wow

Nice job Andrew. People wanted to know and you were able to get the information.

I am not sure what the "real" story is but I do know that this Principal has been an unmitigated disaster in all facets of her job including having a very open and inviting door to the entitled Reading parents (mostly on the girls teams, soccer, cheerleading, basketball) who think Sally deserves more playing/performing time or unhappy that they were yelled at by a Coach, or shouldnt have to go to a practice.. She has created a very contentious atmosphere for the coaches and has usurped their authority in many instances in order to favor the unhappy parent who is used to always getting their way coming up thru the youth programs. I am pretty sure she is the reason that the AD is planning to accelerate his expected departure.

This has been a long time coming. Glad this Principal isn't afraid to buck the ole boy network that has existed for years.

This firing is not complicated. The Principal probably just opened the file on Sheedy that the Athletic Director has chosen to ignore for 11 years. The file was certainly stuffed with complaints from parents detailing how this coach has ruined the self-esteem of countless girls that only wanted to play high school soccer. To blame this on the Principal shows pure ignorance of the situation. This firing is long overdue, and If this expedites the departure of the Athletic Director most would view that as a bonus.

Al I do not agree with your comment at all. So you are basically saying coach Sheedy should play all the girls who want to play high school soccer regardless of their ability to play on the field. These girls are representing the town of Reading so I think we should expect that he would play the best players possible in order to be a competitive team. Lets face it, this is not travel or micro soccer! If he was a "NICE" coach and played every player (to keep parent and child happy) do you think he would be coaching if Reading was loosing every game 1-8 or 0-7 after a couple of years, NO SIR. They would be telling him to hit the road as he clearly has no coaching ability and it shows in the teams' game performances. My theory is HE CAN"T WIN!

Al I do not agree with your comment at all. So you are basically saying coach Sheedy should play all the girls who want to play high school soccer regardless of their ability to play on the field. These girls are representing the town of Reading so I think we should expect that he would play the best players possible in order to be a competitive team. Lets face it, this is not travel or micro soccer! If he was a "NICE" coach and played every player (to keep parent and child happy) do you think he would be coaching if Reading was loosing every game 1-8 or 0-7 after a couple of years, NO SIR. They would be telling him to hit the road as he clearly has no coaching ability and it shows in the teams game performances. My theory is HE CAN"T WIN!

if the principal stepped up and listened to the parents and made a decision that was best for the children and the program then she is doing her job....our athletic director has been in his own world for the last umpteen years....it is about time he had someone to answer to.....sheedy is totally non communicative in rys never has been held accountable in that facet of the town....hooray for the principal and her decision

I don't think there is a parent on this planet who would put up with their daughter being called what these players were called by this "coach", period

I don't know the real reasons for this but I hope it was not a case of parents complaining that their girls were not getting adequate playing time.

Jim, to be clear, my sentiment had nothing to do with playing time. I agree completely that he can't win, which is why the AD finally agreed to let this happen (despite suggesting otherwise). But if this firing was based solely on some new administration philosophy suggested by you and Susan P - that the coach didn't play everyone and the parents complained- I guess we should expect to see a rash of RMHS coaches being fired by the AD. This is NOT about playing time or parents complaining about playing time. That is the spin being applied. This is about a "coach" who's reputation has driven some of the best youth soccer players into other sports at the high school because of his reputation and his track record for belittling and destroying self-esteem of too many girls to count - including those that "played". To criticize the Principal for doing the right thing here is a sure sign of being uninformed. When are people going to wake up and realize that these are STUDENTS - that happen to participate in an extracurricular activity? I applaud the Principal again for taking the action that so many parents and players have longed for over the past 11 years.

"PC" society run amok again. Everyone gets a trophy. Kids not peforming must be someone else's fault or due to some newly created disorder "fill in the acronym". From what I heard the Principal has let parents run roughshod over alot of these programs. Toughen up girls.

I applaud the adminstration's sound decision. It is long overdue: Mr. Sheedy should have been removed from this position long ago. Many young women could have been spared his narcissistic, egotisitical behavior.

Let's get real, and adminstrator doesn't let go of a coach or faculty unless there is substantiaed data beyond "not having enough playing time or lack of commitment to a particular sport.". I applaud Ms. Freedman and her superiors for taking Mr. Sheedy's behavior seriously. Coaches need to held accountable for inappropriate actions, just as any other professional who also works with childeren. Maybe this will be the shake up that is needed to explore Mr.Vaccarro professional judgement too.

Wow nik that's very funny, 1st time I've ever been called a lib, not bad for a guy who has voted GOP his entire life!!

Sounds like a lot of sour grapes here, Maybe we should let committee of the Peoples Republic of Reading run the town's different sports programs then nobody would ever have their feelings hurt and at the end of each season we could have a cupcake social and give out nice shiny trophies. And as far as people complaining about playing time can anyone tell me the last time a player was cut from the girls soccer team????

Peter, then what is the so-called situation you comment about?, sounds to me that your the pot stirer that has burr across your butt against Sheedy.

There is a lot of this year round behind the scenes coaching going on. We have field hockey and a many of other sports teams who are told about "optional" off season work outs but when you don't show up your chastised. I thought the coaches were suppose to stay away from the kids off season?

Kat S. your are correct or when coaches infer players are to be playing on club teams in between seasons or commit to 24/7 summer baseball leagues at the expense of parents and when a player chose not to for a variety of reasons they are chastised or don't play or may get cut the following season. Did our high school coaches not watch "Race to Nowhere?" Bottom line is are AD has got to go: Isn't he the when who oversees the coaching staff to ensure all behvaior is appropriate on and off the field.

Wouldn't that be the same as sending your kid to a sports camp, only you have a person they are familiar with, I don't have an issue with that.

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What about the parents that have their daughters playing in all these travel softball leagues, I've never felt any pressure with that. The issue here is we live in a competitive town both academically and sports wise and anybody that disputes that is wrong. Whenever you run into someone in town the first question is what team did your son or daughter make, or what college did they get into.that's just the way it is.

i'm ashamed to be an alum of RMHS right now. i was a 3 sport athlete, and you better believe I worked DAMN hard day in and day out to EARN my playing time or my spot on the varsity roster. what happened to that? i know what it's like to sit on the bench and not see playing time, but that encouraged me to work even harder to try to earn my time. kids need to learn you can't get everything handed to you on a silver platter and your parents can't complain to an administration department when you don't succeed in life. LEARN HOW TO FAIL, and do so without blaming your coach or your teacher. i agree with alex, there is far too much parental hand holding and wahwah-ing when your kid doesn't get playing time (or doesn't pass a class or doesn't get all a's...etc.). i have never known a more dedicated coach than sheedy and it's the nature of being a coach that not everyone is going to agree with your coaching style. but 8 tourney trips in a row and a north divisional final game? something must've been working right. i challenge any single one of you haters to step up and apply for this job and see how it goes.

We might be talking apples and oranges here in some of the comments. I do believe you need to earn your spot on a team and in a high school level sport the best on the team play. It might sting to hear it but that is the way it goes. I don't have a super star athlete child so to make a team at this level she knows what kind of preparation needs to be done. It is up to her to do it I don't expect because she is a senior (which she is not) or she played last year (no again) that this will be handed to her. My issue is that she has other interests that make her a better person and player and it would be nice to be able to pursue some of those without the pressure of feeling like if you don't come to the "not manadatory off season training" her chances of making a team are impacted. I am not sure how my kid going to a summer camp that focus on her/his sport has anything to do with this. And what does travel summer ball have to do with it? These are personal choices that are not interfering with a high school sport. Bottom line is that most sports at the high school level now seem to have some sort of year round "unspoken" commitment. I know nothing about the soccer team, the coach or the history so my comments are not about that situation.

I can't reply to your comment, Danielle, but the short answer is because life doesn't work that way. If i approach the coach and tell him that I don't think the "suggested" camp is as good for me, he's not going to put my skills over his or his friends monetary gain. And it's not like the entire team is going to get behind me either. Some people want the best possible experience for their development, others want to be liked by the coach so they'll play more. If I went to the captains and started that fight, I'd never get on the field for the rest of my career. It doesn't matter how fast you run or how many goals you score on that team. One of the best players on the team sat on the bench the whole season, never even played a whole half, and she was still one of the top three scorers on the team. That's not good coaching, and that shows me that it's better to keep my head down and not make waves.

RMHS and Kat were on spot on! As an RMHS alumni and parent, going to an elective summer camp is completely different than a coach inferring to player they must attend the coach's private directed camp or the need to play the sport during the off season. I am not talking about summer baseball: For example Summer Rockets baseball is comprised of every varsity Reading Rocket baseball player: which limits the opportunity to other summer activities, the need to work and or spending time with family. Okay I think the bottom line is Dr. Doherty and administration need to refocus the RMHS mission of high school sports, expectations of coach's and players. Lets face it, is success going to be measured after graduating high school based on how much time a player played in a particular sport. Again dismissing a coach or teacher is for the benefit of the majority and requires substantiated data. This circumstance hopefully will widen the eyes of all RMHS coaches.

As a working professional I am pretty sure you don't have 11 years worth of great evaluations and suddenly and unexpectedly get let go. That said I have no inside information!!
As a community we need to decide what we want, a lobby full of trophys that were obtained by our towns great athletes at the expense of others sitting on the sidelines...or can we accept "maybe" being in the middle of the pack but giving every kid who wants a chance to play? Unfortunatley intramural play is long gone so for kids with the passion and love but maybe not the high skill there is no where to go. But if I were paying a sport user fee and my kid sat on the bench for a season I would probably be pretty upset too. I would almost rather they not get picked than to not play....

It's has always been about winning the coveted Boston Globe's Dalton Trophy, nothing more, nothing less.

I played on the RMHS girls' soccer team for four years with Sheedy as head coach. I graduated last year, so I can't speak to the specific situation. However, I can speak from my own experiences on the team.

The goal of every high school Varsity team is to win. There's a reason that JV doesn't have a tournament but Varsity does, there's a reason most towns cut players.

Sheedy makes it clear from the very start of every season that he won't cut anyone, but he won't play everyone equally. He wants to win, and when we had several spectacular players that's who he played and that's what happened. However, he wants the girls who love soccer to be there regardless of talent. Sheedy was very good at putting girls on the JV/Varsity line on JV so that they could get playing time and improve. How much you played on Varsity had a lot to do with natural talent AND hard work. You got out what you put in: the coaches at both JV and Varsity level offered off-season opportunities and often those who took those options improved. If you come to practice, you improve, and you play. On both the JV and Varsity level I have seen great players sit on the bench for unexcused absences from practice, temper, and other entirely appropriate reasons. I myself, from lack of talent as opposed to lack of hard work, often sat on the bench. However, I understood that.

I know these problems plague other towns, and are simply a product of having a Varsity league.

It's only a game.

I have known Mike personally and as my daughter's soccer coach for many years. I can't believe what is being said here. He was a great coach and role model for the girls. The actual students who are posting here, like Danielle, are the ones we should listen to, not the whiney parents who think their child should never be told "no". Things have gotten way out of hand, with parents helicoptering every aspect of their high schooler and college student's life. Let the kids play, stay out of, it IS only a game.

Cindy, I agree 100%, I hope these people realize what they had here with this coach, and who thinks bringing in a new coach is going to change things, you're always going to have that parent that thinks their child should be playing more than all the others and it will only be a matter of time when we arguing this point all over again.
I think it was a wrong move.

*** CONTINUED FROM ABOVE POSTING **
As most people may or may not know, Mike (as president of RUSC) spends a tremendous amount of time volunteering year round giving kids the opportunity to play soccer from a young age, and parents the opportunity to be part of the coaching experience (and part of their kids’ lives). In this age of electronics, this is an opportunity that Mike has fostered to allow kids & parents the chance to interact while developing not only soccer skills, but life skills. Think about this too – how many of your friends (both kids & parents) do you have as a result of being part of the soccer program? Its that opportunity that has had a hand in that.

While I never had Mike as a coach, he has made a positive impact on my life from any early age. Isn’t that what we want from a coach? Thanks Mike!

Mike you have the support of a far majority of your player and parent alumni. You do not need to defend the effort you have put into the soccer program in this town nor the many years of success at RMHS and appropriate coaching techniques you have provided. Unfortunately this horrendous Principal has empowered the malcontents in town and cut off the legs of fine coaches like yourself. This isnt the first instance this past Fall where she put the selfish interests of a few over whats best for the program. You will be back elsewhere hopefully she will be gone soon.

Why don't all the people who feel this coach was truly wronged do something about it...go to the school committee or something. If the principle is acting out of line and was way off base why are you letting her get away with it, she is paid by US the citizens of Reading. I have no clue about what happened or didn't happen I never even knew the coachs name but it would seem if the school did something this ergregious why are you taking to the blogs to protest go to the source.

Kat S. you are correct- lets put closure on further discussion and those who feel MR. Sheedy was let go with out reason- Verbalize your concerns to Ms. Freedman or to her superior Dr. Doherty. ENOUGH SAID!

Why, when the people who really know Mike, say positive things - it's ENOUGH SAID? Negative always wins out on these blogs.

Wouldn't it be great to focus this energy on academics?

I had the fortunate opportunity to be apart of RUSC from U8-U14. I played on fall and spring travel teams as well as the summer soccer program (Go Mexico!) I played on the men's freshman, JV, and Varsity soccer teams. I have attended countless soccer camps through RUSC, and RMHS athletics. I can't say that I have met a more committed individual into our Reading Soccer program other than Mike. We are really losing a special coach, person, and advocate for youth sports in Reading. I just wanted to say thanks to Mike, for all the hard work he put into the RUSC and RMHS athletics during his tenure.

I a big fan of Mike like many others here. I have had no experience with his coaching at the HS age but I have seen him at tryouts and coaching the younger girls in RUSC and Red Thunder. I was very impressed. All the girls looked like they were having a blast. I was also amazed at how Mike managed to keep them all engaged and learning. He seems to be a top notch coach and has a gift with the kids, Mike I view you leaving as a huge loss.