Loyal School Board approves 2023-24 fall, winter coaches

At its last meeting, the Loyal School Board opted to renew the coaching contracts for fall and winter coaches, and the discussion included addressing some complaints made about coaches at prior meetings.

Football The list of proposed football coaches for the board to vote on consisted of head coach Chris Lindner; assistant coaches Cody Halpin, Kyle Damask and Logan Fulwiler; volunteer Louie Stieglitz; and middle school coaches Derek Weyer and Curtiss Lindner. Middle/High School Principal Doug Dieckman was not on the list for coaches after having served on the coaching staff last year.

Chris Lindner is also the school district administrator. At the April school board meeting, three members of the public had spoken against Chris Lindner continuing as the head football coach, claiming that he was not able to devote the necessary time to the coaching position while also being district administrator, that he was contributing to a negative culture within the program and that because he was also district administrator, students didn’t have anyone to go to with complaints about the coaching staff.

At the May 24 meeting, board president Tom Odeen informed the public that there had been a professional development plan put together for Chris Lindner and “it involved a number of issues that were brought up regarding timeliness, excitement/positive outlook, delegation, player development and, you know, a timeline that could be used as guideline for feedback as to whether those items are done. And that is to be performed by the athletic director and/or principal. A review of performance upon the completion of the season can be used to update the conditions of the plan or recommend dismissal from it.

“So just to be transparent with those wondering if something had been done — yes, there is a professional development plan for Coach Lindner,” he said.

“Is this position for 2023 or is it extended past 2023? Because those of us who did apply for the ’24 position have not heard anything in six weeks, so rumors are starting to swirl,” said Weyer, who is also a school board member.

“My understanding is that they’re just for ’23,” said Odeen. “So it’s still up to that committee to determine the position for the joint coaching between Loyal and Greenwood.”

Greenwood and Loyal will be fully co-oped for football starting with the 2024 season.

“And part of that delay was waiting for this to be done so we could take that next step,” said Dieckman.

Having that question answered, Weyer turned his attention to Chris Lindner and asked him what he was going to change in his coaching this year so it was not repeat of last year.

“I’ll be out there at a regular time. We’re already talking with our staff about delegating, and then coming out with a positive attitude, and really concentrate on that,” said Chris Lindner.

Weyer replied that he was just concerned because being a district administrator and a varsity football coach were both difficult, time-consuming jobs, and he didn’t want Chris Lindner to be setting himself up for failure.

“And that’s where it comes back to, you have to be willing to delegate,” Weyer finished.

Board member Holly Lindner clarified that Weyer was referring to delegating to coaching duties to other coaches, not delegating district administrator duties.

Odeen responded by saying he knew that Chris Lindner was at school around 7 most mornings and that he often worked into the evenings or on weekends, and with 25 years of coaching experience, he knew the time commitment required to be a coach.

“And this is my personal opinion, but I don’t think we should judge coaches based on their number of state championships or whether we make tournaments. I think it’s on how those players develop and it’s very rare that we can experience a state championship… It’s a combination of…” said Odeen.

“And I totally understand what you’re saying but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for excellence, to be that state team,” Weyer interjected. “So that’s where I would say you still have to have the expectation, but understand the reality that it’s very hard to achieve.”

“And I guess my last point is it’s not just the coach; it’s the players. And I know from experience from having a son who played on some successful teams, some not so successful — those kids had to work hard. And I’m not questioning the work ethic of players, but I’m just saying it’s taking players as well as coaches. But I think it’s unfair to say you have to win championships to be successful. So, enough said,” said Odeen.

Hinkelmann made a motion to approve the coaches as stated, seconded by Holly Lindner. The motion passed 3-1, with Dennis Roehl voting no and Weyer abstaining. Board member Dave Clintsman Jr. was absent.

Volleyball The candidates for volleyball coaches were as follows: Jaedyn Pieper, head coach; Viki Pieper, JV coach; Lindsey Theis, assistant coach; and Keli Geiger and Kristen Aumann, middle school coaches. The board ultimately approved those individuals as coaches, but not without some discussion surrounding the head coach in this sport as well.

Last fall at a school board meeting, a parent brought up concerns about alleged inappropriate comments made by Jaedyn Pieper toward a player on the team. Jaedyn Pieper denied said allegations. Weyer asked if that situation had been addressed in the form of a professional development plan.

“There was not one done. There was expectations that she would work on, a couple of things in her evaluation. Coach (Jaedyn) Pieper was approved to do middle school girls basketball in January and February. Did not hear anything negative about it, heard that things went well there. I know there were some things back and forth,” said Chris Lindner. “I’ve talked to Ms. (Jaedyn) Pieper a number of times. And I think in the realm of middle school basketball she has shown that she can adapt, can learn (and) can improve just like everyone else. I am confident that she can do a very good job.”

He also said the athletic directors had some discussions with her on expectations. Weyer asked if Lindner was satisfi ed with those conversations and he said he was. “I’d just like to comment that I met with Ms. (Jaedyn) Pieper and we talked about the situation that developed last year. We all learned in that process how things should happen, I guess if there’s issues that parents or players have with coaches. We talked about how we would like to avoid situations like that in the future. And so I thought it was a very good discussion and certainly wanted to emphasize that from the board situation, we did not think it was going to develop into that kind of a situation in public comments. We’ve learned from it and will make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Odeen.

He said that Jaedyn Pieper’s end-of-season report was helpful and he felt communication between the board and school employees needed to improve, and this was a first step in that.

“Do you think at minimum we should have written expectations, so we’re not caught in, ‘Well, I’m not sure what was said, I didn’t hear that; you didn’t hear that’?” asked Roehl.

He felt that at a minimum there should be something in writing. Holly Lindner agreed and said it would be consistent with what the board was doing with other coaches who have professional development plans. Odeen agreed.

Weyer asked if he should recuse himself from the vote because Theis is his sister. The board felt that that would not be a conflict of interest because she was not his spouse nor receiving direct financial benefit.

Weyer made a motion to approve the list of the coaches, with the addition of a professional development plan for the head coach position. That motion was seconded by Harlan Hinkelmann. The motion passed 4-1, with Roehl voting “nay.”

Other sports The cross country head coach was to be determined as of this writing.

“As we have recently put the other cooperative sports team head coach positions out for interviews, it was decided by the joint collaboration committee (consisting of Loyal and Greenwood school board members) that we should do the same with the cross-country co-op,” wrote Chris Lindner in a meeting summary.

The a committee of four will conduct interviews for the cross country head coach, including the middle/high school principal from each school and an athletic director from each school. The position will be opened for applicants and interviews will determine the selection of the head coach.

The board unanimously approved the following coaches for boys basketball: Brandon DeSmet, head coach; Louie Stieglitz and Logan Fulwiler, assistant coaches; Derek Dieckman, Dane Bogdonovich and Geoff Smith, middle school coaches.

For girls basketball, the proposed coaches were: Mike Rueth, head coach; Tony Wilke and Angie Kollmansberger, assistant coaches; Jaedyn Pieper and Nick Schlagenhaft, middle school coaches. The girls basketball coaches were approved 4-1, with Roehl voting no.

The board did not have any wrestling coaches to approve, although that is a co-op with Neillsville and Greenwood so Chris Lindner said that might need to be revisited. He said they would try to vote on the spring coaches for 2024 in June.