By Dan Messerschmidt
CCN Sports Director
CRESTLINE — Rob Lisle, head basketball coach for the past three seasons at Crestline High School, has been informed by the administration that he will not be recommended for renewal for the 2018-19 season.
Lisle, a 1997 Crestline graduate who played hoops for the Bulldogs under Jim Bauer Jr., guided Crestline to an 11-12 record this past season. The win total was the most by a Crestline head coach since Tim Birie went 11-11 in 2006-07. The Bulldogs have not had a winning record since Bauer finished 14-9 with a sectional championship in Lisle’s senior season of 1996-97.
Yet on April 25, Athletic Director Matt Wade gave Lisle a mixed review. The coach was evaluated on 34 topics with each assigned a score of 1-4, from Unsatisfactory to Excellent. Lisle’s average score for the 34 points was 3.35.
However, in his comments, Wade cited use of personnel, criticism of poor performances and overall team performance as things that “needed to be done better.”
Wade further noted that, even though the team record had improved during Lisle’s tenure, this year’s record did not match the talent level and the potential of the team and that Crestline needed to take a different direction next year.
Lisle was not surprised. Discontent has been bubbling under the surface for several months and Lisle indicated that it did not originate from the athletic director’s office, but rather from disgruntled members of the Crestline school board.
“I could have easily walked away,” Lisle said. “Even before the season was over, they wanted to get rid of me. I could have gone other places, but I don’t want to go anywhere else. I’m from here, I played here. I can’t give up on the kids.”
And the kids didn’t want the administration to give up on Lisle. On March 13, a letter was written, signed by six of the seven returning varsity basketball players, pleading with the AD to renew the contracts of Lisle and his varsity assistant, Zach Massa.
The letter said, in part, that they “have not only turned the program around, but turned young, immature boys into men.” Lisle and Massa were referred to as “perfect” role models that have impacted these players’ lives.
In closing, the letter said that if the contracts were not renewed, the six who signed the letter would not be participating in basketball next year. Lisle has heard that some of them may even look to leave the Crestline district.
Several board members apparently took exception to Lisle’s rearrangement of his coaching staff. He reassigned a freshman coach and a varsity assistant to his junior high program because of their limited availability as lay coaches for varsity-level activities.
Facebook posts and e-mails between board and several community members seem to substantiate Lisle’s suggestion that the idea of non-renewal is not of Wade’s origination.
Lisle said he was even made aware that a board member had approached a potential candidate for the job during the season. When it was pointed out that Crestline had a basketball coach, the response was that he wouldn’t be there after the season.
“The next meeting of the board is May 14,” Lisle said. “They will likely accept the AD’s recommendation of non-renewal. We tied for the most wins since my senior year, yet I’m ruining the program.”
While the acceptance of Wade’s recommendation has not officially been approved, the search for a new coach has already commenced, lending credence to Lisle’s conclusion.
Attempts by Crawford County Now to reach Crestline administration were unsuccessful.