My Athletic Director was FIRED
 

I'm not sure if I'm still stunned or finally completely pissed off. After less than seven months on the job, the university president has fired my boss, the Athletic Director, at Eastern Washington Univeristy. It was a political decision made by petty little people and was totally unjustified. Here's the short (or as short as I can make it) version of the story.

Dr. Hamilton (his nickname was D-Ham) came to EWU last September after having worked at Chicago State, Bowling Green, Duke, Penn State, etc. He played football for Joe Pa at Penn State and is a man of great integrity. He came to EWU and started finding NCAA violation in the department and was trying to clean it up. Well, needless to say, the violators didn't like the thought of a house cleaning so they started discrediting him. People affiliated with a couple of our sports programs filed two unfounded sexual harassment claims against him, others went to members of the Board of Trustees and complained that D-Ham was a bully as a manager, didn't listen and was a poor comunicator. None of this was true, he just held people accountable (which previous administrations failed to do), told them they were breaking rules, didn't listen to their excuses and made it clear that failure to comply would result in termination. D-Ham tried to bring his vast experience to a little school where most of the coaches and staff had little to no other college athletic experience and show them how to be a legit mid-major program. They feared for their comfortable, high-paying jobs (and the easy work schedule compared to other D-I college coaches) and lashed out at him like a bunch of wounded animals. Our spineless president caved into the pressure and let him go with no previous warning. I am amazingly disappointed and can't stand to even look at some of the people that I have to work with...

I've worked at two other D-I schools and know how athletics is suppose to work - if you get a new boss and you don't like his management style, YOU find a new job, you don't ruin a mans reputation and damage his livelyhood because you're a p*ssy who doesn't want to leave his cushy job. To top it off, the local newspaper wrote a one-sided negative hatchet job on the firing - but that should be expected from a hack (I can't even call him a journalist) that's buddy-buddy with one of the coaches that discredited D-Ham and doesn't understand investigation journalism.

I know that karma will even the score but still, I'm completely disgusted.

Are there a lot of Mormons in Eastern Washington?Do they wear those special potato-sack pajamas under their clothes?

DC,
Sounds like your boss is a good man (has to be if he is from Happy Valley)and trying
to put credability back into the athletic problem. Seems to me there no justification
for firing D-Ham. he is doing what his job title is AD and doing the right thing. The
problem sometimes with doing the right thing is the people who are doing the illegal
things are living a great life and they see it coming to the end. They will do anything
to keep the good life. Even it's complete lies about your boss. I see the same crap here
in my job as an asst. AD. We have coaches that should be fired but they
aren't because their buddies with school board members and there are
parents of athletes which complain about everything.

I'm shocked that Easterm Washington is Division I.

didn't know there was such a thing as eastern washington.

I've thought about but I'm a little worried about how it would be recieved at work... I was a big believer in what the AD was trying to do (clean up the department) and I'm already worried that I may be forced out too. I came here from Stanford (I got tired of the 60+ hour work weeks, high cost of living and lack of balance in my life, so I thought returning to my alma mater would be better) and thought I could help this place. I have ethics, believe in doing the right thing for the right reasons and I just can't condone inequity, cheating just because "everyone else does it", and other unethical behavior. I plan on sticking around for another nine months so I can finish my Master's degree (two classes and a thesis away from having it done) and then looking for a job at a Division II or III school. I'm just really frustrated right now...

For those with no idea about Eastern Washington, we're a Division I-AA school, we have football and play in the Big Sky Conference (Montana is the powerhouse in our conference and we sent Weber State to the NCAA tourney this year). We're 30 minutes from Gonzaga and they get all the attention around here. But for the most part, the people are nice, the cost of living is cheap, and there are tons of outdoor activities nearby.