FYI: it’s Sheehy, not Sheahy.

It is indeed crazy for coaches to have masters degrees–a truly dedicated and skilled coach comes from experience and a passion for his/her sport, not advanced education. Perhaps the college requires senior staff to have Ph.D.s so as to have a higher percentage of faculty with advanced education.

There must be something here that does not meet the eye. Otherwise I can’t believe the College would be so formal and inflexible.

I think coaches are qualified as “faculty” of the college (probably because it is favorable to the faculty-student ratio). If coaches have masters degrees than the percentage of faculty with “higher degrees” goes up. If they do not, it goes down. As the percentage of faculty with “higher degrees” is a statistic that Williams advertises fairly aggressively, it stands that Williams would require all of their coaches to have masters degrees, even half-assed online education degrees.

I suspect that David’s right–Williams doesn’t really care if the degree their coaches have is a rigorous degree…but White’s degree–from the blurb posted–doesn’t look legit according to just about any standards.

I do think it’s a shame: White seems to be a great coach. You can say that he’s a casualty–hopefully the first significant casualty at Williams–of the College competition and admissions frenzy.

If that is the case, the College is putting appearances over substance. How phoney!

I don’t believe that the degree description posted by David is that of Coach White’s education degree. That seems to be a degree declaring that you have life experience. This is not an education degree. They probably have a legitimate education program as well which is probably what Coach White did.

Yeah, if you look at the actual Rochville programs page, most of them claim to take 2-4 years to complete, and seem to require actual study.

This is insane. This is a guy who has been a big time Division I coach who has decided to make his career at Williams. The track teams have had unbelievable success under him, including the recent team national championship. It seems like kids make immense year-to-year improvements under his tutelage, which is what coaching is all about. The track athletes are some of the finest student-athletes at Williams; no one has ever complained about track and field lowering any academic or community standards, that is for sure. The sheer enormity of the track roster also speaks to his popularity as a coach. Basically, the track program embodies everything athletics should be at Williams, or indeed, anywhere in Division III. This is an absolute travesty and I really hope there are some wealthy track alums who place some instense pressue on the college.

Yeah, I don’t get it. I presume the degree thing has got to be a pretext for something we don’t know about; CRW has basically been bringing home the Sears cups with teams who populate the Dean’s List.

Wow, my friends and I assumed it was something dirtier than this. There has been history in the past of other coaches and team members dating and so we were hoping for something juicier on this one. (note, not saying he dated anyone on the team, I haven’t heard anything of the sort - just saying that was my first assumption when I saw the refusal to comment on it)

…also, I could be wrong…I’m really just going off the Record article. There very well could be more of a story here.

I sure hope that the administration saw the profile of Coach White and the Ephs on CBS’s NCAA show just now. It was extremely impressive, especially hearing how Coach White saved the life of the Eph in trouble. The segment made Williams look really, really good.

Before seeing the CBS segment, I didn’t think much of Williams not renewing Coach White’s contract. However, after seeing how talented, dedicated, and successful he is — and hearing how he saved a student’s life from drugs, alcohol, and sexual abuse — he deserves to be at Williams and Williams should be very lucky to have him.

I agree, it is absolutely disgusting. There have been at LEAST 3 other instances where coaches were not told at hiring that they had to have their masters, and in all of those cases received contract extensions to get the job done. Part of the problem is that Roseman, Melendy, and McIntyre fought to NOT hire coach white 7 years ago because they wanted to hire a woman (i’ll let you read between the lines).

I think the biggest problem of all is that Morty got mad about the track team pushing to redo the track last year, and got embarrassed when alums and parents got involved.

Tyler’s quotation in the Record included both the part quoted above and the part about Coach White hiring an African refugee and then helping him to get another job, violating the College’s visa rules (whatever that means).

I absolutely agree that Coach White should stay. Any EphBlog readers who want to join the hundreds already writing in their support of Coach White are highly encouraged to do so.

Although “hundreds” writing is a good idea, that alone will not save White’s job. You need to get organized and figure out how to involve the trustees in the conversation. My advice on fighting the power at Williams is still relevant. I hope that supporters of Coach White will have more success than opponents of anchor housing.

Also, you have to get that CBS segment onto Youtube somehow, or hosted by EphBlog. If you can get the trustees to see that, White might have a chance.

As a former athlete lucky enough to have run under Coach White at Williams, I wrote the following email in his support on April 26th. The responses I received from the committee members were vague cut-and-paste variations on “thank you for your letter, but we cannot comment on our decision.” Further, I learned that the multitude of emails and letters sent in after the initial decision not to renew his contract will probably not be introduced during his final appeal because it would be the equivalent of considering new evidence in an appellate court. I know I speak for many track alums when I say how shocked I am that a smart school like Williams would be so stupid as to let go of a man who is arguably the best track coach in all of Division III.

************************************************

Dear President Schapiro, Professor Lenhart, Dean Wagner, Professor Bradburd, Dean Williams, and Professor Rouhi,

I write today in regards to the College’s intent not to renew Ralph White’s contract as head coach of the track and field teams. I know you have received many letters and emails from my fellow student athletes on this matter. I have also read some of your emails in response. As far as I can tell, two likely scenarios are possible: 1) The hiring committee is collectively not listening to what my generation is saying, or 2) the committee is keeping private some egregious act on Coach White’s part. I’m talking felony-level egregious, because only then would I understand your vague allusion to his contributions being outweighed by “other considerations.”

Barring said felony, allow me to persuade you to open your ears a little wider to the heartfelt letters of an accomplished group of alumni-fund-contributing alumni. I first came to Williams in 2000, the same year as Coach; as a member of the first class to run for him for 7 months a year, 4 years straight, I believe my thoughts carry weight.

Coach White’s tenure as track coach has been the most successful in Williams history. I know you have seen the stats regarding the team’s NESCAC, ECAC, and Nationals success rates; they are, quite simply, unprecedented for a college of William’s academic caliber. Coach White held unbelievably rigorous practices, and was hard on athletes (naturally talented or not) if he felt they were not giving their own personal best. He always believed that an athlete could push herself
harder than she did, and usually Coach was the one proven right. Although I graduated from my high school in Washington with one of the fastest hurdling times in the state, my genes should never have allowed me to be the two-time All-American I became under his guidance. His style was strict, demanding, sometimes harsh; the exact type of style necessary to make Division III athletes good enough to participate in Division I tournaments (which several of us had the opportunity to do, e.g., at Dartmouth Relays, Penn Relays, and at the Armory in NY).

Lest this paint a picture of an uncaring man, however, let me set the record straight. Coach White taught his athletes and anyone else he worked with to be better human beings. He would get on these funny kicks, like during my first year, when he taught the women self-defense moves every week. One month, he made us pick up a piece of trash every time we walked across campus. Another month, we had to say “hello” to someone we didn’t know every day. At one point, he enlisted an assistant coach to give us “dance lessons” on the belief that if we could carry a beat better, we might improve our running rhythms.

He always came to his athlete’s acapella concerts and thesis presentations, lectured us on healthy eating, made sure we were studying hard (he gave me a solidly paternal talking-to when I bombed Biology 101) and constantly talked about giving back to one’s community. He set a high standard by his own examples, which included taking in a refugee family, hosting track clinics for Williamstown Youth, and driving us to volunteer at Mt. Greylock events. He is a man of deep integrity who pushed us to become not only better athletes than we ever imagined, but better human beings.

As a Team Captain and winner of the 2004 Lee Plansky Team Award for Leadership, I encourage you to really listen to my words, as well as the words of my peers. Please reconsider your decision not to re-sign the greatest coach I have ever had the privilege to know. Williams was incredibly lucky to land Coach White in the first place; the idea that you would let him go is as unbelievable as it would be foolhardy.

I thank you for your time and would happy to speak with anyone further on this matter.

Best regards,
Carolyn Robbs

I wonder if Morty is getting more letters from students about track coaches or Hitler posters?

Dear benighted Carolyn: Call me cynical, jaded and other things which I may or may not deserve, but my instincts and 72 years of life’s experience tell me that your and others’ admirable efforts on behalf of Mr. White will be for naught. I very much hope that I’m dead wrong and that youth’s optimism and sense of justice indicate a winner, but the signs are present that blackness will once again prevail.

I am shocked by the number of people who are not more critical of Coach White and his supporters. He does not have anywhere near the Record-quoted “99.9%” backing of current and former athletes. The two stated reasons for non-renewal are, in fact, important enough the question his integrity and serious enough to dismiss him from Williams. Why is it so hard to imagine that there is more to this issue that should remain private?

Let he who is absolutely without the sin of lack of integrity cast the first stone. We have Presidents who seriously and openly lack integrity and who not only get elected but also get reelected.

And then are lionized by much of the public, including many who take themselves seriously.

Interesting fact: Tennis and squash coach Dave Johnson satistfied his masters requirement not by getting an education or phys ed degree, but by getting a masters in art history from Williams.

interesting, but also irrelevant. Coach White is here to coach track, not teach art history. What is so devastating about the two charges? In at least 3 other cases, coaches who were not informed of the masters requirement were granted extensions on their contracts.

Furthermore, what is wrong with helping a starving african family? That coach was responsible for international recruiting and other office tasks, and it’s not as if he was paid a full salary to do it (approx 1k per month). Harry Sheehy knew what was going on. Why is it suddenly a problem 4 YEARS later?

I know nothing about Coach White personally, but I will note that “Rochville University” pretty much epitomizes the concept of “diploma mill”. Check out its entry in Wikipedia.

In 2005, CNN bought a Rochville MS in Chemistry for $500, using the name of an al Qaeda chemical weapons expert. For $30 extra, Rochville threw in “honors”.

Rochville takes great pains to hide its physical location and the names of its staff. CNN’s “degree” shipped from United Arab Emirates.

I demur.

Does anyone else think it’s funny that in order to show that Rochville is a diploma mill with no academic legitimacy, someone cites Wikipedia?

(I don’t disagree, BTW, I just think it’s funny.)

Anyway, perhaps someone can shed some light on this topic for me. What exactly is happening to Coach White? Is he able to stay on as track coach on a year-to-year basis? Or is he being let go?

His contract is “not being renewed”. In other words, he is being let go, and will not be allowed to stay on a year-to-year basis.