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BMHS fires coach
By Jim Franz
Sports Editor
Oberneder's tenure over before it starts
Joe Oberneder's tenure as Beloit Memorial High School head football coach could rank as the shortest on record.
He was fired before he even coached a single game.
Or was he? While Beloit Memorial Principal Carlton Jenkins says he considers Oberneder terminated as coach, the topic of his firing will be brought up at a School District of Beloit special board meeting Tuesday night.
“I don't know what will happen,” Oberneder said Monday night. “I did not resign. I'm just not in a position to give details right now. There is a board meeting regarding this and I may or may not be invited to speak there.”
Jenkins said Oberneder's firing was the result of the football coach's failure to meet “a couple of conditions that needed to be met.”
Jenkins said his main mandate was that Oberneder should teach physical education and health at the high school. There were other stipulations as well, including Oberneder accepting a candidate Jenkins said he and Athletic Director Jeff Goodwine hand-picked as his defensive coordinator.
“I gave him a deadline of this past Friday to let me know where he stood,” Jenkins said. “He didn't come in so I made the decision to move forward. We plan on re-posting the head coach position.”
Oberneder said he has no problem with teaching at the high school. The point of contention, he says, is the administrators selecting key members of his staff for him.
“We have a disagreement and I'm sticking to what I believe is right,” Oberneder said.
Jenkins said the selection of the coordinator was necessary because Oberneder “doesn't have (former BMHS head coach John) Heineke-type experience. If you had a (Janesville Parker head coach) Joe Dye coming, with Joe's level of experience, that's a different ballgame.”
Oberneder, 36, has been involved with the BMHS football program for 12 years. In addition to being the sophomore team's head coach, he has had a wide range of responsibilities with the varsity, from position coach on offense for quarterbacks and running backs, to defense, where he has worked with the secondary. He has been both an offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator.
“Joe (Oberneder) is a great person and we have a lot of confidence in him,” Jenkins said. “But he's at a learning stage. We want to provide good resources for him. One person can made a difference, particularly a defensive coordinator. We recommended someone and he didn't want to consider that person.”
Oberneder had already discussed the defensive coordinator position with Mark Anderson, a 32-year veteran of coaching with experience both as an assistant and head coach and a former coordinator on both sides of the ball.
Oberneder said he was satisfied with his staff and believed he had taken the first step toward resurrecting a program that had lost 27 straight games overall and 28 Big Eight Conference games before the Knights knocked off Madison East, 44-41, in their 2006 season finale.
The decline of the Knights began after they reached the WIAA Division 1 state semifinals in 1999. Since then, Beloit has had four winless seasons and has won just six of its past 63 games. Its last Big Eight title was in 1994.
Oberneder took the job with eyes wide open.
“I was excited to take on the program,” Oberneder said. “I was really excited about having guys who wanted to coach and who are all quality people.”
Anderson said the players were excited, too.
“We've had more kids in the weight room and more kids excited about playing football,” he said. “We believe we can at least turn the corner a little bit next year. We are cautiously optimistic that we can be competitive. You have to be competitive before you are good. Joe is the guy who can do it. Nobody around here will put his heart and soul into it more than Joe Oberneder.”
Anderson said he would have taken any job on Oberneder's staff because he believes in him that much.
“When you get to a certain stage of your career, you don't have a lot of ego left,” he said. “If this was happening to me, I wouldn't fight it. But I will fight to save Joe Oberneder. I have great loyalty and respect for him.”
Joe Oberneder's tenure as Beloit Memorial High School head football coach could rank as the shortest on record.
He was fired before he even coached a single game.
Or was he? While Beloit Memorial Principal Carlton Jenkins says he considers Oberneder terminated as coach, the topic of his firing will be brought up at a School District of Beloit special board meeting Tuesday night.
“I don't know what will happen,” Oberneder said Monday night. “I did not resign. I'm just not in a position to give details right now. There is a board meeting regarding this and I may or may not be invited to speak there.”
Jenkins said Oberneder's firing was the result of the football coach's failure to meet “a couple of conditions that needed to be met.”
Jenkins said his main mandate was that Oberneder should teach physical education and health at the high school. There were other stipulations as well, including Oberneder accepting a candidate Jenkins said he and Athletic Director Jeff Goodwine hand-picked as his defensive coordinator.
“I gave him a deadline of this past Friday to let me know where he stood,” Jenkins said. “He didn't come in so I made the decision to move forward. We plan on re-posting the head coach position.”
Oberneder said he has no problem with teaching at the high school. The point of contention, he says, is the administrators selecting key members of his staff for him.
“We have a disagreement and I'm sticking to what I believe is right,” Oberneder said.
Jenkins said the selection of the coordinator was necessary because Oberneder “doesn't have (former BMHS head coach John) Heineke-type experience. If you had a (Janesville Parker head coach) Joe Dye coming, with Joe's level of experience, that's a different ballgame.”
Oberneder, 36, has been involved with the BMHS football program for 12 years. In addition to being the sophomore team's head coach, he has had a wide range of responsibilities with the varsity, from position coach on offense for quarterbacks and running backs, to defense, where he has worked with the secondary. He has been both an offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator.
“Joe (Oberneder) is a great person and we have a lot of confidence in him,” Jenkins said. “But he's at a learning stage. We want to provide good resources for him. One person can made a difference, particularly a defensive coordinator. We recommended someone and he didn't want to consider that person.”
Oberneder had already discussed the defensive coordinator position with Mark Anderson, a 32-year veteran of coaching with experience both as an assistant and head coach and a former coordinator on both sides of the ball.
Oberneder said he was satisfied with his staff and believed he had taken the first step toward resurrecting a program that had lost 27 straight games overall and 28 Big Eight Conference games before the Knights knocked off Madison East, 44-41, in their 2006 season finale.
The decline of the Knights began after they reached the WIAA Division 1 state semifinals in 1999. Since then, Beloit has had four winless seasons and has won just six of its past 63 games. Its last Big Eight title was in 1994.
Oberneder took the job with eyes wide open.
“I was excited to take on the program,” Oberneder said. “I was really excited about having guys who wanted to coach and who are all quality people.”
Anderson said the players were excited, too.
“We've had more kids in the weight room and more kids excited about playing football,” he said. “We believe we can at least turn the corner a little bit next year. We are cautiously optimistic that we can be competitive. You have to be competitive before you are good. Joe is the guy who can do it. Nobody around here will put his heart and soul into it more than Joe Oberneder.”
Anderson said he would have taken any job on Oberneder's staff because he believes in him that much.
“When you get to a certain stage of your career, you don't have a lot of ego left,” he said. “If this was happening to me, I wouldn't fight it. But I will fight to save Joe Oberneder. I have great loyalty and respect for him.”
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of beloitdailynews.com.
Randy Rice, Milton wrote on Apr 18, 2007 3:38 PM:
" So, the head coach that was hired has 12 years of football coaching experience, but not enough to pick his own defensive coordinator. However, the Principal of the High School and the Athletic Coordinator who together I believe have ZERO years of football coaching experience have enough experience to make this selection?
Right....
"
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Jeff Prins, Beloit wrote on Apr 17, 2007 10:50 PM: