Sometimes 2 + 2 = 4
Sometimes 2 + 2 = Nothing.
And sometimes 2 + 2 = #&%^*@?!
Check my math:
1. Cedar Crest boys’ basketball coach Darrin Bossert, who resides with his family in the Elco school district, makes no bones about the fact that some day he would like to coach his son Mason.
2. Bossert resigns his position as the Falcons’ head man in March.
3. Then Elco boys’ basketball coach Chris Firestine resigns.
Shouldn’t 4 in this equation equal Bossert becoming the Raiders’ new head coach? If math was only that easy.
Come Monday evening, we should learn who will head the Elco boys’ basketball program from the school district’s board of education meeting. But it won’t be Bossert.
Elco athletic director Doug Bohannon said on Wednesday that he has made a recommendation to the board and that he hopes it will vote on Firestine’s replacement. Also this week, Bossert received a letter from Bohannon telling him that he would not be interviewed for the post.
“It was kind of weird how it happened,” said Bossert. “When I resigned at Cedar Crest it was because I wanted to help out at Elco, where my kids go to school. But when I resigned, I had no idea Chris was going to resign. He told me, ‘I’d love to have you be a member of my staff’. And then a month later, he resigned.
“When he resigned, I thought ‘Wow, this is happening pretty fast’,” Bossert continued. “I thought I had a chance. My hopes were high. I put everything in and got a great letter of recommendation from the Cedar Crest AD. It was obvious I left on good terms.”
“I gave it two or three weeks (after Firestine’s resignation),” said Bohannon, “and my goal was to have a recommendation by Monday. That way we wouldn’t have to wait until June, because I didn’t think that would be fair to the new guy coming in or the kids. Yes, I did react fast. But we got the applicant I thought we’d get.”
Bossert was one of four people who applied for the position. But many times, just like in the real world, these coaching maneuvers are matters of timing.
“Obviously, the timing is not right,” said Bossert. “Maybe Elco wanted to go in a different direction. Maybe they wanted to have a coach who teaches in the school district.
“I could’ve gone for the Lebanon job (vacated by Craig Coletti’s resignation),” Bossert continued. “But then I’d be back where I started. It’s not what I wanted to do. I can’t take it personally. It’s just the way it is.”
And Bossert has not looked at it as a rejection.
All along he has maintained that the most important things for him are to coach, help kids and be a part of the basketball system in the district where his children attend school. Bossert has informed Bohannon that no matter who takes over in Myerstown that he will serve the program in any capacity in which he is asked.
“Whoever gets the job, I’d love to volunteer, get my foot in the door and help with the program,” said Bossert, who had also applied for the Raider job three years ago when Firestine got it. “It’s most important for me to be in the school district because, on a daily basis, I’m coaching my son. It (becoming the head coach) could’ve caused more pressure for me and my son, if it had happened.
“I’m 100 percent Elco,” Bossert added. “I’m excited to do whatever I can.”
Bossert said that when he was the coach at Cedar Crest, there were times Mason would get razzed for wearing Falcon garb to school.
“I still want to coach, and I want to coach at the highest level I can,” said Bossert. “I love basketball. It’s just a part of me and my whole family. I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
“I don’t know that it’s a headache,” said Bohannon of the current volatile state of coaching. “It’s part of the job. It’s sort of what we (athletic directors) do. It’s a different era. There’s very few coaches who are in it for the long haul. Headache, no. Time-consuming, yes.”
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