FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: WHAT DID WILLIAMS DO THAT WAS SO WRONG?

This is not a column about Bob Knight.

But you have to grasp one end of the spectrum to question the other.

Bob Knight chokes a player, scares the living paper clips out of a secretary, throws chairs and makes a jackass of himself and Indiana University and he keeps his job.

Scott City High football coach Roy Williams is named conference coach of the year, leads his team to a 10-2 record, beats every team on his schedule except the eventual state champions and he is forced out.

And as far as I know, Williams didn't choke anybody or have any discipline problems with any of his players.

He didn't disgrace his school in any way.

That's why his demotion to full-time track coach is puzzling to me.

I've heard Williams' side of the story from more than one source. And without getting into details, there appeared to be some shady dealings behind Williams' back to get him removed.

Part of me hopes that, behind the scenes, Williams did something terribly wrong to justify his removal as head football coach.

Because nobody deserves what Williams has gone through unless he or she has done something pretty offensive.

I've found that Williams is an easy-going man with a subtle sense of humor. He came out of retirement because he wanted to coach football again.

It just seems to me that a coach with his personality would have to do something of Bob-Knight proportions to lose his job after a season like the Rams had last fall.

If you remember, the general consensus going into last season was that the Rams were nowhere near the caliber of team they were in 1998 when they went to the quarterfinals under then-head coach Terry Flannigan.

Well, Scott City -- under Williams -- didn't miss a beat as it pulverized one opponent after another.

I've heard that some at Scott City didn't like Williams' approach to coaching football. I've heard that he didn't coach like Terry Flannigan.

Well so what? Not everybody is Tom Landry. Not everybody is Bob Knight.

There are as many coaching styles as there are hair styles.

Whatever the complaints were on Williams and whoever they came from, there had better be some serious complaints raised and I'm not talking about coaching philosophy.

I hope that the school board was so appalled by whatever Williams did that it felt it had no choice but to remove Williams.

But like I said before, I doubt it.

Nobody I've talked to has said that he has done anything morally unacceptable. In fact, a source close to the situation said an outburst or an unethical action would be "totally out of character" for him.

And if what Williams did was so malicious that he be removed after one year, then why did the board let him remain as track coach?

What makes this whole situation more confusing is that this all happened at the end of the year. Now, with virtually every coaching position filled, Williams has no option but to stay in a district where he is basically not wanted.

And that brings up another question.

If what Williams did was so vicious that he be removed from head football coach after a 10-2 season, why wasn't action taken immediately instead of at the end of the year?

That's not the right way to treat someone who has won a state championship. That's not the right way to treat a coach who went 10-2 and was named the conference coach of the year. Heck, that's not the right way to treat anybody.

Maybe Williams isn't the best coach in some people's eyes. That's not what I'm arguing.

All I'm saying is to be at a school for one year and to basically get fired after going 10-2 and getting the team to the 2A quarterfinals, is that the school board should have a clear, indisputable moral reason for his removal.

Like choking a player or something.

Not because of the way he chose to delegate responsibility or the way he "failed" to condition his players.

Scott City is developing a bad reputation when it comes to how the board handles coaches. Just last year, Derek McCord -- the winningest basketball coach in the region over the last several years -- was on the hot seat. Now it's Williams. Who will it be next?

In Bob Knight's case, people wonder what a coach has to do to lose his job.

At Scott City, some are wondering what a coach has to do to keep it.

Bob Miller is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian