Published: Jan. 23, 2014
Search for varsity coaches at different phases
East hopes to have new hire in place in a couple of weeks
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor
West Bend West’s search for a varsity football coach is
ongoing, while West Bend East’s search could be nearing completion.
At West, Athletic Director Scott Stier said the school is
still accepting applications for the position. He wants a “deep pool of
candidates” to choose from. There is no timetable for when Stier will stop
taking applications and move the process along to interviews and eventually
hiring. He said that’ll likely happen when he is comfortable with the group of
applicants, which is right now at about 20.
At East, Athletic Director Jeff Rondorf couldn’t disclose
the details of the search, but said the search committee hopes to have a coach
in place in the next couple of weeks.
He said the School Board may discuss the position at
Monday’s board meeting. However, it would likely be in closed session.
West’s vacancy came about when Aaron Paulin resigned after
five seasons at the helm. After leading the Spartans to back-toback playoff
appearances in his first two seasons, Paulin was only able to lead the team to
a 6-20 record the next three seasons with no playoff appearances and a winless
2011 season.
Overall, Paulin went 15-31 in his five seasons.
East’s vacancy came up after Scott Mindel resigned after two
winless seasons (0-17). Mindel spent more than 20 years in the program in a
variety of roles.
The next hire for East will be the school’s third football
coach in four seasons.
Since the resignations, East and West hosted focus group
discussions in how to improve the overall quality of sports with the city’s
high schools. During those discussions, the football vacancies were heavily
discussed.
“I really think we have to establish consistency and
longevity,” Stier said in December after West’s focus group meeting. “When you
turn over coaches, when coaches decide not to coach, things like that, you
start over in a lot of senses. You need to have those coaches who are invested
for a lengthy period of time and establish their program.”
Rondorf said patience is growing thin because of the lack of
success each program has had in the last five years.
East and West are a combined 20-71, with four winless
seasons in that span.
“It’s going to be a tall task for anyone who’s coming in
because there’s not a lot of patience left,” he said.
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