In the competitive world of athletics it is all-too common for good people who work hard and serve as good role models and mentors for the young people they coach to one day find themselves without a job when there aren't enough digits in the win column. That, often sadly, is the price of a career in sports.
We can accept that.
And sometimes, it's just time for new leadership, time to make a change.
We can accept that, too. That's the way things are.
But when a man like Coach Steve Kemmerlin - who is one of the most successful coaches in Wade Hampton High School history and who is just shy of a stellar 500-win career at WHHS - suddenly finds himself fighting for his job, it's time for the community to question the way things are.
If Coach Kemmerlin has fallen short in his duties, we have seen little or no evidence of that. No coach has brought a state championship back to Wade Hampton in the past 20 years or more.
If Coach Kemmerlin had violated some district policy, or broken the law, or committed an unethical act, then we could rationalize and justify what the Hampton County School District 1 board is considering. But we have seen no evidence of that, either.
What evidence we have seen, however, points to a hard-working, dedicated employee who has spent the last 26 years serving his school, his community, and the youth of this district. He has tallied a winning record as head baseball coach - three region championships, three district championships, and three Lower State championships - and his teams usually finish well into the playoffs each year. As Athletics Director he has run a clean, financially-stable program for the past 14 years.
If Kemmerlin's winning record doesn't say enough about him, his character and work ethic should speak volumes more. When not coaching our children, he can often be seen at other sporting events, either working the gate or even picking up trash afterwards.
But this apparently is not about hard work or winning.
Someone, somehow, for reasons that are less than clear, decided that Kemmerlin's time was up. And unfortunately, retired at-will employees like Kemmerlin don't have the same rights as other employees, so the board has the authority to end his career if and when they see fit.
But what kind of message does that send to the rest of the faculty, the students, the entire community? That you can work hard for 26 years, be as loyal and dedicated and successful as you like, yet when we think your time is up we will likely toss you aside at will?
If Coach Kemmerlin's time is up, if his career in Hampton 1 is coming to an end, it should be done the right way, the fair way. Let him go out with dignity, if possible.
He has been a winner for 26 years, let him go out a winner. And it would be a statewide badge of honor to have a coach at Wade Hampton reach that rare milestone of 500 career wins.
The Hampton 1 board should do the fair thing, the right thing, and continue to support a dedicated employee like Steve Kemmerlin.
Or, perhaps, they may find themselves losing the community's support come Election Day.