The chances Eldorado School Board members were going to please everyone Tuesday night were minimal. They were either going to send a message and please other communities’ fans and families or they were going to make Eldorado fans and their own constituents happy. They chose to face the music in front of about 150 mostly locals who came out to see what the fallout would be from an egregious foul that happened during the Eldorado Holiday Tournament less than a week ago. Those locals turned raucous and hostile as the school board voted to dismiss the entire Eldorado High School boys basketball coaching staff with pay and grew even more vociferous once Rod Wallace was named as the interim coach.
After the clamors died down, the floor was given to a handful of locals who voiced their opinion, many in cadence with the crowd, some shouting obscenities. The crowd also made sure school board members knew the next election was coming up in September and many called the firings a personal agenda or vendetta.
Greg Goodley was the first to speak; he called it a sad night for Eldorado.
Goodley went on to say the school board had a chance to back up the coach and students and with their decision, they failed them. He asked, “why are we making decisions based on outside noise?” and stated “other towns are going to like us because we’re going to lose”.
Mark Goldman was up next and said while what happened was wrong, the punishment wasn’t befitting.
From there, things devolved and while some points were made, decorum was lost and comments turned to “cleaning out the closets” of school board members, blaming officials, and making comments that interim skipper Rod Wallace wasn’t fit to coach.
The school board adjourned without any fanfare as some members simply stood up to exit as members of the crowd raced forward saying they wanted to be heard. No altercations broke out; there were at least 8 law enforcement officials present for the meeting.
We won’t know what the ramifications will be for the student athlete from Eldorado as he’s a minor. Carmi – White County is set to face Eldorado at Duff – Kingston on Friday night. At this stage, it’s unknown whether Eldorado will even field a team given the reaction Tuesday night.
The IHSA has yet to weigh in, nor has the Southern Illinois Egyptian Officials Association.
Updated: A previous version of the story listed the Southern Illinois Basketball Official Association as the organization over officiating at the EHT. WROY/WRUL regrets the error.
