THS wrestling coach to remain, pact reached between Casey Randolph and Tony Greathouse
By DEANE ERTS
Tecumseh High School athletic director Casey Randolph announced Thursday, May 5, that an agreement had been reached between he and head varsity wrestling coach Tony Greathouse that will allow Greathouse to retain leadership of the team. He added that the agreement had been negotiated without the influence of the public furor that erupted at last month’s school board meeting when news that Greathouse’s contract would not be renewed became known.
As athletic director, it is Randolph’s responsibility to decide who will coach and whether that coach will continue to lead the team.
Randolph declined to be specific about the details of the agreement other than to say that he and Greathouse had met repeatedly since the board meeting and resolved their differences.
“Tony and I met several times to discuss everything involved,” Randolph said. “We came to an agreement with him being head coach and to move the program forward. We worked it out ourselves. We will be having a meeting with the wrestlers today and we will be sending a joint letter to address the issues to parents. Tony has a great skill set as a teacher and a coach. That’s why I hired him in the first place. We just needed time to work out the details of our differences.”
Greathouse, who was also at the Thursday press conference, said, “When two people are as passionate about wrestling as Casey and I are, it leads to disagreements. At the end of the day, we have a whole lot of good things going on and we need to turn our attention back to the kids. There are a lot of good people and great things going in the wrestling program and all of the other athletic programs.”
Randolph said that Greathouse will have an assistant coach, but who that might be has not been determined. The assistant coaching position is subject to regular turnover.
“The big thing is to move forward from this point,” said Greathouse. “Things got swirled out of proportion. There are so many good people and wrestlers in the program and we all need to move in the same direction.”
The difficulties came to light at the April 16 school board meeting when Greathouse addressed the trustees explaining that he had not been given satisfactory reasons by Randolph as to why he would not be allowed to continue coaching the team that he had led to a 30-5 season. Many supporters were in the audience and told the board that they disagreed with Greathouse’s dismissal.
The dispute continued at the April 30 school board meeting at which Randolph had requested an executive session with the board after the regular meeting. Despite the fact that the executive session was on the evening’s agenda, the board decided to deny a closed door meeting after hearing from a number of audience members in attendance to support Randolph.
“The important thing the public needs know is that I support Tony and he supports me, and that we worked it out on our own,” Randolph said at the announcement of the agreement Thursday. “He is a good coach and he’s only going to get better.”
