Jeff Collver, former Frewsburg High School Girls Varsity Basketball Coach, addresses the Frewsburg Board of Education regarding the coaching position and advocates for his brother, Rob Collver, to be appointed to the position. He had been the coach for 21 years. P-J photo by Katrina Fuller

While board of education reorganizational meetings tend to be business as usual, at Frewsburg Central School on Thursday night, it was anything but.

Several parents, concerned community members and students filed into the board meeting and offered their thoughts and feelings during the public comment session on the possible appointment of Sandy Ruhlman as the new Girls Varsity Basketball Coach.

Rachel Carr, a Frewsburg Central High School 12th-grader, stood and spoke at length in support of her Junior Varsity Basketball Coach, Rob Collver. Collver had been the Frewsburg Girls Basketball JV Basketball Coach for three years and had applied for the Varsity Basketball Coach position, but was not appointed, according to Superintendent Shelly O’Boyle. Rather, Roman was appointed as the new Girls Varsity Basketball Coach at Thursday’s meeting.

“Basketball has always been my favorite sport, and I have learned so much through my many years of playing,” Carr said. “Mr. Rob Collver was one of the coaches in my life that taught me so much.”

Aside from skills to succeed in basketball, Carr said Collver taught her life lessons as well, such as to “do the right thing,” she said.

“I know in my heart that this is the right thing to do because my heart is not only broken for myself, but also for Rob,” Carr said. “With the recent actions taken by the administration to appoint a varsity coach for the girls basketball program, I have learned my own life lessons I would like to share with you.”

She said Collver got to know many of the team members as individuals and “put his whole heart and soul” into the team. In turn, due to his efforts, Carr said the team gave more of themselves for the success of the team.

“In saying that, the life lesson I have learned is that you can work so hard at something for three years, put your heart and soul into it and someone who has only put in around a year of work with our district in the same area can come in and take that away from you,” she said. “Also, another life lesson that has been brought to my attention is that the individuals who are being directly affected by this, in this case the players, do not have a say in the outcome of the decision.”

Several others spoke in support of Collver, and advocated that he be appointed as the Girls Basketball Varsity Coach.

“I don’t know a lot about basketball – especially girls’ basketball, but I know a lot about Coach Collver and I know a lot about the players on that team,” said Bryce Gibbons, Frewsburg High School senior. “He’s what they need. They don’t need a new coach.”

Christine Carr, mother of Rachel Carr, also addressed the board and gave them a petition in support of Collver with 100 signatures.

“He is way more than a basketball coach,” she said. “He has given so much to these students.

One former team member was brought to tears. Mackenzie Munson, Frewsburg High School graduate and former girls basketball team member, said Collver was highly dedicated and saw the potential she had even though she didn’t start out as the best player.

“It takes a very dedicated and loving coach to do that,” she said. “I just think you guys would be crazy not to hire him as your girls’ coach this year.”

Jeff Collver, former Girls Varsity Basketball coach, said he left his position of 21 years because he felt confident in the abilities of his brother, Rob Collver.

“Mrs. O’Boyle and I had several discussions about how my players are part of my family, they come to my house and eat at my table. They play with my kids, and they become part of my family,” he said. “That was one of the biggest things and having my brother as my assistant coach really made me at ease with handing this over, this thing I’ve been doing for 21 years.”

He said having his brother take over the program made him feel more “at peace.” Collver said his brother would “love the players” and that puts him ahead in the running.

“These two candidates are not equal,” Collver said. “There’s a hierarchy, and some folks have already talked about that – you’ve got a modified coach, a JV coach and you have a Varsity Coach. When I step down, the JV coach goes up to varsity, and the modified goes up to JV. For me it’s pretty simple, and I’ve been inundated with phone calls from officials, coaches, people I don’t even hardly know come up to me at graduation parties this summer and ask me ‘What is going on over there at the school?’ and I have to carefully try to describe what has happened.”

Collver said if the decision to move forward with Ruhlman as the new Girls Varsity Basketball Coach went forward, the district would not only lose his brother as a coach, but would lose his 21-year experience as well because he would not participate.

“Had I known that this program was going to be given away to someone who would tear it down and rebuild it, I never would have retired,” he said. “I never would have even thought of it.”

After the public comment session, newly approved board president, Chad Chitester, thanked the crowd for attending the meeting and sharing their comments. He said there has been frustration from community members regarding the topic, and many emails and conversations have been had that were difficult to answer for the board members because of the nature of the issue.

“These are personnel matters, and out of respect for the two individuals, we are not able to comment on those matters,” Chitester said.

Even so, he thanked those who spoke and also thanked Jeff Collver for his tenure as basketball coach.

Afterward, the board approved Ruhlman as the Girls Basketball Varsity Coach among other extracurricular appointments.

After the meeting, O’Boyle said the Varsity Girls Basketball team is an extracurricular activity and Collver had put in for the varsity coach position. She said extracurricular positions are a privilege and are appointed every year.

“He did not get appointed,” O’Boyle said.

She clarified that Rob Collver did not lose his teaching position.

Several parents and community members expressed their disappointment with the decision after the meeting adjourned.

“I can’t believe not one person could’ve said ‘Wait, let’s look at this,” said Christine Carr in reference to the petition she provided.

In other news, Tom Felton kept his position as board vice president and new member, Larry Lodestro, was sworn in during the meeting.