Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
MENTONE - Tippecanoe Valley's six-month baseball soap opera ended Monday with 24-year-old Scott Backus being named the varsity head coach.
"My philosophy is to make sure the kids are having fun," Backus said. "Not to discount anyone in the past, but that's been a problem for a while at Valley. A lot of the kids haven't had a whole lot of fun the past few years."
The board voted 3-2 to hire Backus. Fred McSherry, Rod Eaton and Mark Wise approved the move; Tom Weaver and board president Bruce Andrews did not.
Backus, a 1994 Tippecanoe Valley graduate and a 1998 graduate of Wabash College, teaches seventh grade social studies at Tippecanoe Valley Middle School. He previously served as a varsity assistant baseball coach for one year at McCutcheon and has spent the last four years as a coach in the Manchester Pony League. He also coaches for Valley's middle school football team.
"I coached the last four summers the group of kids now at the high at the Manchester Pony League," Backus said. "I know the kids because I grew up in the community. I know their families. I have a good grasp of their potential.
"I know these kids can be successful, regardless of who the coach is."
The process to hire the baseball coach at Valley had been rocky, as the school board approved a different candidate in August.
The school board originally hired athletic director Duane Burkhart in August as the coach, but because Burkhart never officially posted the position as being open, the board reopened the position. Once the job reopened, Backus applied.
"Obviously the board had problems," Backus said. "They opened the job up, I applied."
An interview committee comprising assistant superintendent Dan Kramer, principal Charlie Mills and assistant athletic director Scott Bibler chose Burkhart, who reapplied, and presented him to the board, which tabled the topic in November.
In December, the board rejected the committee's selection of Burkhart.
Burkhart followers -Êsix to be exact - made last-ditch public pleas to the board at Monday's meeting. One was Cal Jackson, who has coached baseball with Burkhart for eight years.
Once the Burkhart supporters finished, Tim Schwenk, a father of a baseball player who spoke against hiring Burkhart at the last board meeting, again spoke at this meeting.
"It's nice to see Duane had a month to get his rah-rah club in line and get them all here," he said. "I know several parents who would speak just the opposite of Duane Burkhart, of how he has pigeonholed their children into certain athletic positions and not given them the opportunity, whether they were not quite ready athletically, or maybe Duane just didn't have enough time to help them out at that moment.
"He's all for taking a group of kids to competitions, but he just wants to take the cream of the crop."
Jackson later replied Burkhart took the cream of the crop because it was a traveling all-star team, so the best players played.
"You've had closed minds from the beginning," Jackson told the board. "I hope you can sleep at night with your decision."
Valley board member Wise replied, "I talked to a lot of people who had some difficulties with Duane's programs and the way he's handled different situations. Those come from people I know, people whose judgment I trust, because they were closer to the situation than I was.
"I had difficulty with how we hired him in the first place, because normal procedures weren't followed."
Asked if the reservations he has about Burkhart as coach extend to Burkhart as athletic director, Wise said, "The concerns I have would not affect the athletic director position. In the athletic director position, he deals with coaches, not with the kids themselves."
Burkhart previously coached Valley's baseball team from 1986-1991. The school has had seven winning seasons, and four came under Burkhart.
One reason brought up when the board rejected Burkhart in December was because it did not want him in dual roles as athletic director and coach.
At Monday's meeting, the over-riding concern was Burkhart and his relationship with players.
Backus is just glad the whole process is over.
"I'm glad they made a decision for the kids' sake," he said. "I would have liked to have the kids here in November and got things going then. I hope that the parents who are upset are able to support me. For better or worse, they named me. This stuff is over with.
"I just wanted to be a part of the program, whether it was as freshman coach, junior varsity coach or varsity coach."
