Fry, I appreciate your position and your passion. The only thing I would ask you to consider is whether Wallace has changed and deserves some grace. To be clear, I don't know the guy at all or his heart. But, KF was the captain of this ship and was aware at some level what Doyle was and had to know some of the shitty culture that he was allowing to take place under this watch. He was appropriately chastised and made changes to the program for the better. Obviously, you are still a fan right now despite that KF, and Wallace and BF all remained. So, either you looked past it and decided to stay a fan, or offered KF some grace that people can realize mistakes and make changes for the better.
Maybe Wallace was a relatively young coach seeing what established coaches in the KF world did and thought it was okay or part of the culture that KF wanted, and he went along with it. Or, maybe he was the ring leader. I don't know. What I do know is that I treated a lot of people poorly in high school and beyond. Bullying and picking on others was absolutely part of high school culture in the 90s in small town Iowa. I hope I am not judged by some of my worst acts and words from long ago, and that people realize that people can change and become something more. I sincerely hope Wallace and KF and BF and even Doyle sincerely examined their actions and determined it was wrong and attempted to change their behavior moving forward. I think KF was pretty sincere when he discussed the long overdue changes to the program, and I truly believe that those changes are what has led this team to be about the most cohesive team I have seen in a long long time the last few years.
So, long winded way of saying that I hope you don't flush Wallace because of some shitty and shady stuff he did 5 years ago without at least considering whether he has become a better person as a result of his mistakes.
I take no position on whether he has changed for the better or should be the next coach or really anything about him. Just offering a consideration point.
I can appreciate making mistakes and learning from them. I have made more than most people. But there are a few things I can't reconcile with Wallace. First of which is absolutely zero remorse or ownership of his actions. He's in a public position and he very intentionally did things to abuse a kid that he had a huge deal of power over, and also knew that it was negatively affecting him. If Kallenberger had say, killed himself would we be having a debate over this? I tend to think not. Wallace would've been dealt with appropriately. Second, when asked publicly if he needed to change what he was doing, he flat out said no. He literally said on video he didn't need to change. It's on YouTube just like his speech when he got the assistant HC job. Anyone can go see Wallace speak on YouTube about the Kallenberger situation.
I will also admit to being biased. My son came home from school crying I don't know how many times because he was getting yelled at for not paying attention and not getting work done, and he wanted to do well but said he just couldn't focus and follow along. My son also told me he wished he was dead and thought about killing himself when he was 10 frickin years old because of his ADHD. Ten. Years. Old. Was that a young kid just lashing out or did he really want to be dead? I don't know and I probably never will. His mom and I were young, ignorant parents when we first started on that journey with him and it took us a couple years to get things going in the right direction. For several years it was medication. We were resistant to it at first because we were uneducated, but once we tried it it was night and day difference. Literally the next day his 1st grade teacher called and asked what happened with him because he was instantly able to concentrate and wasn't off in la la land staring out the window. But like a lot of things in life, there was no magic bullet. The medication gave him severe tics. Facial tics, clearing his throat, different things like that. It was almost like a super mild case of Tourette's. That's when things got really bad. Kids made fun of him for it and teachers gave him hell because they said it was distracting. He also said the meds made him "feel weird." That's a very common response. It made him feel extremely off-kilter, but he could do the schoolwork. It made him not want to eat, but he could read more than a paragraph. It gave him hot flashes but he did well on quizzes, etc. He hated the meds. But we made him take them; as parents it was torture because we were forced to choose between two options that were both hurting our son. That's when he said he wished he was dead...when kids were making fun of his tics. Imagine looking your kid in the eye telling him to take his meds which you knew were going to cause the thing he was most scared of...getting made fun of...
Anyway, I don't want this to be a pity party for me or my son. We eventually agreed to go without the meds once he got older because 1) as a teenager we couldn't just ram it down his throat, and 2) why make the last part of his school years miserable? It's affected his grades negatively, but you know what? I've come to realize that within reason, there are things a lot more important than GPA. He's well-adjusted now, has a great group of friends that will probably be there for life, and he does great in sports. He's qualified for state in track and XC a few times already and he's a good baseball player. He's doing ok.
So why bring it up if not a pity party? Because most people (not saying you) don't understand how destructive that can be to an individual's mental health. My ten year old boy, the love of my life to this day, told me he didn't want to live anymore, and younger kids than that have killed themselves over it. That's hard core. In no way do I mean to diminish victims of sexual and other physical assault, but this kind of bullying that Wallace got a thrill from for so long is just as impactful and destructive but it doesn't get treated that way. If Wallace had raped a player would he be coaching? No. How many rape victims have killed themselves 5 years after the fact because they couldn't deal with the shame and embarassment, even if they never tell anyone? What if he had smacked a player around? Same. Sexual harassment? What if Wallace had made a player do something goofy naked in front of teammates to humiliate him as punishment...would he have a job? No way. Why should he be able to get away with this one?
You bring up a valid point that he's still employed and I still root for the Hawks. I wish he weren't employed here. I've said it on this board before. But to gain a position of total control over a program and be its face and its public (and private) billboard is a bridge too far for me to cross. I can't do it.
Back to my original point about being accepting of mistakes being young, ignorant, and dumb...absolutely I can forgive and I do. But to have a guy who's done the shit he has to players (how much has gone unreported...I'm not so naive to think this is magically the one and only incident) isn't ok. If Wallace made a guy dance naked in front of his teammates to humiliate him and said, "My approach doesn't need to change," never admitted wrongdoing, and most of all never apologized an iota...would he be someone who'd still be coaching? Would he be someone you hire to lead your law firm?
Sorry for the long post, aside from all the hyperbole on this site I respect your opinion quite a bit, and I also have to say respectfully this is a hill I'm willing to die on. I won't change my view on it and maybe that makes me weak-minded.
