Editorial

Coach should not restrict coverage of 'his' team

Willie Harmatz is the head coach of the Los Gatos High School track program and has led his teams to 20 Central Coast Section championships--more than any other coach. You don't have to look this up; Harmatz will tell you. He's not uncomfortable with expressing himself and that's probably a necessary trait for any person given the challenge of motivating and training young athletes and building them into a championship squad.

But sometimes the autocratic aspects of the job can undermine even the most successful coach. In a recent case involving Harmatz, the coach criticized local media for covering a story involving one of his coaches, Chioke "Chee" Robinson, who was fired by the school district for an unspecified reason. When the Los Gatos Weekly-Times continued to pursue the story, Harmatz threatened to withhold track results. "Track doesn't exist to you guys anymore," Harmatz told the paper.

Harmatz was upset by the unwanted media attention and repeatedly described the coverage as "stirring the pot." When asked point blank by the Weekly-Times if Robinson was still coaching at Los Gatos High School, Harmatz answered that Robinson was coaching on-campus practices "every single day." This conflicted with Principal Trudy McCulloch's assertion that Robinson had been fired and was no longer permitted to coach on campus.

The reason for Robinson's dismissal has not been divulged by the school district because it is a personnel matter, and, therefore, confidential.

Later, Harmatz claimed that his comments had been misrepresented by the Weekly-Times. He now says that Robinson has not coached on campus since being dismissed. Harmatz maintains that he never said otherwise. He now refuses to talk to the Weekly-Times about the situation involving Robinson, although Harmatz amended his threat and participated in the paper's coverage of his team at the recent Central Coast Section Top-8 Classic track meet.

Harmatz was, at first, willing to discuss the story, which included his unhappiness with the coverage. Many coaches and administrators would have hid behind a "no comment." He had the guts--or hubris--to think he could talk the paper out of covering the story. Also, he appears to genuinely care about Robinson and his predicament, which is still unclear because Robinson isn't talking.

But Harmatz has to realize that the local press--even the high school's student newspaper, which first reported the Robinson story--has every right to question his program, especially since it operates as part of a public institution. Neither he nor his program is above scrutiny from the community, which includes local media. If he's running his program appropriately and within the rules, he should have no fear of these types of inquiries.

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