Al Blount resigns from Lincoln Charter School boys hoops post

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Al Blount is looking for a new job.

Blount, who coached at Lincoln Leadership Charter School in the just completed season, has resigned and is seeking a new coaching position.

"I believe in the concept of Lincoln School as an alternative to the problems we have in our public schools," Blount said. "The mission of what the school is trying to accomplish is quite noble and it's much bigger than basketball, and I will leave it at that. It's just time for me to move forward."

Blount guided Lincoln, located on the East Side of Allentown, to a 12-12 record in its first season of boys basketball.AlBlount

The team qualified for the District 11 tournament and beat Tri-Valley 58-50 in the District 11 Class A quarterfinals before losing to Mahanoy Area 51-18 in the semifinals.

Lincoln featured several players who had never played basketball before and Blount was proud he was able to assemble a squad good enough to win 12 games and earn a district berth.

"I think I showed that I can put together a team and be successful, and also I had no technical fouls this season. I am looking to coach somewhere else. I love the game of basketball and I would love an opportunity to coach again, boys or girls, and in the Lehigh Valley Conference, Colonial League, wherever there's an opportunity. I just love to coach. It's what I feel I was meant to do."

As for his one season at Lincoln, the former Bethlehem Catholic coach said:

"I loved those kids and they worked extremely hard and conformed to our wishes. To go from never playing organized basketball, to excelling at it, speaks to the kind of kids they are. Their next coach will inherit a good team with good people."

Blount was actually the second boys basketball coach Lincoln has had since last summer.

Allen grad Grant Whary ran the program in the summer, but said he was fired by Sandra Figueroa-Torres, who is the founder, chief executive and principal of the school.

Figueroa-Torres, interviewed at Blount's hiring, didn't say Whary was fired.

She said: "Grant left by mutual agreement. Other doors of opportunity opened for Grant."

Whary said that wasn't the case at all.

"They fired me; I didn't want to leave at all," he said. "I was devastated when they said they wanted to go in another direction. I did not quit on the kids."

Also, Jerry Tone had been hired as the school's first girls coach, but was gone before the season started.

It was clear in my interview with Figueroa-Torres back in November that she is a very hands-on, very demanding leader. In fact, I could not speak with Blount without her being present.

Also, at one point during the season, I had done an interview with Blount, but Mrs. Figueroa-Torres requested to read the story before it was printed. That request was denied.

During that interview with Blount, he said he had never worked harder as a coach and even had to wash the team's unifoirms. He also said that he was under orders not to curse while coaching.

Figueroa-Torres had made it clear last fall that basketball at her school is basically a hook to keep kids interested in coming to school. Many of the students had struggled at public schools, but thrive with the extra attention given to them at the charter school.

"We're very focused on developing character and integrity and sports is a huge part of that," she said. "Sometimes sports is the hook to keep kids in school and motivate them. We went to develop a basketball program and we want it to focus on teaching integrity and character through basketball."

To the credit of Figueroa-Torres and the school's leadership, I talked with Mahanoy Area athletic director Dave Holmes and the school's legendary coach Mickey Holland and both were very impressed with the level of enthusiasm and spirit and the behavior of the Lincoln kids who attended the playoff game at Panther Valley.

Both said that some of their students could learn something from how the Lincoln kids behaved at the game.

It will be interesting to see what's next for both Blount and Lincoln.

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