Show of support for Blair

  • Nick Patterson<br>For the Enterprise
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 10:14am

LYNNWOOD — Backers of the Meadowdale High School girls basketball program gathered June 2 to voice their support for coach Karen Blair, who recently resigned, and urged that steps be taken to ask her to reconsider.

Blair, who has been tremendously successful for 11 seasons, unexpectedly resigned earlier this week, citing parental interference and a lack of support from the school and the Edmonds School District.

More than 100 people — parents, coaches, former and current players, and students — met at a public forum at the high school and were unanimous in their support of Blair.

“We’re devastated by what’s occurred,” said Marilyn Hofmann-Jones, who organized the forum and is the mother of player Eryn Jones. “We think that her leaving is a big loss to the school, the district and the basketball community. We’re all hoping that our presence here is going to make her come back.”

Blair did not attend the gathering.

Blair, 40, is one of the most accomplished girls basketball coaches in the state. In her 11 seasons at Meadowdale, she compiled a 255-39 win-loss record, including Class 3A state championships in 2000 and 2004.

But incidents the last two years in which parents have complained about Blair’s coaching by going above her head rather than talking to her directly prompted Blair to hand in her resignation.

Emotions on June 2 were predominantly sadness — several parents teared up when speaking — and anger at the circumstances that led to Blair’s resignation. Speaker after speaker talked about Blair’s positive influence on the players, both on and off the court.

Some of the strongest words were voiced by members of the O’Neill family —Kristen, a former player and current University of Washington player, and her father, Rich.

Kristen O’Neill said this was an example of what can happen when parents get too involved.

“The unfortunate reality is that not all girls possess the talent, work ethic and positive attitude that is necessary to succeed at the varsity level of the Meadowdale program,” Kristen O’Neill said.

“Throughout my Meadowdale basketball career, I was around a lot of people who did not choose to exercise a strong work ethic and positive attitude,” she added. “It has been my experience that when a person has a negative attitude, the first thing they look to do is blame someone else.

“Sometimes it’s a teammate, but most often it’s the coach. This is compounded even more when the parents decide to get involved. Once an individual convinces herself that she is the victim, it becomes easy to persuade her parents of that reality.”

Rich O’Neill warned that if Blair isn’t brought back, it will be Meadowdale’s loss and some other school’s gain.

“I followed this team for six years, and there wasn’t one technical foul,” Rich O’Neill said. “Why? Karen Blair. She would not tolerate it. Isn’t that what we want? And I’m not saying we need to correct this for the next coach down the line. I’m here to say we cannot let Karen leave.

“If I thought for a minute that Karen had lost the fire to coach, I’d salute her decision and go on. But she still has it, and some other district is going to see that and gobble her up.”

Junior varsity coach Bryan Howisey said a policy is needed on parental input. He said parents should encourage their children to talk to the coach first, then talk to the coach themselves second, and only after those options had been exhausted, should they talk to the school administration.

Howisey said the lack of a coherent policy regarding parental involvement was Blair’s main reason for resigning. He said he didn’t know whether the creation of such a policy would prompt Blair to return.

Meadowdale principal Norm Hoffman, the only representative of the administration to attend, seemed receptive to the comments of the crowd. He said he was “shocked” when Blair handed in her resignation last Friday, and that the resignation was initially not accepted. However, he said Blair resubmitted the resignation and insisted that it be honored.

Hoffman also said the allegations being investigated regarding the complaints about Blair’s coaching were not firing offenses. However, he said, chain-of-command protocol was followed correctly by the complaining parents.

Nick Patterson writes for The Herald in Everett.

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