Coach Deserves Praise For Debating in Public

On Tuesday night, Aug. 14, I sat and watched Torrington native and Highland Lake resident Bob Anzellotti, attorney at hand, sit before the Litchfield Board of Education fully prepared to take a stand against what he and many others feel was an unfair decision by the Litchfield Superintendent of Schools to end his 10-year tenure as head coach of the Litchfield girls basketball team.

With a visibly strained look on his face, Anzellotti entered the auditorium at Litchfield Middle School to what started as a supportive round of applause from the 150-plus people in attendance and culminated into a rousing standing ovation as he scaled the staircase leading up to the stage floor. Make no mistake about it, it was a pro-Anzellotti gathering and I’m sure the outpouring of support did wonders for his morale.

Coach Anzellotti was made aware of his non-renewal back in late May of this year and decided to appeal the decision. He requested that the proceedings be held in a public forum rather than behind closed doors and that request was granted by the BOE.  

Unfortunately, what transpired during the first two hours of the hearing was nothing more than a lot of legal mumbo jumbo and what seemed to be an endless series of exhibits, the bulk of which being Mr. Anzellotti’s entire personnel file, presented by Mark Sommaruga, the attorney representing the school administration. Two hours passed before Anzellotti’s attorney, Danielle Rado, could call her first witness, Superintendent Dominick Vita.

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In her opening statement, Rado made it very clear that it was the opinion of her and her client that the decision to not renew his contract was “capricious and arbitrary.� She was quick to point out that in his 10 years of coaching approximately 150 girls that there were no more than five complaints from athletes who had played for him.

Later, during the questioning of Superintendent Vita by Attorney Rado, Vita was quoted as saying that the reason for not retaining Coach Anzellotti’s services was: “We don’t think Anzellotti’s style of coaching is consistent with the values of Litchfield High School and its academic values.â€�  It was also stated by attorney Sommaruga that the school board felt that Anzellotti has been humiliating and overly aggressive in interacting with his players over the years, as well.  

The evening’s proceeding eventually came to a close as the clock was headed toward the midnight hour. It was agreed upon that the board would address the topic again in two weeks and hoped at that point a final determination of Mr. Anzellotti’s fate would be rendered.

In the meantime I thought it would be interesting to hear from anyone here in the community who has an opinion about this situation or one similar and if so would they be willing to share it with our readers.  I’m sure present or former coaches, athletic directors, administrators, athletes or interested parents all have opinions about such matters and quite possibly have seen first-hand similar problems.  

Is it fair that the coaches are only given a one-year contract with no job security? If coaches are going to be held to the same standards as teachers and administrators should they not have the same rights to organize and protect themselves in these situations?

Parent involvement and politics played by elected and appointed officials are other areas of interest and almost certainly play a huge role in this situation. The accountability and responsibility of the people charged with monitoring and evaluating the conduct and performance of the coaches should be considered.

In the end, it will be interesting to see how Coach Anzellotti makes out. Regardless of the outcome he has distinguished himself by standing up for his rights and doing so in public. His willingness to put all of the cards on the table for everyone to see is commendable. Unfortunately, from what I saw, this was not the case with those sitting across the table.