Iowa Court Rules Losing Is Not Reason To Fire Coach

A losing record alone isn’t enough reason to fire a high school football coach, an Iowa appeals court has ruled.

Bruce Wall was hired to coach the Jesup High School football team in 2000, and over the years, it won about 40 percent of its games. But in 2008, it finished with a 1-8 record. Administrators fired Wall in April 2009, stating he wasn’t effectively leading the program.

District officials claimed Wall did not respond enthusiastically enough to administrators’ recommendations for improvements, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported. They noted few seniors participated in the team.

Discussions about improving the team had begun as far back as November 2006 after a lopsided 54-0 loss to Hudson, according to court records.

Wall argued he did have a plan, and that some of administrators’ suggestions, such as having mandatory weight lifting sessions in the off season, weren’t legal. He also noted other sports had low participation from seniors.

An adjudicator ruled in 2010 finding the school board’s allegations weren’t founded, and the Iowa Court of Appeals agreed Wednesday that Jesup officials didn’t have enough reason to fire the coach.

Appeals Court Justice Mary Tabor dissented, saying the win-loss record can be used as a good indication of a coach’s performance.

Wall’s attorney, Becky Knutson, told the Courier that the coach has been reinstated with back pay.

An attorney for the district, Brian Gruhn, told the newspaper that the majority of the court “got it wrong.”

“We would agree with the dissent,” he said.

Gruhn said the district has the option of asking the Iowa Supreme Court for further review, but that decision hasn’t been made.

Jesup, which is just east of Waterloo, has about 960 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, with about 250 students in high school.