Friday, April 28, 2000
McNicholas students protest coach's firing
Archdiocese won't budge on Doerger
By Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Jerry Doerger hugs one of his former players, Matt Brothers.
(Gary Landers photo)
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Students at McNicholas High School learned an extra lesson Thursday — that even their peaceful protest could not help their coach get his job back.
The students organized a sit-in at the gym on behalf of Jerry Doerger, Cincinnati's winningest active basketball coach until last week. That's when Archdiocese of Cincinnati officials decided not to renew his coaching contract after 34 years in the Greater Catholic League. He protested too vehemently, they said, about referees' calls after McNick's March 9 loss in the Division II district championship game.
“I was just showing support for him,” said junior guard Nat Dyment, who was among the students sitting in the gym. “I think they fired him too hastily. I don't think he got to tell his side.”
Matt Brothers, an 18-year-old senior and forward on the basketball team, said the actions of the archdiocese have disappointed many of the players who had hoped to benefit from Mr. Doerger's coaching next school year.
It was unknown who would take his place.
The students said they just wanted archdiocese officials to listen. And they did, spokesman Dan Andriacco said. But their decision didn't change because the facts of Mr. Doerger's actions haven't changed.
“It's unfortunate,” Mr. Andriacco said, “but we think this has to happen.”
The archdiocese has an internal appeal process Mr. Doerger could have used to try to get his job back. But that cannot happen now, Mr. Andriacco said, because the former coach decided instead to have a lawyer contact the archdiocese. The decision about the coaching job does not prevent Mr. Doerger from being a teacher and school counselor.
More than 500 students attended the student-organized protest. The group had planned to sit in the gym all day. But Mr. Doerger urged them to go back to class.
“He told us the best thing we could do is just do our best,” Nat Dyment said. “He wasn't really talking about basketball. He was talking about doing well in school and everything else in life.”
And it would appear that students are taking another of Mr. Doerger's lessons to heart.
“He taught me a lot about life and to dream the impossible dream,” Matt Brothers said. “This may seem impossible now. But I'm still going to believe that in the end it will work out.”
Marie McCain contributed to this article.
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