Coach needed in Wellston??????????

[JHS4EVER]

Did Mantell Quit??????????????????

[wrestlersdad6766]

yes turned in his resignation last night and the board will accept it tomorrow night also all other coaches will not get renewed contracts they are starting all over next year

[JHS4EVER]

Sounds like they are cleaning house!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wrestlersdad6766]

yes yes they are and in ,y opinion it is much needed

[racenut70]

Is that a fact or a rumor about all the coaches.

[wrestlersdad6766]

definite fact because well lets just say im in the program and there was a meeting held today and i was there

[JHS4EVER]

All new coaches are going to be hire or some are going to be re-hired?

[wrestlersdad6766]

well the coaches are all be fired and as it looks now no one will be rehired so they are definitely starting over here

[racenut70]

Have they notified the coaches?

[wrestlersdad6766]

yes they have. the full decision wil be made tomorrow though also mantell will be moving after the school year and he has been offered two other jobs but havent accepted any at this time

[JHS4EVER]

Don't they releive them from their contracts in early winter and re-hire them in the spring for the following season?

[Orange and Brown]

Well maybe Wellston will get a staff together who can turn the corner.

[hsfbfan]

Why did he quit

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

For Thursday's Times-Journal


Mantell resigns as Wellston football coach

By PAUL BOGGS

Sports Editor

WELLSTON — In his own words, it was a letter which Jason Mantell didn’t want to write, let alone sign.

It was a telephone call to a media member’s cell phone that he didn’t expect to make.

But Mantell made that call, after he wrote and submitted his resignation letter, officially ending his tenure as the Wellston High School head football coach.

Mantell made the decision to resign on Tuesday, following his being informed the same morning that “all fall coaches in all fall sports” at Wellston would be non-renewed at tonight’s regular monthly meeting of the Wellston City Schools Board of Education.

He concludes his three-year reign with an on-the-field record of just 7-23, as Wellston was later awarded a forfeit victory following his first season.

It was ruled in December 2007 that Nelsonville-York, which won at Wellston 43-3 that season, had used an ineligible player late in the game.

The Buckeyes were forced to forfeit that win to the Golden Rockets.

With Mantell’s resignation, Wellston will begin next football season with its eighth head coach in the past 20 seasons.

Two previous Golden Rocket mentors — Paul Blankenship (1991 thru 1994) and Larry Blackstone (1996 thru 1999) — stayed for four seasons, while two others — Dave Lucas (2000 thru 2002) and Heath Hinton (2004 thru 2006 — enjoyed successful three-year stints.

Mantell finished his third season at Wellston in October, and was looking forward to his fourth.

Until Tuesday.

He explained the reason for his resignation, and expressed his disappointment with the information he received.

“I was made aware that the fall coaches in all of the fall sports were going to be non-renewed Thursday night (at the Wellston BOE meeting). Honestly, I’ve never heard of that happening and I don’t understand it. I’m upset with it and I disagree with it,” Mantell told The Jackson County Times-Journal on Tuesday. “Non-renewing the entire staff at this time means no one is in place to run the off-season program which is beginning. As a coaching staff, it makes us feel unappreciated. I’ve tried all day to come up with an answer as to why this is happening. It’s sad and uncalled for, really. So I have decided to resign, as difficult as that is to do.”

Mantell said he struggled while constructing his resignation letter and signing his name to it.

“I had every intention of coming back next season as the head football coach here. But that’s not going to happen now,” he said. “I hate that I’m not going to be involved with the team next year.”

Instead, Mantell made plans to formally address the Golden Rockets on Wednesday.

“I really feel for the kids,” he said. “I have enjoyed working with them and was looking forward to working with them toward next season. At the end of the season (2009), had you asked me whether I would be the coach here next August (2010), I would have bet my house I would’ve been.”

But apparently, it’s the Wellston City Schools administration which is cleaning house.

Citing the agenda for tonight’s regular monthly Board meeting, which was received by The Jackson County Times-Journal on Wednesday, resignations and retirement notifications are anticipated to be accepted, along with “non-renewal of supplementals.”

Mantell said the non-renewals “are about more than just me.”

“This isn’t about Jason Mantell,” he said. “This is about 15 or 20 people which are being non-renewed as coaches.”

Mantell made it clear that he maintained a good relationship with Wellston High School Athletic Director Jeff Hendershott, and that all of his previous postseason evaluations were positive.

“Jeff and I had a good working relationship, and we were already talking about what to improve on for next season,” he said. “I have received three good evaluations after all three years and I was not reprimanded one time. I want to thank those who have supported myself, our staff and the kids the past three years. We dealt with injuries and situations, played difficult schedules, and faced and did our best to overcome adversity.”

Mantell married his wife, Lindsay, prior to hiring at Wellston, as the Wheelersburg graduate first arrived in Jackson County prior to the 2004 campaign.

He served on Hinton’s staff as the Golden Rockets qualified for the state playoffs for the first time in school history.

He spent the next two seasons at Manchester, as that district was beginning a football program and hired Mantell as its head coach.

But when Marion Harding hired Hinton away, Mantell applied for the Rockets’ top job and was officially hired on April 30, 2007.

With the graduation of 13 seniors from the 2006 playoff team, Mantell inherited a Blue and Gold group that started as many as nine two-way freshmen or sophomores.

Wellston was winless in his first season, but improved to 4-6 the next before enduring an often injury-riddled and disappointing 3-7 year this past fall.

Mantell said he will continue to coach next year.

“I’m going to coach somewhere,” he said. “I enjoy being a head coach, and I hope to have another opportunity to do that. If not, I’d like to be hired as an assistant, even a coordinator. I’m going to see what my options are, but I do want to remain in coaching.”

Mantell may have that opportunity, though it won’t be at Wellston.

“This wasn’t a phone call I expected to make to you today,” he said.

[email protected]

[hsfbfan]

It appears to me that Mantell felt like he was on the hot seat and bailed before the school board could actually fire him.

[bobcatfan4728]

Don't they releive them from their contracts in early winter and re-hire them in the spring for the following season?

They do that at the end of the school year right now. They are talking about doing it at the end of the season now for every coach not just football. Seems to me if they end the contracts after the season then there will be no one to run weightlifting will they have a contract for that now.

[Stopsign]

The way the Ohio Public School system works is at the end of an Athletic season (Football, Basketball on and so forth) when a coach season is finished. The Board of Education doesn't have to do anything of non-renewing of any coach(s). Unless the Superintendent brings the coach before the board when he/she decides who will coach what sport before contact time with the student athletic. I would believe that the Administration told the head coach to share their decision with the rest of the staff so they could find work somewhere else .