I was shocked when checking my e-mails the other day to read a press release stating that the head coach of women’s basketball Brittany Lindhe had resigned.
I just stared at the screen for a minute, stunned. I didn’t even really know Lindhe that well, but I was sad and upset that she was gone.
Through her one and only year as Skyline’s head coach, Lindhe compiled a 14-14 season with a 2-8 record in conference.
Under different circumstances, Lindhe’s record would be nothing to have a parade over. However, if her accomplishments are seen in the perspective that this season was women basketballs inaugural year, the teams record serves as an indicator of the high potential the program possessed.
With a modest win total increase of three a year, Skyline could have been a 20-win team in just two years. Now all that is left is uncertainty.
The situation is frustrating because of the circumstances surrounding Lindhe’s resignation.
Women’s Basketball Head Coach is a part-time position. So, if you are trying to pay the bills, a part-time teacher would likely need another job. Well, Lindhe had another job, at Title Nine, a women’s athletic clothing company, and that job was able to convince her to work their full-time, stealing her away from us. It was a more stable way to make a living. Unless Lindhe just did not want to coach for a living.
Regardless, the decision would have been exponentially more difficult had she been a full-time head coach.
No matter what sport, head coach is a full-time job. Recruiting, administration, practice, game planning, and the actual game are all time-consuming and stressful, yet all necessary to help ensure the success of the team.
In my opinion, the school’s attitude seems to be who cares if a teacher is being paid part-time salary when they are doing more than full-time work. They don’t mind.
Well, fair or unfair, the decision makers don’t seem to care about paying employees equal to the work they do or more specifically even having a successful women’s basketball team. If the hierarchy cared, women’s head coach would be a full-time position.
Basketball is a not a niche sport, but a major American enterprise. Basketball is also a business and if it runs well, could net a lot of money for the school.
Athletics is an untapped resource at Skyline College. But, what do I know? Nothing, I could just be sitting here writing column after column of misinformed opinions, I mean maybe there really is no problem here at all. Either way, the bottom line is that a great coach with an immense amount of potential was allowed to walk right through the door, opportunity following dejectedly at her heels.
