Doug Bailey
After 16 seasons as the head boys' lacrosse coach at Hempfield, Doug Bailey will not lead the Black Knights for a 17th year.
Despite the recommendation from the administration, the Hempfield School Board voted 7-1 to not renew Bailey's contract, leaving the position vacant.
Coaches operate on a year-to-year contract and need school board approval every year to remain in their position.
Generally, the high school athletic director evaluates a coach, then meets with the district superintendent and assistant superintendents to make a recommendation to the school board. The administration then takes their recommendations to the board for a vote.
Bailey was on the recommended list handed to the school board during an Aug. 10 meeting. In that meeting, the school board asked for Bailey's name to be removed from the list and would vote on him separately.
After approving the rest of the original list, the board voted against renewing Bailey's contract.
The board gave no reason for its decision.
"With personnel we are limited on what we can say," Hempfield school board president Bill Jimenez said. "We're restricted because of (Bailey's) privacy and for our privacy. We're legally bounded. It's a state law."
More often than not, the board will agree with the recommendations from the school administration. In this case, the board did not.
"I don't know that it's a rarity but it's not something that happens all the time," Jimenez explained.
"For various reasons, the school and administration has decided to change course, and seek new leadership," Bailey said in an e-mail to his former team. "That is their right as a school district and they are ultimately responsible for your education and well-being, so no matter whether you, I or anyone else agrees or disagrees with their leadership decision, it is a decision that has been made, and is final."
Bailey did not have the opportunity to address any concerns that the board had, but Jimenez said that if Bailey wanted to meet with them it would be taken into consideration.
Though the board's thinking is not public, it's almost certain that it had nothing to do with Bailey's results.
Bailey is credited with helping to start lacrosse locally. The first game ever between county schools was in 1992 when the Hempfield boys played Elizabethtown.
Hempfield won 260 games under Bailey's watch, along with seven Central Pennsylvania titles, two Lancaster League championships, the past two L-L League titles and last year's District Three gold. The Black Knights reached the Keystone Cup (state championship game) in 2005.
One of Bailey's most successful seasons was last year when the Knights went on a 21-game winning streak en route to L-L and District Three titles, and finished the season with a 23-2 record.
"We earned it together, we lived it together," Bailey wrote in the e-mail. "It's something I'll always remember, especially being able to put the championship medals around the necks of our Hempfield students."
Bailey has coached eight high school All-Americans and six former Black Knights played NCAA lacrosse in all three divisions. The first Lancaster County player to play professional lacrosse, Kyle Wimer, is a Hempfield grad.
It wasn't a secret in the lacrosse community that 2011 would be Bailey's last season at Hempfield. He's coached since graduating from Penn State in 1982, first as an assistant at his alma mater, later at Franklin & Marshall, and as the head coach at Kutztown University. In addition to coaching for 28 years, Bailey wanted time to watch his youngest son Ryan, who will be a senior at Hempfield, play college lacrosse.
Bailey had one last coaching moment for his players in his e-mail.
"So here is my thoughts for you. Whomever your new coach or coaches may be, give them your heart, mind and soul as you grow and develop," he wrote. "Move forward with the good lessons you learned from your previous coach(es), and represent your school with pride and prejudice."