No single incident caused Resler's ouster

Q: Why do you think Bill Resler was fired as girls basketball coach at Roosevelt?

A: I subscribe to the theory that new principal Brian Vance had strong reservations about Resler and that an allegation of an illegal practice provided him with reason to pull the trigger.

I think unhappy parents were in Vance's ear and that he decided it was better to make a clean cut with Resler now rather than face years of "what-should-I-do-with-this-guy?" if opinions remained mixed. And opinions would have remained mixed given Resler's personality and the nature of high-school basketball, where playing time is precious and emotions run high.

I've reviewed documents in the Resler case obtained though the open-records law and one of the most interesting notebook entries by Vance is Aug. 6 when he wrote under "E-mail Regard G-b ball:" "Specific incident with identifiable witnesses. Then I can act."

In a Nov. 1 e-mail to a superior, Vance wrote, "My biggest concern about the coach is around him not being a good role model for our young women."

In that e-mail, Vance said he is "leaning toward putting him [Resler] on a tight improvement plan." Earlier that week, Roosevelt athletic director Michael Scott had signed Resler's coaching renewal form for this season.

However, on Nov. 9, three days before the first practice was scheduled, Vance fired Resler. That is a strange time to fire a coach.

An incident Nov. 7 appears to have been the tipping point. Scott saw Resler conducting a session in the gym that included stop-start running drills, footwork drills and passing with a weighted yellow ball that doesn't bounce but builds strength.

Scott had first-year vice-principal Michael Kelly corroborate what they were seeing, and Resler obeyed the request to halt the session, which Scott considered to be an illegal practice.

Two days later, Resler was fired by Vance.

Resler has maintained that what he was conducting Nov. 7 fell within "conditioning" guidelines, especially since no basketballs were used. He said he wasn't doing anything he hadn't done the previous eight years. Resler said he described the session to some fellow KingCo Conference coaches and that they told him it sounded legal.

The Roosevelt administration self-reported what it considered a violation of Washington Interscholastic Activities Association out-of-season rules to the KingCo Conference, which took no action because Roosevelt said it would review the rules with coaches.

Whether the session technically crossed WIAA guidelines seems murky. The WIAA handbook says that one of the conditions under which out-of-season conditioning sessions can be held is that "instruction in specific sport skills is not provided." Resler denies teaching skills at the session. However, conditioning sessions are close cousins of "open gyms," and one WIAA rule about them is that "no coaching or drilling of athletes attending occurs."

Resler said he thinks he was caught in a trap that was "well planned and well executed." He said the principal's secretary told him before Scott and Kelly showed up in the gym that Vance wanted to meet with him two days later, Nov. 9.

Vance hasn't commented, and Resler said the principal didn't tell him why he was being fired.

Kelly has said the decision to release Resler "wasn't a snap decision." Seattle School District spokesman David Tucker has said, "The principal had received feedback from a number of sources and felt he wanted to take the team in a different direction."

Publicly, Resler was known as the eccentric coach who put Roosevelt on the national basketball map in the 2006 documentary "Heart of the Game" that was followed by his 2007 book, "Heart of the Team." Behind the scenes at Roosevelt, he has been a controversial figure who had enemies.

Over the years, complaints and concerns about Resler have included: 1) His drinking (he has maintained that he didn't mix social drinking and coaching); 2) Inappropriate language, some of it considered demeaning to women; 3) Permitting foul language by his players; 4) Complaints about his coaching ability in recent years. (Nonetheless, Roosevelt won its fifth KingCo 4A title under Resler last season. Overall, he was 187-51 and won the 2004 Class 4A state championship).

Documents and interviews make it apparent that Resler was loved by some and disliked by others. Players from the state-title team and earlier seem to admire him the most.

Some former players have said the principal made a bold and correct decision. Others have said that the firing was a travesty and that the 62-year-old University of Washington lecturer in tax law was one of the greatest people in their lives and that Roosevelt is indebted to him.

One parent of a current player suggested that Resler has changed. "Ask if the Bill of today is the same Bill as five years ago," the parent said.

Vance is described as an ambitious, no-nonsense guy who came from the Center School, a small public high school at the Seattle Center that doesn't offer sports. He is the seventh principal in seven years at Roosevelt, a basically upper-middle-class school where unhappy parents aren't bashful about complaining. Resler, who can be a maverick and isn't the type to endear himself to bosses, got sideways with at least some of the current parents of girl basketball players.

Resler still attends Roosevelt games and the team (6-2) is being coached by his friend Gregg Kalina, a former O'Dea assistant whom Resler used to invite to practices and then pick his brain.

"They landed on their feet because they got Kalina," Resler said.

As for himself, Resler said, "The pressure is gone, and life is pretty good."

Q: What did Mike Merrill, the former Lake Washington head football coach who lost his teaching and coaching job in district cutbacks, do this past season?

A: Merrill, who had been a head coach for 11 years in the state at Auburn Riverside, Mount Rainier of Des Moines and Lake Washington of Kirkland, latched onto a last-minute teaching job at Clover Park High School outside Tacoma. He taught physical education and math. He was a volunteer assistant for the Clover Park football team and is interested in being a head coach again.

Have a question about high-school sports? Craig Smith will find the answer every Tuesday in The Times. Ask your question in one of the following ways: Voice mail (206-464-8279), snail mail (Craig Smith, Seattle Times Sports, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111) or e-mail csmith@seattletimes.com