Reno sets ‘terrible precedent’

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, March 30, 2005 | 9:24 a.m.

Bill Garis is worried.

The head of athletics for the Clark County School District, Garis and others have paid careful attention to the goings-on at Reno's McQueen High School this month. And he's not happy with what he sees.

It was at McQueen that Tommy Knorr, for the second year, tried out for the Lancers' varsity baseball team. Last year, he did not make the squad. This year, the outcome of the preseason tryout was the same.

Then the Washoe County school board voted 4-3 in closed session to put Knorr on the team anyway.

"It's a terrible precedent to be set," Garis said Monday. "If that becomes a regular thing we've lost all control."

There's no real answer as to why the Washoe County board decided to get involved, and because the issue was discussed in a closed personnel session, details can't be released. Boards have a right to go into closed session under Nevada open meeting law to discuss personnel matters.

But Angelo Terranova, athletic director at McQueen, said the district anticipated a problem to begin with.

"There were some problems last year, and the school district decided to have Eddie Bonine, the (Washoe County district) student services director, supervise tryouts," Terranova said.

Dan Carne, president of the Washoe County board, said that Bonine, along with Terranova, were present to ensure the fairness of the tryout.

"He was there to ensure from a district standpoint, we felt that we could stand up and say hey, we've conducted a fair practice and these were the results," Carne said. "I think the four people who voted to put him back on the team felt that there were some procedural issues over the last two years that if they had been handled differently, might have affected the outcome. That's as much as I can tell you."

Carne said that the tryout was fair, but emphasized that other issues prompted his board to instate Knorr as the 18th player on the McQueen roster.

Knorr did not play, and after three games he left the team.

Local coaches were predictably furious after hearing about the McQueen case, with reactions ranging from "I would turn my keys in" to "I'd bulldoze down this field."

Las Vegas coach Sam Thomas was confused when he first heard about what happened.

"What other circumstances would there be?" he said. "If I had so many officials out there saying it was a fair tryout ... you're taking the integrity of the coach and taking it out of his hands. You're saying he does not have the ability to pick a team that's going to be suitable for him to win.

"I would have to resign. If the school board's going to pick your team for you, why even have a tryout?"

Thomas said he worries about the statewide implications of the decision.

"As far as setting a precedent, gosh I hope not. That would be a shame," he said.

Mike Gomez, a two-time state champion coach now at first-year Spring Valley, said there are many factors that go into selecting a team, factors that a school board probably can't consider.

"You have a rationale for selecting your kids. Whether it be their abilities or to fit into the team concept, there's a lot of factors," Gomez said. "But for whatever reason, to have somebody above you make that decision, it's a terrible position to put a coach in."

Garis, the Clark County schools athletic director, said the autonomy of coaches is something his office holds to be very important.

"I know in Clark County, not in this office and not even at a regional level do we get involved on who's on a team and who isn't," he said. "It's not our place to do that. We hire coaches to entrust that they are going to make those kinds of decisions."

Clark County school board president Larry Mason said local coaches have added protection that would prevent a McQueen-like situation from happening in Southern Nevada.

"That's a decision made by the coaches. In reference to Clark County, we don't do things like that," Mason said. "Just like we don't get into the hiring of teachers or things like that, we don't get into who plays or who doesn't play."

Mason said that because of the district's five-year-old policy governance, that kind of decision wouldn't even make it to the school board.

Clark County board member Susan Brager-Wellman agreed that putting kids on a roster is a decision best left below the school board level.

"Without knowing why they would go before the board to decide what the coaches are doing, it would not be in my comfort zone, unless there were really extenuating circumstances," she said.

Garis, who along with Carne, Bonine and Mason is on the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association's board of control, said that all decisions can go to the board level.

"Anything that happens at a school can eventually and ultimately be appealed through a school board," he said. "The NIAA could hypothetically pass a regulation that would prevent this kind of interference.

"I don't know if there is an answer. It's one of those common-sense things that shouldn't require written rules about."