To help clean up a mess, Tom Gallagher is back as Allen's girls coach

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER have a column written in tomorrow's print edition of The Morning Call about Tom Gallagher coming back to coach the Allen girls basketball team for one more season. Gallagher resigned back in the spring, but since no one in charge could agree on a replacement, he was rehired on a one-year basis last week. As I reported back in the summer during the SportsFest tournament, the two prime candidates for the position were Mark Smurda, Allen's JV boys coach, and Stan Broyles, who had been Gallagher'a assistant for 12 years. I have heard numerous reports from numerous sources who said at one time both Smurda and Broyles were the recommended choices for the job, but that the administration and school board, or both, couldn't agree on hiring either one of them. I am not in a position to say which guy should have been hired because while I know them both, I don't know everything about either one. On the surface, either one would have been a suitable candidate, and I don't think there should have been massive criticism if either one was chosen. I can only hope that parents weren't involved in this indecision and applying unjust pressure, as they have been so negatively involved in so many other coaching situations in recent years, especially on the girls basketball scene. The bottom line is that Tom Gallagher is a good man, and you can't go wrong having him back on the bench. However, this was not handled well by the district. Matter of fact, it has been an embarrassment. Not hiring your girls basketball coach until just a little more than a month before the start of a new season is not a good way to do your business. It really wasn't fair to the kids, and whether you were pro-Smurda or pro-Broyles, you have to agree with that sentiment. All sports, especially basketball, are now a 12-month-a-year deal and kids not knowing who's in charge for six months during their offseason is not good for any program, especially for one that went 0-22 last year and really needed to have a strong sense of organization and leadership in the spring and summer months. Since Gallagher and the district have both made it clear this is a one year deal, hopefully ASD will learn from its mistakes just made and will get the hiring process started much earlier and have someone ready to go almost precisely when the 2012-13 season ends. In the meantime, here's wishing Gallagher and the girls well. From all accounts, they're happy to have him back and I know Tom loves working with the kids. Here's hoping they can put something positive into what has largely been a negative situation.