The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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October 22, 2008

Carl Junction coach quits, citing load

By Jim Henry

jhenry@joplinglobe.com

Brad Neal, who was hired in April as the Carl Junction High School girls basketball coach, has resigned from his teaching and coaching position.

Neal notified superintendent Phil Cook of his decision on Tuesday and submitted his letter of resignation on Wednesday.

“Being gone in softball (as assistant coach) four or five nights a week, with basketball getting ready to start and with the teaching load, it was too much. I didn’t enjoy it at all,” Neal said Wednesday afternoon. “It got to the point where I hated it, and I’d never been in that situation. It was overloaded and overwhelming.”

Neal taught six classes in the school’s block schedule, plus he had homeroom duties.

“There’s more paperwork involved. If you teach (physical education), and most coaches do, it’s a lot easier. Being a teacher in a core class (history), it’s a lot harder. All the time you spend in basketball, being gone scouting and coaching four nights a week and teach, you can’t in my eyes ... there’s no real feasible way. I don’t want to slack off on one in order to do the other. I take my job serious. I don’t go through the motions.

“I’m not pointing any fingers. I’ve been in the business 13 years. I should have looked into that (teaching) part more. I assumed the schedule would be a lot better because of all the time in extracurricular activities, and it wasn’t. ... We had a misunderstanding.”

Neal’s departure comes less than three weeks before preseason practice begins on Nov. 10.

“I hate it for the kids,” he said. “This is the best time to do it, before basketball gets in full swing. As far as basketball, I’ll miss that a lot, but it comes with the territory. There is other stuff you have to do. ... Your family suffers, of course, and that’s something I won’t allow.”

“It was a complete shock to the school district,” Cook said. “We didn’t want it to happen. It’s his own personal decision to do this. We’re not happy about it, and we’re trying to figure out what’s going to be best. I’m not sure what we’ll do right now, but we have some very qualified candidates on staff already.”

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