The tenure of one of Lowndes County’s most successful coaches apparently came to an end Friday morning.
Lowndes County School District Superintendent Mike Halford recommended Friday at the Lowndes County school board meeting New Hope High School baseball coach Stacy Hester not be retained.
Halford makes recommendations for retention or dismissal on all contracts. Given Hester’s job as New Hope High baseball coach is an at-will agreement, his employment can be terminated at any time.
The issue of Hester’s job as New Hope High’s baseball coach appeared as a consent agenda item, one of several agreed on at the start of the meeting, which ended any possibility for discussion about Hester’s job as the school baseball coach.
Halford said if any of the board members had an issue with Hester not being retained as New Hope High baseball coach they could have pulled the item from the consent agenda and there could have been an open vote.
Instead, the board voted 5-0 to accept Halford’s recommendation.
“The recommendation was made by Mike Halford,” Halford said after the meeting adjourned. “The board votes. Technically the board would not have to vote. That is something we have done. I want the individuals in Lowndes County to understand the decisions I make and the board makes and the charge they were given when they were elected was to do what was in the best interest of children.”
Lowndes County School District Board President Dr. Robert Buckley said he hadn’t spoken to Hester in the three weeks since Hester said he was told by Halford that he would have to “fight for his job.”
Buckley said there was “no deviousness” involved in the decision not to retain Hester.
“Sometimes the right thing is not the most popular thing,” Buckley said of the decision. “We all try to serve the taxpayers and the parents of the kids (of Lowndes County).”
Buckley said his decision not to speak to Hester is no different than any of the previous times he has voted not to retain a coach and opted not to talk to that individual.
School board members Jane Kilgore, Bobby Barksdale, and Jacqueline Gray declined to comment about the decision not to retain Hester.
School board member John Clark referred all questions about the matter per school board policy to Buckley.
“The school board stands behind the vote,” Clark said. “We did the right thing for the children of Lowndes County, and it is time to move on.”
Halford echoed that sentiment and said he made his recommendation based on information and data he had collected. He said he and the board have access to information that is “far greater” than people know, and that he doesn’t listen an awful lot to grown-ups who complain about things.
Still, he said the decision was difficult.
“This hurt me in a sense because Stacy Hester is a very good friend of mine,” Halford said. “My son played five years of baseball for Stacy Hester. Did he play as much as I wanted him to? No. Because of the lessons he learned, whether it be fair or unfair, he is a better person for going through New Hope baseball. My decision is based on what is best for children. That’s what people need to understand.”
Halford also served as principal at New Hope High for more than 11 years. In that time, he watched Hester build one of the state’s premier high school baseball programs. In Hester’s 18 years as coach, the Trojans won 551 games, three state titles (1996, ‘98, and 2003), six North Half state titles, reached nine Final Fours since 1995, and were nationally ranked seven times.
In 1996, New Hope set a national record when it went 43-0 and set a state record for victories in a season.
From 1996-97, the Trojans won a state record 51 straight games, and 68 consecutive games against teams from the state of Mississippi.
Halford said he took all of that into consideration when he made his recommendation.
“This was a tough decision,” said Halford, who admitted he wavered about his decision “many times.” “For someone to look for a scapegoat out of this or for someone to point the finger, I was elected as superintendent and I made that decision as far as making a recommendation.”
Halford said his decision wasn’t based on Hester’s involvement in one incident.
“If it wasn’t one it had to be more than one,” said Halford, who planned to call Hester to notify him of the decision. He said he wouldn’t discuss his reasons with Hester on the telephone.
Hester is in McAlester, Okla., coaching a group of high school juniors from the state of Mississippi at the Junior Sunbelt Classic. The Mississippi team beat Canada and an Oklahoma Gold team on Friday.
“It would be nice if I had a reason why I am not being retained and people would not hide behind titles and let people behind the scenes (determine my fate),” Hester said. “I hate that people are trying to slander my name and my character. Even in a court of law you’re innocent until proven guilty.”
Hester said he had been “lied to” by people in the past three weeks and that nothing ever has been put into his personnel file that says he needed to change his ways. He said he never has hit a kid in 24 years of coaching, and that he never wanted to hit a kid.
He also said Halford never told him when he was principal at New Hope High or in his current position as superintendent what he needed to change to be a better or more accepted coach.
Hester said he doesn’t know what his next step will be. He said he still enjoys coaching but that it would be difficult for him to accept another coaching job out of the area considering he has a landscaping business and owns a home in Lowndes County.
He thanked the players, fans, parents, former players, and community members who came out the past three weeks to support him and who have helped the program in the past.
“Without good kids and good parents you can’t have anything,” Hester said. “I am very thankful to all of the people who helped us make New Hope baseball one of the best in the state.”
Hester’s last day as New Hope High baseball coach is June 30. He said he would remain a driver’s education teacher and a school bus driver at the school, and that he would complete his commitment this summer to New Hope’s Dizzy Dean baseball teams.
Halford didn’t allow Hester to coach New Hope’s best-of-three North Half playoff series against Pontotoc after the coach was involved in an incident with second baseman Philip Tice in a playoff game against Hernando.
Hester said he grabbed Tice to remove him from a possible altercation with a Hernando player that could have resulted in his team being disqualified from the playoffs. He moved Tice, who was ejected from the game, to the edge of the dugout, but Tice tripped on the top step, causing them to fall into the dugout.
New Hope, which finished the season 25-11, swept Pontotoc in two games and went on to lose to eventual Class 4A state champion West Lauderdale in the third game of the best-of-three North Half finals.
Hester also exchanged words with a parent at a game against Houston earlier in the season. He believes those incidents were used against him and contributed to him losing his job.
Halford said Friday he wouldn’t discuss his reasons for recommending Hester not be retained.
“This has no bearing on what happened six years ago, five years ago, or 12 years ago,” Halford said. “I am dealing with right now.”
He also said he didn’t “poll” board members last month on how they might vote about retaining Hester as coach. He said he never asked the board members for a vote, but made sure they knew he was going to speak with Hester on May 22. He said he didn’t ask the board members their opinions about Hester when he spoke to them.
“I don’t think there ever has been a situation I have been dealt with that I haven’t involved due process and had everyone involved,” Halford said. “If I was not, why would I go to coach Hester three weeks prior to this coming before the board? If I didn’t care about the man and the school
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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