PERRYVILLE CONTINUES TO LOSE COACHES

Coaching changes seem to naturally occur every year on every level of athletics.

But what has been happening in the athletic department at Perryville High this past school year could hardly be described as normal.

Perryville public had its eighth high school coach leave the school since last summer, following the resignation of athletic director and long-time Lady Pirates' coach Steve Wunderlich this past Tuesday to become principal of Oran High.

Wunderlich's resignation follows the departures of two other Pirate head coaches -- football coach Doug Smith and basketball coach Rhett Oldham -- since the start of the 1996-97 school year. The time frame also coincides with Marvin Ruehling's first year as principal at the high school.

"Most of them got better jobs and better salaries," said Ruehling. "Steve took a job as an administrator and I think most of them are just advancing themselves."

Wunderlich may be advancing to a higher position, but he certainly didn't intend to leave Perryville after building Lady Pirates' basketball into one of the top girls' programs in the state.

Since Wunderlich came to Perryville in 1981, the Lady Pirates have made six Class 3A Final Four appearances and won 10 district titles in accumulating a 367-103 record. In 1986, the Lady Pirates won the 3A state championship with Wunderlich being named Missouri Coach of the Year.

"I've been (at Perryville) 16 years and I really intended to work there until I retired," said Wunderlich. "That was my plan. Then things just kind of fell apart this past year."

After Oldham was dismissed under circumstances yet to be disclosed, Smith resigned in January to become an assistant at Missouri Western State College. After compiling an 11-19 record in three seasons, Smith left to pursue an opportunity to coach with a good friend from college.

"The only thing that was discouraging to me (at Perryville) was that some of the salaries they paid coaches were the bare minimum," said Smith. "It was hard to keep a coaching staff together because when you have a family to support, sometimes our coaches had to go where the pay was better."

Assistant basketball and cross country head coach Joel Roth agreed with Smith about the coaches salaries. Roth, who was offered the head basketball position following his fourth year as an assistant, instead accepted an assistant's post at De Soto.

"I'll be making as much as assistant at De Soto than I would have made here as the head coach," said Roth. "But I also wasn't too happy with the way they handled the boys basketball situation this year."

Roth was upset with the way Oldham was dismissed just prior to the 1996-97 season and the way he and assistant Tom Sellers, who also resigned, were treated by the school.

"I thought (the administration) was inconsiderate with the way they treated me," Roth said. "I told them in my exit interview there is obviously something wrong when they have so many coaching positions that need to be filled."

Wunderlich, who held the AD position since 1991, said the problems seem to be confined to the coaches that teach at the high school.

"We have other coaches that are not at the high school (teaching), and actually those are the only head coaches that haven't resigned," said Wunderlich.

When he tried to explain the situation with school administrators, his arguments fell on deaf ears.

"I spent a few weeks trying to (work things out)," said Wunderlich, noting he discussed the matters with first-year Perryville superintendent Rex Miller and another school board member. "But basically I didn't get much support.

"I don't think the new people (in the school's administration) know what's going on in Perryville," he said. "I don't think they even care."

The final straw came when Ruehling added three classes to Wunderlich's teaching responsibilities for the coming school year on top of an already busy schedule handling the schools athletic department. Wunderlich, like many of the coaches that left before him, felt a lack of support for the athletic department from the school's administration.

"When you're coaching, you're working a lot harder than what you get paid for anyway," said Wunderlich. "But you still like to feel appreciated, and when that no longer existed, people just felt like they wanted to move on.

"Basically the whole coaching staff had already left anyway, so I decided this might be a good time to look for another job."

Without the support of the school system, Wunderlich felt the situation was hopeless and wonders now if anything can be done to rectify the differences between the athletic department and the administration.

"There seems to be nothing that anyone can do to change things right now," Wunderlich said. "At this point in my career, I wasn't willing to go through a couple of bad years (fighting the situation).

"I just decided to go out and try to do something different with my career. I wanted to be a principal at some point in time and this just kind of made it come a little sooner than I expected."

Ruehling, who's been in the Perryville school system for 21 years, declined to comment on why several coaches have left under his tenure as principal. When asked to comment on Wunderlich's remarks, Ruehling said, "That's his opinion and he has a right to that."