On Monday, December 1, the Alliance School Board convened. One item on the agenda was the extension of the fall sports coaches. The six-person board approved the extension of nearly all the coaches, with one exception.

The board voted 5-0-1 to not extend head football coach Travis Hawk’s contract. Board member Duane Dobson, who is assistant wrestling coach, abstained. Both Superintendent Troy Unzicker and Athletic Director Tim Wallace recommended that all coaches, including Coach Hawk, have their contracts extended. The reasoning behind the termination was inconclusive. The board cited no reason, however, Coach Hawk cited that his only unsportsmanlike penalty was in a playoff game against McCook and that he always refrained from cursing at the officials.

Coach Hawk was head coach at Alliance High for 12 years. While at the helm, Hawk’s Bulldogs attained a 44- 69 record. This included playoff appearances in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011.

The main issue presented is who has the power to fire coaches? While Coach Hawk was not necessarily ‘fired’, his contract was not renewed which is identical for all intents and purposes . Athletic Director Tim Wallace and Superintendent Troy Unzicker both recommended that Coach Hawk had his contract renewed and yet, their recommendations were ignored. The largest issue with the bypassing of these recommendations is perspective. The freshman team head coach Colin Clayburn stated in his testimony on the behalf of Coach Hawk that during his brief time here at Alliance, he had not once seen any of the Board of Education members helping out the football program. He had, however, witnessed many of the administrators who recommended that Coach Hawk retain his coaching position, including Dr. Unzicker and Alliance High School Principal George Clear, contributing to the program in someway or another. With that in mind it is easily concluded that the people who should be in charge of hiring and firing coaches, should be the people who witness the coaches and see how they conduct themselves.

Personally, I believe 100% in the character of Coach Hawk. As an eleven-year old, I was in an accident that left me temporarily in a wheel chair with three broken bones in my right leg. On an August day, I was brought into the locker room after one of the team’s practices. Coach Hawk presented me with a signed ‘12^th man’ jersey and a signed football from all the players on the team. He spoke of courage and the character attained by adversity. While I never played football under Coach Hawk, that example is the most prominent instance of the exemplary character displayed by our former head coach.

Alliance High will look to rebuild next season under the uncertain circumstances surrounding the reconstruction of a program’s coaching position.