By Gene Schallenberg
Sports
NEW WAVERLY —
NEW WAVERLY — It didn’t take long for news of the late-night hiring of a new head football coach and athletic director to reach the ears of Bulldog fans. It wasn’t the kind of news some people here were anticipating and New Waverly has been in an uproar since.
“It’s kind of shocking because I didn’t know it was going to turn out like that, but hopefully with all the changes, we’ll be able to work through it,” said junior Cody James, who plans on participating in football, basketball and track in the upcoming school year.
Outraged that one of their own, Bill Goffney, a coach and teacher in New Waverly for 16 years, was passed over for the job in favor of former Cleveland High School coach Ricky Tullos, approximately 90 outraged supporters filled two adjacent sections in the visitors’ stands at Bulldog Stadium to pronounce exactly what was on their minds.
“He is very disappointed,” Nadia Goffney O’Bryant said of her brother. “It takes a lot for him to get upset. When I see he’s upset with something, I take it personally. He’s a very easygoing and laid-back person. So if I see he’s upset, it’s top-notch.
“This is not right. For him not to have been given this opportunity, to me, it’s just unfathomable.”
While many adults aired their complaints about the school board and Superintendent Clay Webb, more than 20 junior high- and high school-aged students took the field below and passed the football around. What started as several guys running a few plays turned into an impromptu 11-on-11 football game.
All that seemed to matter to these young Dogs was that the first scheduled day of football practice — Monday — was quickly approaching. Despite the turmoil, the players said they are eager to get back on the field, no matter who is the head coach.
“Really in my opinion, it really doesn’t matter just as long as everybody gets a fair chance,” sophomore John Lewis said. “We’re trying to move forward and trying to make the playoffs and trying to make it to state. We just want to have a better future in New Waverly.”
During the nearly two-hour meeting, many ideas from parents were thrown out such as organizing a group to meet with Webb on Monday morning or keeping players from showing up to practice Monday to protest the hiring.
“The end goal for me is to make Goffney the athletic director,” said Wes Wagner, whose son plays for the Bulldogs basketball and baseball teams.
One of the main sticking points during the meeting was not necessarily about Goffney not being named head football coach, but how he was denied the role of athletic director.
“They can go out and hire anybody for football coaching positions,” Wagner said. “My goal is to right a terrific wrong. What we want is for coach Goffney to be the athletic director. For the time that he puts in with his players, to not have him be named athletic director is unbelievable. It’s remarkable how much time he puts in.”
A petition was also passed around during the meeting, which many upset parents and teachers signed.
“It was just to say that we’re not on board with the hiring of this football coach and athletic director,” Wagner added. “I think everything can be compromised if they said OK, we’ll keep him as the football coach and let coach Goffney be the athletic director. I think that would be a good compromise.”
Hours after a lengthy board meeting in which four of the seven finalists for the job were interviewed, Webb stood behind the hiring of Tullos.
“Our job was getting the best coach we could for these kids,” Webb said.
Webb said he had heard about the community meeting that was planned for Friday night at the high school football field. He said the field and the track are open to the public, but he was not planning on attending.
“I have an office and people should feel free to come there,” Webb said. “The real deal here is we already have a vote and a contract offer is out there.”
