MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

Tensions flared March 10 as the Coffee County School Board discussed approving a job description for a potential Athletics Director.

The position would cover all schools in the Coffee County School District from Kindergarten to 12th grade.

“This is to approve a job description only,” explained Board Chairman Thomas Ballard. “We’re not voting on funding at this point. This is just for the job description. The funding will have to be worked out later.”

Board member Robert Gilley drafted the job description for the position which he says won’t replace the current athletic directors. He also made the motion to approve with a second by Board member Jennifer Peacock Hodge.

“That’s one thing I’ve been a strong advocate about. I don’t see this as a cut, maybe a realignment,” said Gilley. “You’re still gonna have to have building level help if you were in this position. You’re still gonna have to have what we have. They wouldn’t have the load necessarily or the sheer volume of work, but in my opinion we’re gonna have to have that.”

When asked by Board member Holly Matthews, Gilley noted that he consulted with Williamson County, DeKalb County, Cumberland County, Milan, Tennessee when working on the description, and right before the meeting, he discussed the matter with John Olive, the athletics director for Tullahoma City Schools and Tullahoma High School.

Matthews started by thanking everyone who gave feedback on the potential position. She questioned why the money that would potentially go to the athletics director couldn’t be used to compensate club sponsors.

“I think the idea and the point is if we’ve got the money to create this type of… executive-level position here, then I feel like that we need to really think about priorities,” she said. “Those folks that are over the school clubs, I know they do a lot of the stuff during their school day, but there’s a lot that bleeds over into the summer, that’s after school, even the weekends.”

“I know they’re spending a lot of money out of their pockets, and I think if we’ve got money for something like this, why can we not compensate those club sponsors and give them what they’re earning?” she asked.

Matthews said that potential funds that would be designated for an athletics director would be better used on academics in Coffee County. She also cited research she had conducted about school districts that have similar positions but much larger populations.

“I want us to really think hard on this. It’s our job to make fiscally responsible decisions, and we are not really in a position to say, ‘Well, Williamson County or Rutherford County got this so we need it to.’ Rutherford County has 50,000 students. We have 4,000 system wide,” she said. “I just feel like at this time, it is not wise, and it is not a popular decision to say that we are willing to even consider or invest our money into a system-wide athletic director job for as a district as small as we are.”

Board member Chris Koon suggested that the Board discuss the matter at a future work session to look at some parts of the description that he said were “vague.” He also agreed with Matthews on the size of Coffee County not warranting the position.

Board member Freda Jones said that she agreed with parts of what Matthews and Koon were saying, but thought a system-wide athletics director could be beneficial for continuity.

“There’s so many sports that start in elementary and a lot of these kids get lost in the shuffle because there’s no one really spotting them and saying ‘Oh that kid could really flourish if we allow that child to participate,’” she explained. “A lot of times those kids get lost because they’re not in AAU, they don’t have special training that parents can pay for and my thinking is that, not necessarily an additional position, but someone that oversees the whole athletic program so that you’ve got a bird’s eye view of everything from K-12.”

Jones said she hoped a position like that would ensure that every student that wanted to participate in athletics could.

The discussion made its way back to Gilley who referenced Matthew’s concerns about population size by commenting that the larger schools are who Coffee County has to compete with.

He also explained that he has nothing against what he referred to as “interest groups,” but that taxpayers’ money can only be used for academics and athletics.

“No school systems contribute, and no school systems get involved with financing of interest groups,” said Gilley. “Some people call them special interest groups. I don’t like that term. They’re just interest groups because most of them and all of them I kinda hold dear to my heart. I agree. I wish we could fund every single one of them, but that’s not what we are allowed to do with our taxpayers’ money.”

Gilley also said a system-wide athletic director could help with things like fundraising and serving as a liaison for the schools.

Matthews started to ask a question of Gilley before he quickly responded.

“I’m not done talking in my debate,” he exclaimed to Matthews. “I let you talk, I’m talking. This has been blown so far out of proportion that we’re just talking about a potential job description that could help our athletic systems that I believe can in this community.”

Gilley explained that he’s not seeking any funding at the moment and just trying to open the door for potential future discussions.

“All I’m asking for is the approval of a job description that we can work with in further work sessions…,” he said. “That’s all I’m trying to do is open the doorway and the pathway for consideration in the future.”

He then made a motion to call to question to end the discussion and vote to approve the job description. The description was approved 7-2 with Matthews and Koon voting “no.”