of Effective Communication with Assistant Coaches
• Failure to Maintain an Effective Relationship with Students and Parents

Following an August 2009 hearing before the Jesup Board of Education, Wall was terminated on the first two grounds of cause. But, upon review of the Board’s decision, Iowa Appellate judges found no evidence to support the claims. A history of student participation in the football program showed the number of athletes in the program had remained fairly consistent during Wall’s tenure and that roughly half the male student body participated in the sport.

… Given the absence of a preponderance of evidence showing a failure to maintain student interest and participation in the football program, the case for termination turns entirely on whether a preponderance of competent record evidence supports the charge of ineffective program leadership. The district argues Wall was not discharged as football coach due to the win-lost record, but rather due to “deterioration” of the program. The district stresses: (1) juniors and seniors had low participation rates in football; and (2) Wall did not establish a successful weight program.

However, the testimony and the board decision … reveals Wall’s termination was indeed based primarily upon Wall’s recent win-loss record. …

The opinion contends that a district document, “Philosophy of Jesup Community School Activities Program,” establishes goals for coaches and that there are no criteria within it for a competitive program or that employment will hinge on a program’s win-loss record.

Although the majority of the judges deciding the appeal agreed that the District erred in its termination of Wall, Judge Mary Tabor disagreed and offered a written dissenting opinion. Tabor — noting legendary football coach Vince Lombardi’s belief that “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” — believes the majority decision “intrudes on a reasonable decision by a local school board to fire an ineffective coach.”

… School boards should not be prohibited from using the number of team victories — or total lack thereof — as one means to gauge the effectiveness of a coach’s leadership. … Even a high school football coach must expect that his job performance will be judged in part by the team’s results on the scoreboard. …

Iowa Court of Appeals: Jesup Community School District vs. Bruce Wall