Published: April 1, 2015
Student-athlete discusses coach’s firing
Junior captain says team just wanted input
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
A West Bend East girls basketball player denied an
allegation Tuesday she was told by a school administrator to be careful with
what she said and did around the time of the firing of coach Don Gruber.
The player also denied a notion the team’s effort and desire
to win was questioned by East Athletic Director Shane Hansen, which led to
Gruber’s firing.
“That is not true,” said Hannah Knop, a junior captain on
the Suns’ team last season.
Gruber was fired March 23 as the Suns’ girls basketball
coach after a 3-20 season and a 54-87 mark in six seasons. Two seasons ago, the
Suns were 12-12, including 8-6 in the Wisconsin Little Ten.
Despite the record, Knop said the team was happy with Gruber
as their coach.
“We didn’t really see the need for the change,” Knop said.
“A lot of us loved coach Gruber.”
Knop said she and three teammates met with Hansen for almost
an hour regarding the decision to fire Gruber.
“We put our input in,” Knop said. “We didn’t want things to
change. We wanted Mr. Gruber.”
According to Knop, Hansen said he wanted the program to go a
different direction.
Hansen didn’t return a phone message seeking comment, but
emailed a statement, saying, “I know that a lot of people have voiced their
opinions, as is often the case with coaching changes. I have no statement to
make at this time.”
“He kind of didn’t really say too much because he couldn’t
get into it too much,” Knop said about what was discussed in the meeting. “We
didn’t get complete answers, but he said he understood us and got where we were
coming from.”
“I don’t think any of us were ashamed of our record,” she
added. “Mr. Gruber pushed us hard and we never gave up.”
West Bend School District Superintendent Ted Neitzke didn’t
return a phone message requesting comment.
Gruber said Neitzke has called him and claimed he was
surprised when he heard of Gruber’s firing.
Beaver Dam girls basketball coach Tim Chase thought it was
unfair to base Gruber’s firing on the Suns’ record.
Going into the season, the Suns lost their top-two scorers
and rebounders from the 2013-14 season to graduation. The team’s thirdbest
scorer and rebounder from that season missed most of last season because of an
injury.
“I don’t understand it at all,” Chase said. “It doesn’t make
a lot of sense.”
Beaver Dam has won 80 of its last 84 Wisconsin Little Ten
Conference games. Two of those losses were to Gruber and the Suns.
Former West Bend West girls basketball coach Mark Maley, a
friend of Gruber’s and teamed with Gruber to start the West Bend Wizards, a
youth girls basketball program, said in an email to the Daily News that Hansen
pointed the finger at the players as the reason for Gruber’s firing.
Gruber said messages received from players said the same
thing.
“Yes and no,” Knop said.
“I think, personally, I kind of do,” she said when asked if
she and her teammates felt responsible. “It seems like it was based off the
record. Only us girls can control that. There’s only so much he can do as a
coach.”
Maley believes school administrators are trying to clean
house.
“Part of it is unreal expectations being put on people
without going through them,” Maley said.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” he added. “It’s the worst
way to get a new start. It shouldn’t have happened in the first place. ... It’s
too bad.”
Knop said she and her teammates were told they could have a
hand in picking the next coach.
“We were wondering why we didn’t have the input,” she said
about Gruber. “To me, it came out of nowhere.”
In the last week, Gruber had to get his lawyer involved when
trying to collect equipment he purchased for the program, such as basketballs,
ball rack, warmups and jerseys. Gruber also helped get the scoreboard in the
fieldhouse, got a television for film study and training aids.
“I did it because I wanted to,” Gruber said. “We support the
district and we do the best we can.”
“We talked so we could be heard,” Knop said. “But it’s above
our control now.”
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