High school coaches are working in an era where the pressure has increased — not just to win but also to please parents.

Everyone that watches high school games can see how the coach performs and pass judgment.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s Jim Gillis left after 22 years of coaching varsity soccer because, he said, a group of parents became tough to deal with.

Guilderland’s long-time girls’ basketball coach, Frank Cacckello, retired last season after a mother of one of his players said she would raise concerns. After the school board president backed him, the mother withdrew her statements and said she’s no longer petition for his removal.

Last month, Ron Osinski ended a long term as Guilderland boys’ basketball coach — with no prompting from parents. But, he told The Enterprise, “Young coaches have problems with parents.” He suggested talking to disgruntled kids first, nipping problems in the bud.

The most public example in recent years — at least since Guilderland soccer players rallied successfully before the school board to have their program’s founder, Don Snyder, keep his coaching job — was last year’s dismissal of BKW’s Andy Wright.

Now retired, Palmer declined to comment. Messages left for Adriance were not returned.

A coach’s safeguard has typically been relying on the chain of command — where complaints from parents are listened to first by the coach, then the athletic director, then the school principal, then the superintendent, and then the board. Similarly, appointments for jobs are made by the athletic director to the board of education.

At BKW last year, the decisions were made from the top down, not the bottom up — as shown in a sheaf of emails recently obtained by The Enterprise.

The interim superintendent, Lonnie Palmer, and the board of education president, Joan Adriance, went around the chain of command as Wright lost his job as long-time varsity basketball coach. The emails show that Adriance worked with Palmer, backed by the rest of the board, to dismiss Wright.

Tom Galvin, who was BKW’s athletic director at the time of Wright’s dismissal, and quit because of it, said this week that he was going to recommend Wright for the 2013-14 season, but Palmer never met with him. Instead, Palmer called Wright, Galvin, and Principal Brian Corey in for a meeting, telling Wright that it was “time for a change.”

“I was bypassed even though I recommended him [Wright],” said Galvin, who has been the BKW girls’ varsity basketball coach for 20 years. “Palmer should have met with me. Palmer never witnessed Wright’s approach — he could have evaluated him for a year.”

Pertaining to Wright, Palmer wrote this in an email to the board on Oct. 9, 2013: “He asked who was behind this (wanting specific BOE member names) and the exact reasons for this decision. I told him it was time for a change…I also said that during his time as coach he had obviously stepped on a few too many toes and it was time to move on with regard to coaching…I feel bad because Andy is a likeable young man who could have been successful as a coach with the right leadership which he didn’t get early in his career.”

Palmer’s decision was apparently spurred by Adriance, who had become frustrated and concerned about Wright’s behavior and coaching strategy. In a Feb. 7, 2013 email to then- superintendent Paul Dorward — Dorward was her neighbor — Adriance outlines her opinions of Wright while using the students’ Athletic Code of Conduct as her benchmark.

There’s no code of conduct for coaches. Dennis Barber, president of the BKW sports boosters — he dropped off the emails to The Enterprise — has been advocating for a code of conduct for coaches.

In Adriance’s Feb. 7, 2013 email, she has this to say about Wright after pasting the “Responsibility to Your Community” section of the code of conduct: “If we expect 16 and 17 year old athletes to behave this way, then I would expect our coaches to stand head and shoulders above the athletes in meeting this responsibility. Speak with folks in our community and coaches from other schools in the WAC [Western Athletic Conference] and I believe you will learn that Coach Wright does not conduct himself in a manner that makes him, or our program, known as ‘program of character and excellence.’ In fact, I believe that because of his behavior, the program is often the laughing stock of our community and our conference.”

In varsity sports, a BKW policy does not guarantee playing time. Adriance goes on to complain about the playing time that Garrett Pitcher received on his way to breaking the 1,000-point barrier for his career. “Coach Wright left him in every minute of most games, even when it was obvious that he was exhausted and no longer effective,” writes Adriance. “It was all about feeding Garrett the ball so that he could score points…but at what price to the rest of his teammates?...it is the coach’s responsibility to find a balance that benefits the entire team.”

Under the “Sportsmanship” section of the code of conduct, Adriance writes: “It would be nice if these behaviors, expected of a student athlete, were first demonstrated by their coach. It is his job to lead by example — Coach Wright’s behaviors are better examples of how never to behave. I have watched him argue, pout and demean players when they come out of the game. I have observed for years that he has favorites — those athletes can make mistake after mistake and are permitted to remain in the game, however, other athletes come off the bench and play for about a minute — if they make a mistake he pulls them out of the game. I have observed him yelling at and humiliating those players when they sit down; behaviors that are unacceptable under any circumstance.”

As Board of Education president, Adriance forwarded this Feb. 7, 2013 email to Palmer on Sept. 30, 2013 with a hand-written note that says, “Like Mr. [Jim] Gillis, I think it’s time for a change.”

Just a few days later, Palmer told Wright that he wouldn’t be coaching varsity basketball at BKW. Jim Gillis, the longtime varsity boys’ soccer coach at BKW, resigned before the 2014 season, citing complaints from a group of four parents with whom he no longer wanted to deal.

Palmer mentions Gillis in his Oct. 9, 2013 email to the board about Wright. Palmer says that High School Principal Brian Corey had talked to Gillis about not coaching soccer in 2014.

Gillis told The Enterprise this week that he never once talked to Corey about not coaching soccer. Also, he said that Adriance had previously said that his coaching had full support from the board.

“Out and out, she’s lying,” Gillis said of Adriance. “I don’t have any answers for Adriance saying that I have to go. I never heard a response from her, so, her mind is made up. Did she poison everyone else?”

Palmer ends his Oct. 9, 2013 email by asking the board to support the decision on Wright by not engaging in conversations with anyone who is asking questions or making statements. “We will look weaker and we will incite more negative activity if we engage in this conversation,” Palmer writes. “Our strongest response is to say when forced to respond that we cannot discuss personnel issues…Please help me to the quickest and most professional resolution of this issue by smiling and saying you can’t discuss personnel issues.”

Galvin said that BKW lost Wright and Gillis because a few people wanted to be general managers. “We need trust, empowerment, and that didn’t happen,” he said. “This mess could have been avoided if everyone worked together. If it was the right decision, no one would have been upset.”

Wright said this week that taking any legal action against BKW is not worth the time or energy. He is a social studies teacher at BKW, in his 11^th year, and will be coaching varsity basketball for Middleburgh in the 2014-15 season.

“Clearly, Palmer bought what Adriance was selling, and it wasn’t a big deal for Palmer,” said Wright. “It’s a matter of building management; superintendents administrate the building. Good or bad.”

In an Oct. 21, 2013 email to the rest of the board, Vasilios Lefkaditis, then the vice president, writes about how the board should take responsibility for not following the chain of command. “I understand this wasn’t done by design but when we force people to go through the chain of command we should have done the same by notifying Brian [Corey] who in turn would notify Tom [Galvin] who would then notify Andy [Wright]. It was an oversight but mistake just the same…Fessing up to our screw ups will go a long way.”

This week, Lefkaditis couldn’t speak for Adriance or Palmer, but said, “Every situation could be handled better. There’s always room for improvement. You own up for your mistakes and move on.”

Galvin said that school’s need to trust and protect their coaches unless, of course, those coaches have done something that can’t be supported. “Everyone needs to work together and communicate,” he said.

The thick stack of emails is filled with letters from Wright’s supporters, and some are very passionate. The board responded to every letter with the same reply that Palmer called for from the beginning: “We cannot comment on personnel issues.”

Originally, Adriance had wondered if BKW had received any other complaints about Wright. There are no letters of complaint against Wright in the packet of emails, but plenty of letters strike grievances onto the board.

“If I needed to be the example to bring light to the power and agenda versus the voice of the majority, then so be it,” Wright said. “You can’t hide under the wings of support forever.”