BFA Fairfax Coach Resigns

[Henry]

(The following story appeared in the Monday, February 14, 2011 Edition Of The St. Albans Messenger)

BFA-Fairfax coach resigns
School starts search to find replacement
By JOSH KAUFMANN
Messenger Sports

FAIRFAX - After more than 3 1/2 seasons as the varsity girls basketball coach at Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax, Jim Driscoll has left the
position and the school has set up a process to get a new coach into place for the rest of the season.

Fairfax athletic director Mike Brown said this morning that moving the team's season forward will be a two-step process.

"We've assigned Gary Pomichter as a substitute to be a bridge, to give us a little time so we can use this week to get an interim coach for the rest of the season," Brown said.

Pomichter, who has been coaching the middle school girls team and is familiar with the varsity program, will serve as head coach until an interim coach is put in place for the final weeks of the regular season and playoffs, Brown said. Fairfax's next scheduled girls basketball game is Tuesday night at Danville.

On Sunday; Driscoll confirmed that he had resigned as coach following an incident between him and a player on the bus as the
team traveled to Enosburg for its game on Thursday night.

"It was a real unfortunate situation," he said, later adding, "I would like to have finished the season." Driscoll said he had thought an issue with a player, that he said included a confrontation with a parent immediately after last year's playoff loss in Oxbow, had been put to rest before the current season.

Brown said that Driscoll was asked to meet with school officials on Friday to discuss the events of the previous night, and that Driscoll offered his resignation nation in that meeting.

The team's scheduled game at Peoples Academy on Saturday was postponed because of the situation, Brown said. He said the
interim position is being advertised internally at BFA-Fairfax and asked that anyone interested in applying for that position contact him at the school (mbrown@bfafairfax.com) or at 849-9200 ext.2170).

[ohhman]

AMEN!

[Shadylane08]

Does anyone else have any information on this?  Like what the confrontation was at the end of this year, and what the "incident" was this year?

Another random question, how come fairfax always inquires for head coaches "internally"?  How come they can't advertise like everyother school and get good Qualified coaches?  A good coach, that is good at teaching the game, and help influence young athlete's doesn't necessarily need to be a licensed/certified teacher.

[Mummy]

Don't know the details but I believe  ... New Blood will be good in the long run!

[roadkill]

To Shadylane,  I think they  do everything right and do a great job. This school has great coaches, very underpaid, most schools can afford to pay assistant coaches, ares can't,Assistant Coaches are Huge and every Team needs them, Ours are ALL Volunteers, Thank You. As far as Coaches I think we are doing fine. We are definitely getting the Bang for our Buck. It wss a sad incident that happened but let us ALL please let these student athletes finish what they started.

[sdogallen]

I totally agree with roadkill on this. We don't need to know anymore about this. The coach is gone, everyone should be happy with that. Lets all move on and enjoy the rest of the season! Go Bullets!

[Shadylane08]

I actually don't know many schools that pay assistant coaches, my father has been an assistant coach at one of the biggest schools in the state for almost 10 years and hasn't received a dime for what he's done.  Being a coach is a tough job and has a lot of sacrifice, and yes Extremely under paid, but most coaches also don't coach for the money they coach for the love of the game.  But remember its tough to get "New Blood" when your taking the same blood from the same body, and tough to know if your getting the best "bang for our buck" when you shop at the same store. 

I don't understand why if this was such a huge problem that meetings had to be called and a coach had to resign that no body is willing to discuss what the problem was.  Guess I'll just have to go to the next girls game to find out the gossip

[msm]

For comparison sake only --- Public Schools in Tampa do not pay assistance coaches...   And these schools range from 2000 to 4000 kids in Grades 9 - 12 ...   

They coach for the love of the game -- although many of them are not school employees,  but criminal background checks are required before any interaction with the student athletes.

[al brodeur]

my question is, Is the real problem gone?

[mkr]

I agree ShadyLane, If it was a big problem, then it should be discussed. Unfortunately, throughout the years this is the practice; to brush it under the table......