Temple City High School athletic director John Van DeVeere said the school wanted to announce its next football coach last Friday, but cautioned a decision might not be made until this week. Just got off the phone with Temple City High principal Mary Jo King and said an announcement will come “hopefully by next week.” King added: “We’re trying to see if we have a teaching position with a coaching position. Ideally we’d like to have a coach on campus.” The hurdle right now is finding a teaching position. It’s protocol that any teaching openings be flown within the district first. As for the growing frustration among the Temple City faithful …. “We just tell them to try to be patient,” King said. “We’re trying to find the best coach we can have.” Multiple sources confirmed Whittier Christian defensive coordinator Pete Karavedas and Pasadena coach Mike McFarland are the two finalists for the position, but a twist came when Karavedas withdrew his name from the running. Here’s a message Aram Tolegian wants to get across to the big wigs at Temple City Unified:
Seriously, how hard is it to hire a football coach? When are schools going to understand that the football (coach) is the most important position on campus? And the football program means EVERYTHING to the school. You have a good football program and I guarantee you’ve got a good everything else. It’s kind of like what obesity is to health problems, but in a good way. Trust me. So an administration and/or school board HAS TO make this hire the most important thing around. No teaching position? OK, cut one of the 10 asst. principals every school has but doesn’t need. What? Do I need to run for school board and show people how it’s done? This has nothing to do with AD John Van De Veere (he’s actually a football guy with his hands tied) and everything to do with the administration/school board. Word is that Karavedas got tired of waiting on a school that’s dragging its feet. So does this make McFarland the man? Either guy seems like a great choice, so hopefully the school doesn’t lose out on McFarland, too.
The Mayor of the blog, Goldenarm, isn’t happy with the seemingly drawn out process:
The proud tradition of TC football has been toileted, and Van De Veere gets no free pass from me – he is one of the few who should have known better – AND DONE MORE. True, the admin may pull rank and power on him now, but during the Backus dismissal he was front and center and happy to lead the charge. Big mistake.
If Karavedes saw the writing on the wall and declined to continue for the reasons you state…that really sucks. The Ram kids, TC parents, boosters and supporters deserve much better than they are getting from TCUSD and the high school administrators. As a direct result of their actions and inaction, it will take years for TC football to recover.
I am sorry to say the news just keeps getting worse and the ineptness more blatant. For long time Ram fans, it seems like a dark, surreal dream that just won’t go away.
