The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

Mulholland, Poznanski Vacate Coaching Posts

Head football coach Tom Mulholland and head girls basketball/tennis coach Lynn Poznanski will not return for the 2009-2010 school year. The administration has declined to comment on the conditions and reasons surrounding the two coaches’ dismissals. With the departure of the two coaches, the WJ athletic department will welcome new hires for the vacant positions next year. The school administration has already begun the hiring process.

“We’ve begun advertising for a new football coach and we have applications coming in,” said principal Christopher Garran. “We will screen those applications and we will interview candidates for the position, and then we will make a selection.”

For coaches, contracts work on a year-to-year basis, with an evaluation at the end of each season to assess their performance. After the assessment, the administration makes a decision whether to retain or release the coach.

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“Feedback is given just like any other teacher,” said Athletic Director Sue Amos. “It is then reviewed by the principal and assistant principal who oversee the evaluations, and then they sign it off.”

The abrupt departure of coach Mulholland comes as a shock to many, who witnessed him coach the team to its first win since the 2004 season. Although it was the team’s only win during his three year tenure as head coach, many felt that he had begun to turn around the team.

“I didn’t see it coming,” said varsity football player Tristan Plunkett. “He was leading the program in the right direction, and now all of the sudden he’s gone.”

Poznanski, who had been the varsity girls basketball and varsity girls tennis coach, was also let go. The girls tennis team experienced a successful season going 9-3, while the inexperienced girls basketball team endured a lackluster season in which they failed to win a single game.

“I was pretty shocked,” said sophomore guard Sarah Howie. “With our assistant coach moving to Germany, we’re left without a coach. I’m really disappointed.”

The new coaches are expected to be announced in the near future.

*Both coaches failed to respond to several calls made by the Pitch staff

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