Tippecanoe Valley Cleans House
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
MENTONE - Tippecanoe Valley's special school board meeting Monday evening lasted less than 15 minutes, but what a 15 minutes they were.
In those 15 minutes, board members made it known to the public that Tippecanoe Valley's basketball future was changing dramatically.
Varsity girls basketball coach Mike Walters turned in his resignation. After an executive session, the board announced it did not give a contract extension to varsity boys basketball coach Gregg Sciarra.
Walters was 29-30 (.497) since replacing Duane Burkhart before the 1995-1996 season. Before Walters took over, Valley had won the Three Rivers Conference title seven of eight years. The Vikings won no TRC titles and no sectional titles under Walters.
Sciarra had been coaching the varsity team since the 1991-1992 season, when he replaced Bob DuBois. Sciarra's teams went a combined 66-85 (.432). Valley won one sectional title under Sciarra. The Vikings beat host Columbia City to win the Columbia City Sectional 33-32 in 1997, Valley's first title since 1988. Valley did not win a TRC title under Sciarra.
When asked about the coaching changes, board member Tom Weaver said: "We appreciate the work they put in for us. Nothing really super-wrong happened, I can assure you of that."
Burkhart, who now serves as Valley's athletic director, is attending an athletic directors' meeting in Indianapolis and could not be reached for contact.
Walters was contacted at his home 90 minutes after the board meeting. He refused to talk and instead let his wife talk, who said, "I'm sorry, he has no comment."
Sciarra, who will remain as a teacher at Valley, was diplomatic when reached at school Tuesday morning. He had this to say: "I think this could work as a positive for the school, as far as it can rejuvenate the fans and the kids. This isn't all bad."
Sciarra said Tippecanoe Valley High School principal Charles Mills informed him of the board's decision on Tuesday morning. "(He gave) no reasons," Sciarra said. "Just informed me, that's it."
Sciarra enjoyed his time as coach, but now he plans to enjoy the extra free time.
"Coaching basketball is always something I wanted to do and I got to do," he said. "Not everyone gets that chance. Sometimes people get buried in a junior varsity position or whatever and just never have this chance.
"I have to look forward to other good things in life. Basketball was one part of life. Now it's time to move on to other things.
"The past seven years has just worn me out. Now I'll have a chance to get in better physical shape. I plan to watch a lot of basketball. I can watch a lot of good basketball games, like Plymouth and Warsaw."
In other news, the board extended the contracts of athletic director Burkhart and assistant athletic director/head football coach Scott Bibler through June 30, 2000.
Also, the administrative contracts of Akron principal Brett Boggs, Mentone principal Jack Fisher, middle school assistant principal Jeff France, assistant superintendant Dan Kramer, assistant high school principal Rod McKee, high school principal Charles Miller and Burket principal Karen Shelly were all extended to June 30, 2000. Superintendent Karen Boling's contract was extended through June 30, 2001. [[In-content Ad]]
MENTONE - Tippecanoe Valley's special school board meeting Monday evening lasted less than 15 minutes, but what a 15 minutes they were.
In those 15 minutes, board members made it known to the public that Tippecanoe Valley's basketball future was changing dramatically.
Varsity girls basketball coach Mike Walters turned in his resignation. After an executive session, the board announced it did not give a contract extension to varsity boys basketball coach Gregg Sciarra.
Walters was 29-30 (.497) since replacing Duane Burkhart before the 1995-1996 season. Before Walters took over, Valley had won the Three Rivers Conference title seven of eight years. The Vikings won no TRC titles and no sectional titles under Walters.
Sciarra had been coaching the varsity team since the 1991-1992 season, when he replaced Bob DuBois. Sciarra's teams went a combined 66-85 (.432). Valley won one sectional title under Sciarra. The Vikings beat host Columbia City to win the Columbia City Sectional 33-32 in 1997, Valley's first title since 1988. Valley did not win a TRC title under Sciarra.
When asked about the coaching changes, board member Tom Weaver said: "We appreciate the work they put in for us. Nothing really super-wrong happened, I can assure you of that."
Burkhart, who now serves as Valley's athletic director, is attending an athletic directors' meeting in Indianapolis and could not be reached for contact.
Walters was contacted at his home 90 minutes after the board meeting. He refused to talk and instead let his wife talk, who said, "I'm sorry, he has no comment."
Sciarra, who will remain as a teacher at Valley, was diplomatic when reached at school Tuesday morning. He had this to say: "I think this could work as a positive for the school, as far as it can rejuvenate the fans and the kids. This isn't all bad."
Sciarra said Tippecanoe Valley High School principal Charles Mills informed him of the board's decision on Tuesday morning. "(He gave) no reasons," Sciarra said. "Just informed me, that's it."
Sciarra enjoyed his time as coach, but now he plans to enjoy the extra free time.
"Coaching basketball is always something I wanted to do and I got to do," he said. "Not everyone gets that chance. Sometimes people get buried in a junior varsity position or whatever and just never have this chance.
"I have to look forward to other good things in life. Basketball was one part of life. Now it's time to move on to other things.
"The past seven years has just worn me out. Now I'll have a chance to get in better physical shape. I plan to watch a lot of basketball. I can watch a lot of good basketball games, like Plymouth and Warsaw."
In other news, the board extended the contracts of athletic director Burkhart and assistant athletic director/head football coach Scott Bibler through June 30, 2000.
Also, the administrative contracts of Akron principal Brett Boggs, Mentone principal Jack Fisher, middle school assistant principal Jeff France, assistant superintendant Dan Kramer, assistant high school principal Rod McKee, high school principal Charles Miller and Burket principal Karen Shelly were all extended to June 30, 2000. Superintendent Karen Boling's contract was extended through June 30, 2001. [[In-content Ad]]