Dear editor:
An unsubstantiated allegation led to a ball team collapse at Cutter Morning Star this fall. Players, parents and fans are booing the administration.
The Eagle varsity football team was flying high in September, just 2 points from a 3-0 start before being gunned down by the school admin. Current CMS Superintendent Nancy Carol Anderson suspended an assistant coach based on an allegation, which anyone can make, Oct. 11 and did not assign an interim coach.
"We don't know what's going on," a senior team leader said, shaking his head with anger. "They won't tell us anything and we can't talk to coach. He always taught us to never quit and he just disappeared. Nobody has taken his place. It's affecting all of us."
I watched T.C. Shamel, the Eagle's fine head coach, do the best he could despite the administration's demoralizing disregard for his program and our boys. Young men, who toiled through years of offseason weight lifting and sweltering August practices prepping for victories, were set up for failure.
Down a coach at daily practices and minus two eyes looking for advantages on Friday nights, CMS lost its final four games by a combined 157-38. Cutter Morning Shame.
The coach was also assisting the junior high team. After his suspension, it lost, too, including a 1-point heartbreaker. I guarantee an assistant coach is worth at least a couple of points.
But coaches are even more valuable, daily teaching proper blocking and tackling techniques to avoid life-threatening injuries. We've seen the horror of once physically fit football players withering away in wheelchairs. Thank God none of our boys were paralyzed for life this fall due to a lack of instruction by a short-handed staff. That could lead to a not-so-bogus allegation of child neglect or child endangerment, Nancy.
Wait, did I just make an allegation? Anyone can.
Brad Sorrell
CMS parent
Hot Springs
Editorial on 11/09/2017